Prince Alex Mbata, the All Progressives Congress senatorial candidate for Imo East, has challenged voters in Owerri Zone to look beyond political slogans and campaign rhetoric by scrutinising the records, antecedents and capacity of those seeking to represent them as the 2027 election season gathers momentum.
Speaking in a message to the people of Owerri Zone on Wednesday as the campaign period opened, Mbata said the commencement of campaigns should usher in a period of responsible political engagement rather than bitterness, personal attacks and division. He urged voters to listen carefully to competing messages, ask questions and examine what each aspirant had actually done before making their choice.
“Do not allow political excitement to take away your ability to think. Listen to everyone. Ask questions. Examine records. Look at antecedents. Consider capacity,” Mbata said, insisting that voters should look beyond slogans and determine what each aspirant understood about the challenges facing the people and what they could realistically contribute to the future.
“Our people deserve informed choices. They deserve representation that understands their concerns. They deserve leaders who recognise that public office is a responsibility, not a trophy,” Mbata said. He added that his humanitarian interventions, empowerment initiatives, community engagements and development efforts formed part of a record that voters were entitled to examine before deciding who should represent them.
“My journey was not started today, and my relationship with the people did not begin because an election is approaching,” Mbata said, arguing that a candidate’s past should form an important part of the conversation about the future. “When the future is being discussed, the past should not be forgotten,” he said.
Mbata also appealed to political actors to maintain civility during the campaign, saying electoral competition should not destroy the relationships binding communities together. “Let us compete with ideas. Let us campaign with dignity. Let us disagree without hatred,” he said, adding that candidates and their supporters would remain neighbours, brothers, sisters and citizens of the same communities after the election.
Addressing the PAM movement, Mbata urged his supporters to avoid distractions and concentrate on grassroots organisation, engagement and disciplined communication as the campaign intensifies. “Do not measure the strength of this movement only by the noise we make. Measure it by the relationships we build, the communities we touch, the conversations we influence and the confidence we earn,” he said. Mbata added that his supporters should take the movement’s story to communities without insulting opponents or intimidating those who hold different political views. “We are building a movement, not a mob,” he declared.
Mbata said the ultimate issue before Owerri Zone was the quality of representation it would secure, urging the electorate to make the 2027 contest a referendum on records, competence, character and capacity. “The future of Owerri Zone must remain at the heart of everything we do,” he said, while calling on supporters to strengthen their structures, deepen community engagement and approach the political season with patience, discipline and political intelligence.
