The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described as misleading and baseless the recent statement by Anambra-born businessman Prince Arthur Eze that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has endorsed Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State for a second term in office.
In a strong rebuttal issued at the weekend, the Enugu State Chapter of the party dismissed Eze’s claim as “personal opinion driven by self-interest rather than political reality.”
“Prince Arthur Eze is not a member of the APC. He is neither a spokesperson for President Tinubu nor has he ever played any official role in the President’s campaign or administration,” the party’s Publicity Secretary, Mr. Titus Ezeagu, said in a statement.
Ezeagu pointed out that Eze did not at any point support the candidacy of President Tinubu.
“In fact, prior and during the 2023 general elections, Eze was widely known to have openly opposed Tinubu’s presidential ambition, preferring another candidate altogether. It is, therefore, disingenuous, self serving and opportunistic for him to now claim to speak on behalf of the President.
“Let it be made clear: the President has not made any statement, public or private, endorsing any governor in any state for a second term, including Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State,” the party stated
The APC further advised individuals such as Eze to desist from making pronouncements that could undermine the democratic and electoral process in Enugu and the country in general.
“We urge Mr. Eze to concentrate on his business ventures and allow the democratic process to unfold in accordance with the Constitution without resort to spreading cheap propaganda, which will put Mr. President in bad light nationally and internationally.
“His attempt to prop up Governor Mbah’s anti-people governance using the name of President Tinubu is not only false but a manifest move to once more undermine the democratic process in Enugu and Nigeria in general,” Ezeagu said.
The spokesperson reaffirmed the party’s commitment to building a strong political alternative for the people of Enugu, stressing that the endorsement for any second term would come through the electoral process, “not media pronouncements by a businessman whose proclivity is to go all over the country shamelessly promoting any government in power(AGIP).
“And whose antecedents, affinity and very close historical relationships with military despots who got into power through coup detats and who completely undermined democracy may be the reason he is is always going from Abia to Ebonyi, Anambra and Enugu states making bogus declarations of Presidential false endorsements.
“President Ahmed Bola Tinubu is a democrat and cannot undermine his party and the electoral democratic process like those who worked closely hand in gloves with military despots in the past to truncate Nigeria’s democracy. We advise Arthur Eze to be mindful of the fact that we are now in a democracy and Tinubu is not his anti-Democratic military friends so he should wean himself of delusions and obsessions with garrison politics and statements that are perfidious to the electoral system knowing that the country is yet to recover from the irreparable harm his military friends did to the electoral process,” Ezeagu counselled.
Ezeagu called on the media and the general public to kindly regard Eze’s statements as his personal opinions and the delusions of a man yet to come to grips with the meaning of democracy.
“His court jesting statements do not represent the position of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. We also wish to remind Arthur that we are not under Abacha’s regime where he used to get by with shameless dropping of then Mr President’s name to intimidate and bamboozle the politicians of the five leprous parties that had no access to the garrison occupant of Aso Rock.
“It is a known fact that Gov Peter Mbah and Prince Arthur Eze are known members, supporters and promoters of PDP as both worked together in 2023 for PDP presidential, governorship, national and state assembly candidates.
“Therefore, we advise Arthur to channel his resources, contacts and wild propaganda in assisting his party man Mbah to get his secretaryship candidate Mr Ude Okoye ratified as National Secretary of the dying PDP so that Mbah does not end up in history as the first governor in Nigeria without political party platform.
“We also remind the good people of Enugu state that same Arthur Eze few months ago made same propaganda statements as regards Gov Soludo of Anambra State but was few days ago countered by President Tinubu who rightly and publicly reaffirmed his support to Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu the governorship candidate of APC as his preferred governorship candidate for Anambra State, pledging to give him the necessary support to unseat Soludo the incumbent APGA governor.
“We at APC Enugu State under the able leadership of the high-performing Chief Uche Nnaji, the Minister of Innovation Science and Technology and leader of APC Enugu state shall continue to stand firmly behind President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his Renewed Hope Agenda, and we remain focused in giving Enugu State voters a credible alternative to the current PDP-led mal-administration come 2027,” he said.
