The African Democratic Congress (ADC) House of Representatives candidate for Ezza South/Ikwo Federal Constituency of Ebonyi State, Ambassador Ephraim Iyke Nwonu, has withdrawn from the 2027 election.
This was just as he declared support for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid.
Nwonu, whose name remains on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) portal as the ADC candidate, announced his decision on Saturday in Abuja.
He said he had decided to abandon his ambition to represent the constituency in the House of Representatives because of his support for Tinubu and Ebonyi State Governor.
“I am the official ADC candidate for the Ezza South/Ikwo Federal Constituency on the INEC portal, but I have decided to jettison and sacrifice that ambition because of my unalloyed support for Mr President and my state governor,” he said.
Nwonu, who previously supported the ADC presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, said he would join APC stakeholders in Ebonyi State and his constituency to mobilise support for Tinubu and the governor.
He also traced his relationship with Tinubu to 1992, when the President was a senator and Nwonu’s late mentor, Senator Polycarp Nwite, was also a member of the Senate.
According to him, Nwite subsequently appointed him secretary of the now-defunct Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN) in Ebonyi State.
“Senator Nwite appointed me as the secretary of the defunct DPN in Ebonyi State, so I have every reason to be where Tinubu is,” he said.
Meanwhile, the ADC has called for an independent investigation into the deaths of 37 miners in Niger State, demanding the identification and compensation of the victims’ families.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the opposition party called for independent autopsies, publication of the victims’ identities and detention records, compensation for their families and prosecution of officials found responsible for their deaths.
“Thirty-seven Nigerians entered government custody alive. Their families are now being asked to receive their bodies. This is an indictment on this government about the value of the average Nigerian life. Low income Nigerians are not disposable, and no Nigerian should lose his or her life simply because they were arrested while struggling to survive,” the party said.
The ADC said the victims’ arrest during raids on mining sites did not extinguish their constitutional rights to life, dignity and due process.
“We must be clear: poverty is not a capital offence. Unemployment is not a death sentence. No accusation, whatever the case, gives any government institution the right to return citizens to their families in body bags,” it said.
The party linked the incident to Nigeria’s cost-of-living and unemployment crises, arguing that economic hardship had pushed many Nigerians into desperate means of survival.
It also accused the government of arresting poor miners while failing to expose and prosecute powerful interests allegedly financing illegal mining and related criminal networks.
“The poor are arrested for digging to survive, while the powerful men who finance illegal mining, sponsor insecurity and cart away Nigeria’s mineral wealth remain beyond the reach of the law. The Tinubu administration has made honest work scarce, survival expensive and insecurity profitable,” the ADC said.
