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🇳🇬 Nigeria /Elections & Politics

PDP responds to Nwifuru: Ebonyi does not belong to one party

From Premium Times · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • The Ebonyi PDP said the state’s residents must retain the constitutional right to choose their leaders in the 2027 elections.
  • The party condemned Governor Francis Nwifuru’s warning that local government chairpersons could be removed if the APC loses their council areas.
  • The PDP also urged security agencies and democratic institutions to protect political participation and monitor the state’s political climate.

The Peoples Democratic Party in Ebonyi State has rejected the idea that the state belongs to the ruling All Progressives Congress, warning that political affiliation must not determine who can participate in public life.

PDP state chairman Chukwuma Igwe issued the statement in Abakaliki after Governor Francis Nwifuru spoke at the inauguration of newly elected local government chairpersons and their deputies. Nwifuru warned the officials that they could lose their positions if the APC failed to win their council areas in the 2027 elections.

This is not a political banter; it is an open charge to visit official hostility upon citizens for no offence beyond their choice of party.

· Chukwuma IgweThe Ebonyi PDP chairman criticized the governor’s warning to local government chairpersons.

“As a local government chairman, if you like, go and sleep so that another person will take over your house,” Nwifuru said, according to the statement. “You will not stop us (APC) from winning. But when we win, we will remove you.”

We regard this incitement for what it is: an invitation to bloodshed and avoidable hostility.

· Chukwuma IgweIgwe described the governor’s remarks as a threat to opposition participation.

Igwe called the remarks a threat to democratic participation and political opposition. “This is not a political banter; it is an open charge to visit official hostility upon citizens for no offence beyond their choice of party,” he said. “We regard this incitement for what it is: an invitation to bloodshed and avoidable hostility.”

He called on security agencies to act impartially and protect citizens regardless of their political affiliation. Igwe said the PDP would use lawful and constitutional means to defend its members, structures, and democratic rights, and urged democratic institutions, civil society groups, and other stakeholders to pay attention to Ebonyi ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The Ebonyi State PDP will not fret, and we will not be intimidated into silence.

· Chukwuma IgweThe PDP chairman said the party would continue defending its members through lawful means.

The statement also referred to a warning by Paul Ituma, the newly sworn-in chairman of Ohaukwu Local Government Area. A video circulating on social media showed Ituma telling opposition politicians to stay away from the area ahead of the election or submit to the APC and the governor. Igwe said Ebonyi’s people should decide the state’s leadership through a free, fair, and credible electoral process.

Let it be known that Ebonyi State does not belong to one political party; its security architecture does not exist to serve one political entity; that principle is non-negotiable.

· Chukwuma IgweIgwe argued that the state’s institutions must not serve a single party.
About this summary

Originally published by Premium Times in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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