The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Iyorche Ayu, Tuesday in Abia State, said he was not in the state to endorse any governorship candidate.
Speaking in Umuahia while commissioning a Children’s Specialist Hospital, Ayu clarified that he was in the state for the inauguration of the project and not on a candidate endorsement basis.
“When the governor called me last week to come and commission some projects, I received a lot of letters. Some of them threatened that if I come to Abia, I will not come out alive and that I was coming to endorse a particular governorship candidate,” Ayu said.
He added, “Let me make it clear to all of you, at national level, we don’t endorse candidates. It is left to Abia people to sit down and discuss their problems. But that problem is our problem because we want Abia to remain a PDP-controlled state. So, you must discuss and solve it in a way that will not lose the elected in Abia state.
“When we elect governors in the platform of PDP, we enjoin them to do specific things, to give a dividend of democracy to the people. I was invited by the governor of Abia to do two things, hospital and commission roads. That is what we want to see from our leaders, “unlike the other party whose governors leave the state and go and sit in Abuja playing politics.
“Our governors must live with their people and provide the dividend of democracy,” he said while commending the governor over the project.
Earlier in his speech, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu said the hospital is purely and entirely a government business.
He said, “The project is the last appendage of our healthcare delivery plan and my challenge is that by the time I leave office, the life expectancy in Abia will be higher than the national average, hence, it is time to build a dedicated hospital for our children up to 18 years.
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