Labour Party candidate for the Umuahia Central State Constituency in the Abia State House of Assembly, Anthony Chinasa-Abiola, has refuted claims of having Yoruba roots.
This comes after speculations arose that he was a Yoruba man, following the ‘Abiola’ attached to his name.
In a recent interview on TVC, Chinasa addressed the rumors and clarified that his name was not an indicator of his ethnicity.
He stated that Abiola was a “guy name” and that he is a typical Igbo man with no mixed breed.
Chinasa said, “I’m not a Yoruba man and I don’t have any mixed breed at all. I’m a typical Igbo man. But my opponent thinks they want to strike me with a Yoruba name and when it went viral, I began to enjoy it.”
He added, “The Yoruba in my name is a guy name”
Despite this, his opponents used this as a tactic against him, hoping to exploit his name for political gain.
However, Chinasa has taken a stand against this, insisting that it is not relevant to his campaign.
It is safe to state that the use of ethnicity, religion and tribalism in Nigerian politics has been a long-standing issue.