Political stakeholders and civil society organisations in Ebonyi State have urged voters to look beyond political manifestos, slogans and personalities and interrogate the competence, capacity, policy proposals and track records of candidates ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The stakeholders made the call on Monday in Abakaliki during a democratic dialogue organised by the Centre for Media and Dialogue Initiative (CMDI), in collaboration with the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Ebonyi state council, with the theme, “Beyond the Manifesto: Ebonyi 2027 Election and the People’s Interrogation of Next Leadership.”
Programme Director of CMDI, Eze Chikodiri Igwe, said the initiative was designed to provide a credible, respectful and non-partisan platform where candidates could explain their programmes while citizens and the media interrogated their policy choices and capacity to deliver.
Igwe said democracy required more than campaign promises, urging voters to demand clear explanations on how proposed policies would be implemented, the resources required and mechanisms for measuring performance and holding elected officials accountable.
He said, “A manifesto tells us what a candidate promises. Democracy, however, requires us to go further and ask: What is the problem? What is the proposed solution? How will it be delivered? What resources will it require? What priorities will guide the choices? How will citizens measure performance?”
According to him, the objective was not to endorse any candidate or political party but to move electoral discourse “from political promises to public policy; from slogans to substance; from personalities to capacity; and from campaign rhetoric to measurable commitments.”
Chairman of the Correspondents’ Chapel, NUJ, Ebonyi State, Comrade Uchenna Inya, said journalists had a responsibility to set the agenda for public discourse and ensure that voters were adequately informed about candidates and their programmes.
Inya urged the media to interrogate candidates on their plans for critical sectors, including agriculture, healthcare, security and the economy, stressing that journalists must remain professional and non-partisan while reporting the electoral process.
Representing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mrs Esther Idam, urged registered voters to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), while cautioning citizens and political actors against misinformation and fake news.
She also warned youths against being used to perpetrate electoral violence and urged voters to familiarise themselves with their polling units and electoral guidelines.
Candidates and representatives of the Labour Party, ADC, PDP, NDC, ARM and other political parties participated in the dialogue, where they fielded questions on leadership, voter participation, accountability, electoral procedures and the delivery of campaign promises.
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidates, however, were absent from the event.
Reacting to the APC’s absence, the state PDP chairman, Chief Chukwuma Igwe, represented by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Comrade Darlington Onwe, accused the ruling party of deliberately avoiding the dialogue despite being duly invited.
Onwe said the PDP governorship candidate, Chief Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii, who was out of the country, sent a representative to the programme, while the PDP chairman also sent him to represent the party after he was unable to attend because of flight-related issues.
He said, “APC deliberately avoided this dialogue and they were duly notified. The Governor was personally invited and if he was too busy, he was supposed to send a representative like our principal, Chief Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii, the governorship candidate of PDP, who sent someone to represent him.”
Onwe added: “APC is not around here; they ran away from the dialogue because they don’t have anything to show. PDP has been challenging them to a debate, but they have continued to run away because they don’t have something to show.”
Participants subsequently questioned candidates, electoral officials and political stakeholders on voter participation, electoral procedures, accountability and the implementation of campaign promises.
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