POLITICS
2023: Anyim, Obi, Others Unite to Deliver PDP Ticket to Southeast
Obiozor, Achebe, Iwuanyanwu, Others Meet in Owerri, Lend Voice to Igbo Presidency
The former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Pius Anyim, former governor of Anambra state, Peter Obi, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa and Dr. Nwachukwu Anakwenze at the weekend, secured the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the 2023 general election.
The presidential aspirants said the purpose of resolving to work together as a team, was to ensure that the southeast emerged the PDP presidential flag bearer.
The four Presidential aspirants who spoke to newsmen through the former senate President, Anyim Pius said; “all of us from the South East, who have declared intention to run for the office of president of Nigeria and have obtained the nomination forms of our great party the PDP, met in Abuja.
“The main purpose of our meeting was for us to resolve to work together to promote understanding, unity and collaboration among the four of us and any other person from the South-East zone who may later join in the race. We had a very fruitful meeting in an atmosphere of friendliness and respect for one another. “We have agreed to work together as a team. We will work together to ensure that a South Easterner emerges the PDP flag bearer; we intend to consult with other zones on this issue and it is based on fairness and equity; “In doing so, it is important to note that we have always supported other zones and we now expect them to reciprocate.“We are committed to working with our party leadership and party members from across the country to ensure that the founding principles and ideals of our great party are upheld. “This is to reassure Nigerians that PDP is ready to rebuild and reunite our dear country. We ask Nigerians to give us the chance to fix this country. Together we will get Nigeria to work again” he added. It could be recalled that governors of southern states elected on the platform of the PDP on Friday insisted that the party should zone its 2023 presidential ticket to the southern part of Nigeria for equity and fairness.
The governors expressed their position on the issue of zoning while briefing journalists after their meeting on Friday night at Akwa-Ibom Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja. The Governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu, speaking on behalf of the governors, said they had watched with keen interest developments in PDP regarding zoning, and maintain their earlier stand that the ticket should be zoned to the south.
“Our position is that first, we are committed to the unity of our party and we have worked hard to make sure that this party remains a strong and viable vehicle to ‘rescue’ Nigeria come 2023.
“Be that as it may, we want to draw your attention to the fact that we have agreed as Southern Governors in Lagos and also in Delta that this party has to respect the zoning principle as enshrined in our Constitution. “And to that effect, we feel that the best thing to do is zone the presidency to the South, and we stand on that position. “We have not seen any reason to change our position, because the party was founded on the basis of equity and justice. “We also think that equity and justice are important pillars that will ultimately stabilise our politics towards our journey in rescuing Nigeria,” Mr Ikpeazu said.
Asked if the governors would reconsider their position if making the party’s ticket open would allow PDP win in 2023, Mr Ikpeazu said “you haven’t told me why zoning will not give us victory.” Also fielding questions on speculations that the PDP zoning committee has already made the ticket open, Mr Ikpeazu said that the southern governors do not work on speculations.
Obiozor, Achebe, Iwuanyanwu, Others Meet in Owerri, Insist on Igbo Presidency
Meanwhile there has been an intensified campaign by prominent Igbo leaders for other regions to give way and allow the South East to produce the country’s next president. Igbo leaders converged in Owerri, the Imo State capital, to re-echo the growing demand for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to zone presidential ticket for 2023 elections to the Southeast.
This is coming a few hours after presidential aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the Southeast met in Abuja to display significant solidarity and unity of purpose in the issue of the presidency in 2023. The Igbo leaders said that it is the turn of the Southeast to produce the President of Nigeria and pleaded with other regions to support their aspiration in the spirit of equity and justice.
To ensure that this happens, they called on all political parties in the country to zone the Presidency to the Southeast. The meeting was a reception in honour of Prof. George Obiozor, President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide. However it became an avenue for the Igbo to reiterate their position on the 2023 presidential race as the political parties prepare for their primary elections.
The Igbo leaders warned that any political party that fails to zone its presidential ticket to the Southeast should forget the votes of Ndigbo.In his speech, Obiozor lamented that the state of the Nigerian economy, which was one of the leading economies in Africa. He said that the economy has been worsened by many national events including the security challenges which has shaken the confidence of major investors in the economy. “Nigeria is no longer the destination for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and regrettably, most international companies are divesting and leaving Nigeria in their large number,” Prof Obiozor said.
The former Director General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) bemoaned in particular the state of affairs in the Southeast.“The sad and unfortunate consequence is the fact that our Southeast zone is further pushed into the vicious circle of unemployment, poverty and restiveness.”Obiozor said Ndigbo are known for their industry and hard work and require an enabling environment to excel.
