2023 Senate Race: My Opponents Spreading Lies for Voter Sympathy – Umeh

By Olisemeka Sony

The Labour Party (LP) candidate for Anambra Central Senatorial District, Senator Victor Umeh, has raised alarm over the resort to falsehood by his opponents in the race for the seat in the forthcoming 2023 election.

Umeh, a foundation member and former national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and former senator, spoke against the backdrop of one of such stories that claimed he demanded N500 million to support Prof Chukwuma Soludo in the 2021 Anambra governorship election.

The Ohamadike Ndigbo as he is fondly called, made the remarks in his keynote address during the inauguration of the state executive council of the Victor Umeh Solidarity Network (VUSON), a support group, working for his 2023 senatorial bid under the Labour Party.

Umeh, who had to leave APGA after he was denied the senatorial ticket of the party in what he believed to be a grand, high-level conspiracy by some members of the party against his senatorial ambition ahead of the 2023 general election, urged members of VUSON to get ready to counter such calumnious narratives.

According to him, his opponents in the current senatorial contest had become jittery and now deploy to all manner of propaganda against him.
In an instance, according to him, “I was at Okpuno, where someone, a reputed person in the society, told me he was told by Senator Uche Ekwunife that I demanded to be paid N500million before I could work for Soludo in the last (2021 Anambra gubernatorial) election.

“But that is not true. I never demanded any money to work for Soludo. Instead, I used my own funds to work for him, even as his campaign director in the last election.

“I even met some of my friends who went on to donate money to Soludo because of my influence. So, it was Soludo who made money from me, instead.”

The former lawmaker lamented that his opponents were dishing out propaganda against him just to whittle down his influence ahead of the forthcoming election.

“Recently too, there was a voice note that circulated on the social media, that I was caught with a married woman, and that I paid money to the woman’s husband to avoid being exposed. All these are deliberate falsehood and propaganda, targeted at me.

“I am, however, happy that, despite all these, my supporters have stood firmly behind me.” He expressed his appreciation to the executive of the Victor Umeh Solidarity Network (VUSON) saying that “when I was told that some people were mobilising to support me, I demanded to meet you, but I was told that you didn’t want to meet me yet, until you were done mobilising.

“That is very rare in our clime, where people even ask you to bankroll the organisation. After your inauguration today, I charge you to move into the grassroots and let’s begin to mobilise support.”

Umeh, equally, disclosed that he had received endorsement from several groups and stakeholders across the Anambra Central Senatorial District and state, adding that people had come to realise that his return to the senate would not only guarantee quality representation for the District and the state but the entire South East.

He stressed that what he achieved within the 17 months he spent at the senate was a strong testimony to what the constituents stand to gain with his return to the red chamber.

Meanwhile, the convener of Victor Umeh Solidarity Network (VUSON), Comrade Francis Ekpone, has vowed to ensure massive mobilisation for Senator Victor Umeh to return to the senate in 2023.

Ekpone, who made the declaration earlier in his welcome address, stressed that Umeh’s brief spell stay at the 8th Senate was what motivated him and other VUSON leaders to throw their weight behind him, saying Umeh evidently meant well for the people.
According to him, Umeh championed several causes that had to do with not just Anambra Central Senatorial District or Anambra state, but the entire Igbo race.
He pledged the group’s readiness to mobilise eligible voters across the senatorial district to elect Umeh.

“VUSON has taken a giant step towards the actualisation of that objective (Umeh’s victory) and we can conveniently boast of 7,000 officers across the 1,639 polling units in the 108 wards, around the seven local government areas of Anambra Central,” Ekpone said.