The Senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial District, Uche Ekwunife, has cried out that she was being blackmailed in her political ambition for being a woman.
The Peoples Democratic Party senator further warned her opponents to stop the blackmail against her, pleading that all contestants should be given a level playing ground.
Earlier, there were reports that the Anambra senator was campaigning for the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, which she denied and described as untrue.
While debunking the claims some weeks ago, she described Obi as her leader and elder brother from Anambra Central whom she respects and holds in high esteem. She noted, however, that their political aspirations have become divergent hence, “the need for me to focus on delivering our presidential candidate, His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar, and the vice-presidential candidate, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, who are of the PDP.”
However, at a press conference on Wednesday in Awka, the Anambra State capital, she said people were cooking up stories against her in order to malign her chances of winning the senatorial seat in the forthcoming elections.
She said, “I am being blackmailed because I am a woman, but God knows that my hands are clean.
“They pulled down and defaced my billboards. They use my letterheads to fabricate things to pitch me against the Agulu people and Mr Peter Obi. I am running for the senate and not the presidency. So, I am not running against Peter Obi. My opponent in the race is Chief Victor Umeh.”
Ekwunife pleaded that those who have refused to support her should at least allow her to continue her quest to return to the National Assembly.
She also stressed the importance of local government autonomy, lamenting that the third arm of government has been helpless because funds meant for them are diverted by state governments.
She said that “Without local government autonomy, development in rural areas is stunted, while appointed chairmen turn into sycophantic.”
She said that she has done well in representing the senatorial district through the bills she sponsored, the projects she executed and the jobs she helped her constituents secure in the six years she had spent in the Senate and her eight years in the House of Representatives.
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