The Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, Chief Uche Nnaji, has expressed strong confidence that the All Progressives Congress (APC) will unseat the ruling party and take control of Enugu State in the 2027 general elections.
Chief Nnaji made this bold declaration on Monday while welcoming over 500 new defectors from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) into the APC.
Speaking at the event, the minister criticized the current Enugu State government for its widespread demolition of popular markets and shops without proper notice or compensation. According to him, these actions have brought severe economic hardship and have even led to the tragic deaths of several traders over the past year.
“Enugu has never had it this bad,” Nnaji lamented. “Ogige Nsukka Market has been reduced to ashes without any notice. Many traders have died because of this. Holy Ghost, Garki, Abakpa, and Ogurute markets have all suffered the same fate. Our people, who are mostly traders, are left without a means to survive.”
The minister praised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for appointing Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla—an indigene of Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area—as Nigeria’s Chief of Naval Staff, noting it as a sign that the presidency values Enugu State.
“President Tinubu knows what we are doing for the state, for him, and for Nigeria. We stand 101 per cent behind him as members of the APC,” Nnaji affirmed.
Looking ahead to the next election, Nnaji vowed that the APC would use all lawful means to challenge and ultimately remove the PDP-led government under Governor Peter Mbah in 2027.
“We will fight, and we will do everything humanly possible within the law so that by 2027, our people will have reasons to rejoice again,” he declared.
The APC State Chairman, Ugochukwu Agballah, also addressed the gathering, celebrating the influx of defectors as part of a growing “rainbow movement” within the party.
Agballah argued that the Labour Party’s previous electoral success in Igbo-Eze North—where it won House of Assembly and House of Representatives seats—was undermined because it operated like a “one-man show.”
“Politics is like a market; it cannot be run by just one person. With this unity and new membership, we are ready to win,” Agballah concluded.
