Ubah, Okonkwo confident of winning Anambra guber election

The candidate of Young Progressives Party (YPP) in the November 6 governorship election in Anambra State, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah and his Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) counterpart, Dr Obiora Okonkwo yesterday said they were confident of winning the governorship contest.

Ubah and Okonkwo expressed their optimism at separate sessions with journalists in Abuja and Awka respectively, claiming that their candidature was more acceptable to the electorate than other candidates.
He said: “As through the Grace of the Almighty God and goodwill of electorates in Anambra State put the YPP on the national political landscape in the 2019 general elections. So, it will be for the party through my candidature in the November 6, 2021 gubernatorial election in Anambra State.

“All required contacts, campaigns, networking and even door to door consultations have been made with deserved assurances from people that the votes on that day are surely for me. This is not about grandstanding but about the love already shown by Anambarians for my aspiration.”

Asked for his response to remarks made by one of his opponents few weeks ago that he is not educated enough to govern the state, the senator explained that he expected such comments from his political enemy who knew he was going to lose the election to him.

He explained: “The person who said so did it out of fear of defeat already starring him in the face. I’m not just an educated person like the contestant attacking me but a learned person as a qualified lawyer as attested to by the convocation ceremony, which took, place today.

“In any case, Anambarians know the person they want for the job who based on information we have gathered from the campaign field must be an all rounder which I believe is me.”

He also called on the federal government to make private universities beneficiaries of interventions made by TETFUND to public ones since they are in no small way, adding value to knowledge acquisition at that levels and invariably enhancing the standard of education in the country.

Okonkwo, who spoke to journalists after the unveiling of a research work on Igbo apprenticeship model at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka yesterday, rated his chances of emerging victorious as very high.
Okonkwo, founder of United Nigeria Airline, explained that he “is very confident of his victory in the November 6 election in the state. I can comfortably rate my chances of emerging as the next governor of Anambra State between 70 and 80 percent.

“None of the other candidates has my reach, none has my contact, and we have checked very well and we believe out chances are very high.
“I am the only candidate in the race that is from Anambra Central Senatorial District, and of course you know that the rest candidates are from the South Senatorial zone, with some of them being two and above from one local government area.

“My running mate, Jessie Balonwu is the only one from the northern zone. Other candidates choose their running mates from the Anambra Central Senatorial District.
“If you also consider that I come from Idemili area, which has the highest number of voters in the state and that other candidates from the South are dividing their votes, mine will be coming in block and that of my running mate who is a known politician in the area, you will know that my chances are strong.”

(THISDAY)