The Enugu Good Governance Group has faulted the claim made by former Labour Party governorship candidate in Enugu State, Hon. Chijioke Edeoga, that he defected to the Labour Party (LP) because of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s emergence as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate.
The group insisted that Edeoga left the PDP to pursue his “desperate personal ambition” which has always been to continue his looting spree should he becomes the governor of the state.
It equally faulted Edeoga on the claim that he only congratulated, but never pledged his support to the PDP state governorship candidate, Dr. Peter Mbah.
The group was reacting to Edeoga’s interview published at the weekend wherein he said he reconsidered his position to support Mbah following the failure of the PDP to zone its presidential ticket to the Southeast in line with the principle of rotational presidency in the party’s constitution.
In a statement issued by its National Coordinator, Odinaka Okechukwu, yesterday, the group said: “The sequence of events clearly shows that Hon. Chijioke Edeoga was very stingy with the truth in the said interview. While Atiku Abubakar emerged the presidential candidate of the PDP on May 28, 2022, Edeoga issued a personally signed statement on June 6, 2022, where he did not only congratulate Mbah, but equally called on his supporters and the Enugu people to support the PDP candidate. That was sequel to Mbah’s visit to him after the governorship primary election.
“Edeoga wrote: ‘Peter Mbah has reached out to us and stretched out a hand of fellowship; we are disposed to supporting him. In view of the foregoing, I hereby urge all my supporters and the people of Enugu State at large to rally behind Mr. Peter Mbah for the tasks ahead’.
“So, Atiku’s emergence as PDP’s presidential standard bearer, which happened many days before Edeoga’s declaration of support for Mbah, could not have been a factor in Edeoga’s decision to renege on the support he pledged or jettison a pact he earlier signed along with other aspirants from Enugu East zone to support any among them endorsed by the governor and the party faithful. He only joined the LP to pursue his selfish political interest, not Igbo interest.
Anyone who knows Edeoga very well will know that he has this tendency for stealing public funds and that was why he couldn’t deliver any project when he was the Chairman of Isi-Uzo Local Government nor attracted any single project for his constituency as a House of Representatives member. Such a human being is not eligible to hold any public position not even a ward councilor”.
The Enugu Good Governance Group, therefore, urged the people of the state to elect people with a track record of proven achievements, who could take the state to the next level of development, and men of their words, who would not renege on their campaign promises.
