Dr. Uche Ekwunife, Senator for Anambra Central Senatorial District, has startled Nigerians by abruptly switching her support from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to the Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi.
Ekwunife, a PDP member, announced her decision on Sunday at the Agulu town hall during a stakeholders’ meeting attended by men and women leaders.
Speaking in Igbo, she said: “Vote for me in PDP. In the presidential election, we all know where we are going to vote. We are politicians. We know this game very well. It’s on our fingertips. Peter Obi is our son and my mentor; we can’t work against him.
“But what I’m asking you is to vote for me in PDP. At the presidential level we all know who our preferred candidate is. That one is not in dispute. It’s settled. She spoke in Igbo.
According to Anaedoonline.ng, Ekwunife stated at the official launch of the PDP presidential campaign in Ugo, Akwa Ibom State, in October 2022, that Nigeria does not need a kindergarten president.
While campaigning for the PDP Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, the senator declared in a viral video that Nigeria did not need someone who would constantly remind the country of its problems, but rather someone who knew how to address them.
Many Peter Obi supporters in Anambra State and elsewhere took the film to be alluding to Peter Obi, the LP’s Presidential candidate.
Many Obi fans also attacked Ekwunife, who had previously called herself a political daughter of Obi before his (Obi’s) move from the PDP to the LP.
However, in a press release, Ekwunife, who appeared to have realized her error, recanted, stating that she was not referring to Obi.
According to a press statement issued by her media aide, Mr Kingsley Ubani, the video is being misconstrued. “The Senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial District, Uche Ekwunife PhD, remarked earlier today (October) that Nigeria needs a President who can transition its economy from consumption to production, adding that the country does not need a kindergarten President,” it said.
“Ekwunife who spoke at the PDP Presidential Campaign flag-off in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state was addressing Nigerians on the need to support her Party’s Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
“The interpretation in some or that Senator Ekwunife was referring to the Labour Party Presidential Candidate, Mr Peter Obi or the candidate of any other political party in her speech, is wrong.
“Senator Ekwunife’s statements were in line with the fact that Nigeria needs a President who is well rounded, and has the resume’, experience, mindset and qualifications to lead the country out of the woods.”
Meanwhile, about the same time she said that Nigeria did not need a kindergarten president; Ekwunife reportedly boasted that if Atiku won, she would be appointed Senate President.