(APC. Photo Credit: Leadership)
Imo State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Austin Onyedebelu, has said that the party leadership in the state will fight like a wounded lion to ensure President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is reelected in the 2027 presidential election.
Onyedebelu made this assertion during a stakeholders’ meeting between the State Working Committee of the party and officials of the APC drawn from the nine local government areas and 105 wards of Owerri Zone.
The meeting was attended by LGA party executives, ward executives, elected LGA chairmen, councillors and other party officials.
Addressing the gathering, the state chairman stressed that unity remained the greatest weapon for electoral success.
He maintained that party members and the leadership must work together to ensure overwhelming victories for the president and other candidates of the party in the state.
The APC chairman warned party officials that they would be held accountable for the party’s performance in their respective areas.
He told them that if they lost votes in their areas, they would be held responsible, adding that they should not wait until after the election to explain their failure.
He urged them instead to identify now whatever could make them fail so it could be addressed, stressing that any leader or factor likely to sabotage their efforts should be flagged immediately for resolution.
Onyedebelu urged party faithful to rely solely on genuine grassroots mobilisation rather than shortcuts, insisting that only real votes would guarantee victory.
He added that there was no other way to win elections than to count on real votes, and that the only way to achieve this was through unity.
The state party boss also cautioned against anti-party activities, reminding members that those who work against their own party would ultimately have nothing to gain.
He warned that anyone who supported the opposition to defeat their own party would find that, when the proceeds of victory are shared, opposition members would be rewarded first before such persons are remembered.
The state chairman further described the 2027 general elections as a defining moment for Owerri Zone in its aspiration to produce the next Governor of Imo State.
Earlier in his opening remarks, the state secretary of the party, Onyekachi Ibezim, explained that the purpose of the meeting was to enable the State Working Committee to interact directly with party executives at the LGA and ward levels ahead of the 2027 electoral contest.
He noted that these officers constitute the engine room of the party at the grassroots and would be held responsible for the party’s success in the forthcoming general elections.
Responding on behalf of Owerri Zone, the State Vice Chairman for Owerri Zone, Justus Ogu, assured the State Working Committee that the zone would not disappoint the party, pledging that it would deliver the APC from the presidency down to the State House of Assembly.
