"The governor's legacies would outlive him whether anyone likes it or not and it might be what people termed as third term."

The Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi's younger brother, Austin, has said he is eminently qualified to head the All Progressives Congress (APC) Campaign Council in the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the governor and his wife, Rachel, head the men and women wing of the council, respectively, while Austin is its Director General.

Mr Austin was reacting to public outcry over the fear about the possible overbearing influence his family would exact on the party's governorship candidate, Francis Nwifuru, if elected.

He dismissed the fear, saying that the governor merely replicated what obtained at the national level of the party, "in constituting the state's campaign council".

He said: "The governor, as a brother, does not see my destiny and I have made sacrifices.

"This sort of wicked insinuation made me not to occupy any position in the first and second tenure of this government.

"All my siblings did not occupy positions but people are still writing.

"I am exceedingly qualified to head the campaign council just as all its members are also qualified.

"I am very close to Nwifuru as I am to the governor and was appointed his returning officer during the party's primaries.

"This will not be seen as overbearing because he appointed me and I am still going to be his returning officer at the polls.

"I love him and must ensure he wins and if that is overbearing, let us achieve results," Mr Austin said.

He said the governor was not nursing any third term agenda because it is unconstitutional.

"Such an insinuation is a product of junk journalism but ones legacies can outlive him.

"The governor's legacies would outlive him whether anyone likes it or not and it might be what people termed as third term," he said.

He further said that the party would win overwhelmingly because it had "performed creditably to earn the people's trust."