Anambra Guber: I’ll Only Support Labour Party If Party Fields Viable Candidate – Sen Umeh

LAGOS – Senator Victor Umeh, lawmaker who is representing Anambra Central at the Red Chamber of the National Assembly on the platform of the Labour Party has said that he’ll only support the candidate of his party in the November 8, Anambra State election if the party fields a viable candidate.

Umeh, while speaking in Arise TV on Tuesday, stated that he won’t be forced into supporting a candidate who in his view won’t win the election.

He said, “My support for the Labour Party will depend on who emerges and they know. If you call me to come and be part of something that is not viable, I won’t be part of it. Your quality will determine your viability. I know all of them and there’s nothing like a popular person.

When asked if he still stands with the labour party ahead of the elections, he said, “It depends who the party fields. Let me tell you succinctly, I’m not going to be forced into supporting a candidate who in my view won’t win the election in the first place. We have to win the election first to be in office. I know who has the capacity to win. I know the relative strength of everyone because I laid the structure of the politics of the state. You know the roles stakeholders play in the politics of Anambra State because I have been around in every election, so I know that there is a set of influence in who becomes governor of Anambra State. It’s not about coming out to say, “here I am send me”

He added, “At my status now I think about the welfare of my state not purely partisanship. What I want is progressive development of my people. Anambra, being in the league of states in this country because we have the human resources, very capable people in that state. The state has not been in short supply of geniuses and people of all caliber in commerce and different spheres of life. It’s a state that should be run properly and in the past 25 years I have always been on the progressive side trying to withstand very powerful forces. That’s how I ended APGA as chairman. We were able to win governorship in Anambra State back to back through Peter Obi. I drove the process. We were able to win governorship in Anambra State through Obiano, back to back. As my tenure ended I stayed behind to push Soludo into office. I worked very hard to ensure he became governor. I was convinced he was the best candidate at that time.

“My support is always given to somebody I consider that will work very well for the people devoid of politics because they are human beings they can make mistakes and make wrong decisions. They are not infallible.

Umeh added, “You said that I supported Soludo recently. Yes, it’s because of security. We almost lost our state. People were being killed and everybody was running away and suddenly he came with this new security architecture. Almost all the criminals are being rounded up on a daily basis, which is what people are yearning for.”