He regretted the absence of equity, justice and fairness in the polity which has robbed Nigeria of that enabling environment.Obiozor said the 2023 elections remain critical to the continued survival of the country. “A Southeast Presidency in 2023 will have a healing effect on the conscience of the nation and it is an idea whose time has come. It is politically defensible and morally justifiable in maintaining Nigerian unity.”
Harping on the imperative of getting it right in 2023, Obiozor said: “The future of Ndigbo and other Nigerians rests on how best its fortune in three very crucial planks – security, economy, national politics and governance – is harnessed. “Our assessment of the security and the economy of our nation inspite of all our efforts is deplorable and requires urgent national attention.
“For these and many other reasons, Nigeria is a troubled nation, and in this contest, we see the upcoming Presidential election as critical as never before in Nigeria’s history.” Obiozor said Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has remained very steadfast in its position that a nation without the consciousness and deep commitment to the enthronement of equity, justice and fairness undermines the very foundation on which the ethos of good governance are premised. “These are even more imperative and compelling necessity in diverse and multi-ethnic, multicultural and multi-religious countries like Nigeria.
“Ndigbo firmly believes that the diversity of Nigeria has been grossly mismanaged and the upcoming 2023 Presidential election provides an excellent opportunity to redress any sense of exclusion or marginalisation felt by the people of Southeast zone over the years. “It is for this reason that I call on all political parties in the country to zone the Presidency to the Southeast.”
Obiozor who appreciated the Southern and Middle Belt leadership forum for their steadfastness and unshaken support for zoning and rotation of the Presidency to the Southeast come 2023 said the country’s diversity should be turned to strength. He insisted that “this can only come from an inclusive arrangement in which all groups have a sense of belonging, feel welcome and respected for their invaluable contributions to the nation’s development.”
Other Igbo leaders who spoke, including Lady Victoria Akanwa, Gen. Ike Nwachukwu, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, Chief John Nnia Nwodo, among others, echoed the same sentiment. Lady Akanwa, former commissioner in the old Imo State during the Second Republic, said Ndigbo should support Ohanaeze to deliver on the promise of Nigerian President of Southeast extraction in 2023.
“Ndigbo have been sponsoring others to the highest office in the land. Now is the time for them to bring out their money to support one of their own. We must all support Ohanaeze. It is very important,” she said. Gen. Nwachukwu (retd), former Minister of External Affairs, who said he has been friends with Prof. Obiozor for more than four decades, said it was imperative that Ndigbo respect the Ohanaeze President. “If we don’t respect him, we cannot be respected. Now that we are talking about Igbo presidency, we will send George to lead the charge for us. It will happen. An Igbo man will be president.”
The Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, reaffirmed his belief that an Igboman will be president of Nigeria in 2023.“We are hungry for it. It is our turn, we have he capacity and we have the people. Let us rebuild our homeland. Ohanaeze, you will lead us, bring peace and rebuild our homeland, create opportunities for us.” Speaking in the same vein, the immediate past President of Ohanaeze, Chief John Nnia Nwodo, said Igbos are at the crossroads and requested his successor, Obiozor, to urgently summon a meeting of Ime Obi Ohanaeze because danger is lurking. “Let Ndigbo give you the mandate. We have people who will do this battle. You are at a moment in history.”
The roll-call at the meeting which started at about 8pm on Saturday and didn’t end until the early hours of Sunday was who-is-who in Igboland.Apart from Uzodimma, the chief host and Prof. Obiozor, other guests included Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, First Republic Minister, Chief Mbazulike Amechi; Sen. Anyim Pius Anyim, Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe; Prof. ABC Nwosu, former Minister of Health; and Prof. Maurice Iwu, former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Also in attendance were Lady Victoria Akanwa, Gen. Ike Nwachukwu, Nze Ozichukwu Chukwu, former PDP National Vice Chairman, Southeast; Chief Ikedi Ohakim, former Governor of Imo State; former Senate President, Chief Adolphus Wabara; Chief Nnia Nwodo, immediate past President General of Ohanaeze; and his predecessor, Chief Gary Enwo-Igariwey; former chairman of the Police Service Commission, Chief Simon N. Okeke; former Chief of Army Staff, General Azubuike Ihejirika; Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr. Uche Ogah; Senator Frank Ibezim, Hon. Chike Okafor, a member of the House of Representatives.
Also in attendance were former chairman, Southeast Council of Traditional rulers, Eze Cletus Ilomuanya; chairman Imo State Council of Traditional Rulers, Eze E. C. Okeke; Imo State Deputy Governor, Prof Placid Njoku; Secretary to Imo State Government (SSG), Chief Cosmas Iwu; Ohanaeze Secretary General, Ambassador Okey Emuchay, among several others.
