BY RITA NWORIE,
ABAKALIKI
Ebonyi State Elders Council has dismissed criticisms and social media campaigns against Governor Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru, declaring that the governor has no formidable opponent ahead of the 2027 governorship election.
Speaking with journalists in Abakaliki on Saturday, Chairman of the Council chief Ben Okah , said the growing influence of social media content creators had made it easier for individuals with little or no knowledge of Ebonyi State to sit outside the state and make unsubstantiated comments about its government and development.
He said: “It is now very cheap to campaign. You can sit in your house in Lagos, London or Canada and call content creators and Facebook boys, give them money, and they will sit in one room and create content and even AI pictures to deceive people who are not well-informed or who are gullible.”
According to him, criticisms of the Nwifuru administration should be based on facts and developments on the ground rather than what he described as fabricated stories and media propaganda, stressing that peace and development had continued to flourish across Ebonyi under the present administration.
“As far as we are concerned, the government of Ebonyi State is moving very smoothly. There is peace in this state and there is development going on. The governor has given us peace of mind. Anybody who knows Ebonyi State knows that you can develop to any level because there is nobody pushing you around and there are no security challenges,” he said.
Speaking on criticisms surrounding the proposed cement factory project, the stakeholder said he recently visited the project site and confirmed that a team of about nine Chinese professionals had arrived to commence preliminary technical work, including geological and survey investigations.
He explained that the construction of a cement factory was a complex engineering process that could not be rushed, noting that geologists and surveyors would spend between two and three months carrying out preliminary studies before the major installation and development stages begin. “It is not like buying a car or building a house. It is a very big process and it must follow proper engineering procedures,” he stated.
On the naming of the proposed cement company, he dismissed the controversy generated on social media, insisting that there was nothing unusual about the choice of a name for a cement factory. “Abakaliki Cement is Abakaliki Cement and Nigerian Cement Factory is Nigerian Cement Factory. Is it not clear? A name is a name,” he said.
The stakeholder also advised politicians and opposition figures to pursue their campaigns peacefully and responsibly, saying opposition was a legitimate part of democracy but should not be turned into a platform for falsehood, misquotation and character assassination. He alleged that the governor’s statements were often deliberately misinterpreted by political opponents to create unnecessary tension.
On the alleged marginalisation of Ebonyi indigenes in federal government recruitment exercises, particularly the recent concerns over the Federal Road Safety Corps recruitment list, he said Ebonyi remained a developing state struggling to catch up with older states in terms of federal presence and representation. He, however, expressed optimism that the state was gradually making progress, adding that the achievements of the Nwifuru administration would become even more visible as several ongoing projects are completed and commissioned.
“When the time comes for commissioning projects in Ebonyi, you will need strong legs to follow the governor around. The projects are numerous. As far as I am concerned, the election is concluded because the governor has no opponent. Facebook will not vote; Ebonyi people will vote based on what they can see on the ground,” he declared.
