AHEAD 2027: EMEKUKU CABAL DISTANCES SELF FROM MBATA .Plans To Back Ngor Okpala

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AHEAD 2027: EMEKUKU CABAL DISTANCES SELF FROM MBATA

.Plans To Back Ngor Okpala_

There are feelers that many political heavy weights in the Owerri federal constituency are not comfortable with the emergence of Prince Alex Mbata as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Imo East (Owerri Zone) senate ahead of the January 2027 general elections. Mbata emerged as a ‘consensus’

candidate at the primaries that held on Monday, May 18, 2026.

However, highly reliable sources disclosed that the political leadership in the Owerri Federal constituency, – made up of Owerri North local government area, Owerri West local government area and Owerri Municipal – has expressed dissatisfaction over the emergence of Mbata for two man reasons: One is the fact that he hails from Owerri North local government area where the incumbent, Senator Ezenwa Onyewuchi, also comes from.

It was gathered that many leaders in the entire Owerri zone are not happy with a situation whereby the senate seat that has been held in Owerri North for eight years will simply remain in the same local government area when there are LGAs in the zone that have not had the opportunity to serve even for a simple term. Apart from Onyewuchi, Senator Eze Ajoku, also from Owerri North LGA, served as senator for a period of about ten months following the death of the late Senator Amah Iwuagwu.

The second bone of contention is the fear that Governor Hope Uzodimma might have tactically structured out the Owerri federal constituency from the calculations of who succeeds him. Particularly uncomfortable with the development, according to highly dependable sources, are leaders from the Emekuku –Awaka– Egbu axis, known in several circles as the Emekuku cabal, who are believed to be determined to see that the next governor of the state comes from that area. There are at least three notable aspirants for the office of the governor in the area.

A political heavy weight from Owerri Municipal, whose people are also belived to be eyeing the top job but who pleaded anonymity, at the weekend disclosed that the leaders in the entire Owerri zone have decided to work towards ensuring that a fellow from Ngor Okpala emerges as the next senator of the zone at the January 2027 general elections. Apart from the sentiment over the perennial marginalization of Ngor Okpala, which is the only political bloc that has not produced a senator in the zone, the Emekuku-Egbu-Awaka-+Municipal bloc is said to believe that aiding an Ngor Okpala indigene win the senatorial election in January 2027 will put their area in a better stead to bargain for the governorship ticket of the APC.

For the May 18, 2026 APC primaries, the two leading contenders were Mbata and the youthful Dr Chijioke Kaduru from Obiangwu town in Ngor Okpala local government area. Even though Kaduru made a lot of impression especially among the young people in Ngor Okpala, not a few believed that he lacked the necessary experience and contact to successfully pull through the primary election let alone the general elections proper. Ahead of the Monday May 18, 2026 National Assembly primaries ,speculations were rife that Governor Uzodimma had already made up his mind to throw up Mbata who, incidentally, was also the candidate of the APC at the 2023 senatorial elections.

Following Kaduru’s ‘defeat’, a wave of emotions has been sweeping across Ngor Okpala, majority of whose people, especially the youths, and irrespective of party leanings, have vowed to back the candidacy of Dr. Matthew Chima Amadi who is to fly the flag of his party, the Action Peoples Party (APP) at the January 2027 polls. Before the current election season, Dr. Amadi had made tremendous impact among his people in Ngor Okpala who saw his emergence in the political terrain as one singular development that strengthened their collective resolve to end years of political discrimination against them especially by their Owerri federal constituency and Mbaise neighbours.

It is gathered that irrespective of party leaning,majority of the youths in the area has vowed to work for Amadi’s victory at the polls, a sentiment strengthened by the fate suffered by Dr. Chijioke Kaduru.

Suave, urbane and believed to posses a huge war chess, Dr. Chima Amadi’s trajectory however transcends his native Ngor Okpala. He enjoys high acceptability across the entire Owerri zone, including Mbaise and with penetrative impact in both Okigwe and Orlu zones.Observers and analists point out that what further adds to the Amadi attraction among Owerri federal constituency political leadership is the belief that among the senatorial candidates that have so far emerged in the entire Owerri zone,Amadi is probably the only one that has what it takes to not only garner the winner votes but to also protect them from likely predators especially from the ruling APC.