The AnyiChuks Grassroot Support Organization, the support group of Dr. Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ebonyi State, has dismissed as fake news, the purported endorsement of Hon Francis Ogbonnia Nwifuru, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, by the state’s founding fathers.
Abia Onyike, Director, Media and Publicity, AnyiChuks Grassroot Support Organization who dismissed the alleged endorsement in a statement on Friday, said, “Our attention has been drawn to the circulation of a fabricated and fake news story trending in the social media to the effect that the Founding Fathers of Ebonyi State have endorsed the APC Governorship candidate for the 2023 elections, Hon Francis Ogbonnia Nwifuru.”
“We want to aver that there is no iota of truth in the false news which was advertised in the Facebook handle of one Leo Oketa, a Personal Aide to Hon Nwifuru.
“When did Nwifuru’s Press Secretary become the Spokesman of Ebonyi Founding Fathers?
“We urge the general public and Ebonyians in particular, to discountenance this falsehood being spread by desperate politicians who are ready to go any lenght to enhance their chances in the 2023 elections by riding on the back of the Founding Fathers.
“It is our conviction that the revered Founding Fathers of this state should be respected and held in high esteem instead of using their name to peddle unfounded rumours which may diminish them in the eyes of the people.
“We are convinced that the Founding Fathers had made their neutrality on the forthcoming elections known.
“They had counseled that all the candidates of various political parties from all the zones already in the race should contest the elections, after which efforts should be made by the new and incoming government to resolve the pending issue of Charter of Equity which had remained unresolved from the the twilight of the struggle for the creation of Ebonyi state.
“We urge all politicians in the state to take the advice of the Founding Fathers seriously and stop resorting to cheap campaigns of calumny.
“Ebonyians should not allow themselves to be used by desperate politicians to feather their nest. Those who ignore the lessons of history are bound to repeat it or are bound to be ignored by history itself.”