David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka
The Anambra South senatorial candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Chief Ebuka Onunkwo, has said he will not engage in a political fight with the Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, for describing him as an illiterate factory owner.
Onunkwo said it would not be wise on his part to engage Soludo in a war of words or try to reply to his comment about not being fit for Senate representation, but added that he would defeat Soludo’s APGA candidate in next year’s election.
Last week, the Anambra State governor visited Ihembosi community in Ekwusịgbo Local Government Area, where Onunkwo hails from, to inaugurate a road substantially built by him (Onunkwo), and told the people to vote for the candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Senator Emma Nwachukwu, against their own son.
Soludo told the people that governance and Senate representation were not for illiterate persons, urging them to call on their son, Onunkwo, who is an industrialist, to face his factory and leave governance for educated people.
But Onunkwo, who spoke to journalists last Saturday at Nanka, during the celebration of the community’s New Yam Festival at Agbiligba Square, said he would not reply Soludo, but he will work with him to make Anambra State better when he wins next year.
Onunkwo said: “If this question is why you people laid ambush for me, I can only tell you that I have no intention of responding to the governor or engaging him in a political confrontation.
“Although we currently belong to different political parties, my attention is focused on my senatorial ambition and the forthcoming election, and I will work with Soludo when I get to the Senate.
“The only thing I can say about our governor is that we belong to different political parties today, but the ultimate priority for me today is to pursue my current ambition of going to the Senate.
“Soludo is my elder brother and my governor. Whatever he described me to be is not my concern. The only thing that should occupy my time now is the coming election.
“I was the chairman of his campaign organisation in Ekwusigo Local Government Area for his re-election, and I was not an ordinary factory owner or an illiterate person then. I even see it as a credit that the governor, who is my elder brother, even agreed that I’m a factory owner,r and that makes me an industrialist.
“If it is about replying to him, I will disappoint you because I will not. If we were from the same parents, Soludo would be my elder brother, so if my elder brother attacked me, would I fight back? I will not.”
He, however, expressed strong optimism about winning the Anambra South senatorial district election, saying he is sure the people of the zone are with him and will vote massively for him.
“The electorate are the only ones to determine our popularity. They will vote for whoever they see as popular and who they think can represent them well. I want to go to the Senate to represent my people well and lift standards. My people love me, and I know I will win the election,” the NDC candidate added.