Umahi to APC: You can’t use Abakaliki Stadium for rally

Ebonyi State government yesterday urged the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state to look elsewhere for its proposed rally this Saturday, saying the Abakaliki Township Stadium it planned to use for the exercise was still undergoing reconstruction and renovation. A faction of the APC in the state had announced that it would hold a mega rally to draw membership to the party at the Pa Ngele Oruta Abakaliki Township Stadium ahead of the 2019 general election. But, addressing members of the state Sports Writers Association (SWAN), who paid him a courtesy call in his office, Chief Press Secretary to Governor Dave Umahi, Emmanuel Uzor, announced that the stadium was undergoing reconstruction, including asphalting and illumination of floodlight. He said Governor Umahi had brought in investors from China that would upgrade the stadium to more international standard and that any political activity in the place would jeopardise the work currently ongoing at the stadium. Uzor said: “Abakaliki Township Stadium, now Pa Ngele Oruta Stadium, as you all know, has been under construction and as I am talking to you, the asphalt at the back of the stadium is ongoing and the illumination of the floodlight and the popular stand is ongoing. “The state government and the governor just came back from China, he brought some investors who are coming to look into the stadium and know how they can upgrade it to more international standard. “Any political activity in that place, especially by a particular party that is divided along three different strange lines, will jeopardise the construction work in the stadium.” ]]>