The Abia Chapter of the INEC Staff Welfare Association (ISWA) has warned its members to uphold the integrity of the commission and guard against the culture of manipulating election results.
The Abia Chairman of the association, Mr Collins Eze, gave the advice at the group’s general meeting and end-of-year party in Umuahia.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen on the sideline of the ceremony, Eze said that the staff members were adequately aware of their enormous responsibility and should ensure free, fair and credible elections.
He said: “We have also told our colleagues that anywhere they find themselves they should make sure that they do the needful by ensuring transparency in the conduct of elections.
“We have always told them not to allow anybody to induce them with money to manipulate election results.
“I’m happy that they have been building the capacity of our colleagues on election processes.
“So, in the coming years, we won’t have any problem in ensuring free, fair and peaceful elections.”
He said that the end-of-year party was special as it afforded them the opportunity “to wine and dine together as well as thank God for sustaining them in 2024”.
Eze said that his leadership had introduced various means of assisting members in dire financial needs by providing platforms to solicit suppory for them.
He expressed gratitude to members for their support and cooperation, describing them as the “secret behind the success of this administration”.
He said that 34 of at least 350 staff members of the commission in the state retired from service in 2024.
According to him, the development has placed a huge financial burden on the association, in terms of their welfare and entitlement as members.
Report says that each member received a carton of tomato paste as Christmas gift from the association. (NAN)
A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has told the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be thankful to God that its 16-year administration was not probed by the successive APC-led governments.Okechukwu stated this on Tuesday in Abuja, while reacting to a statement by PDP congratulating Ghanaians for the conduct of free, fair and transparent general elections.
Report says that PDP had, in a statement, said that the verdict of the people of Ghana in the presidential election was a signal to the APC that its days were numbered. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, had said in the statement that the power of the people in Nigeria, just like in Ghana, would ‘surely prevail and end the APC’s oppressive rule’.This, he said, would “return Nigeria to the path of good governance, security, political stability and economic prosperity on the platform of the PDP in 2027.”However, in his reactions to Ologunagba’s statement, Okechukwu said that the PDP clan should thank God that former President Muhammadu Buhari and President Bola Tinubu, out of sheer statesmanship, had refused to probe ‘the 16 locus years of PDP administrations’.Okechukwu, a former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), described the 16 years of PDP administrations as ones full of squandering and lack of plan.He said that Nigeria had yet to recover from the humongous culture of impunity and trust deficit planted by PDP on the Nigerian soil.Okechukwu said corruption was among the culture of impunity, saying it governed the privatisation of Nigeria’s electricity value chain, a key element in the country’s industrialisation drive.“Another is the blatant rigging of the 2007 general elections which the foremost beneficiary, President Umaru Yar’Adua, out of good conscience and noble magnanimity, publicly acknowledged the malfeasance which characterised his victory,” he said.Okechukwu also mentioned what he called conscienceless sale of the legislative and ministerial quarters, the annual rentage of which, he said, was bleeding the country’s treasury.“Another one is the neglect of $23 billion Greenfield Refinery, which could have saved over $70 billion expended on importation of refined petroleum products and which simulated the economic hardship of today,” he said.On why, for nine years, the APC administration could not fix those challenges, he recalled the efforts made by the Buhari administration to reopen talks on the Greenfield Refinery which, according to him, the Chinese regrettably rebuffed.The former VON director-general said that Nigerians were not in a hurry to forget the deliberate breach of the rotational convention of president from the north to the south.He said that the country could not also forget the utter disregard for Section 7 of the PDP’s constitution which expressly mandated zoning.Okechukwu advised the PDP not to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians by assuming that citizens would easily forget how they were put in the harms way.He said that PDP should thank God that Buhari and Tinubu did not want to probe them, adding “that’s why Nigerians cannot decipher the difference between the two political parties.” (NAN)
Sen. Ned Nwoko (PDP-Delta) says that Local Government Administration is central to democracy in Nigeria as it ensures grassroots governance and service delivery at the local level.This is contained in a statement signed by Dr Michael Nwoko, the Chief of Staff to the lawmaker in Abuja on Monday.Nwoko said this on the occasion of the presentation of an award “Icon of Hope” to him by the Association of Local Government Vice Chairmen of Nigeria (ALGOVC).
He was represented by his Chief of Staff. He said that the importance of local government administration in the country could not be overemphasised, as it was the bedrock of democracy.According to him, local governments in Nigeria play key roles in the country’s democracy by promoting participatory democracy, providing services, and representing citizens.“Local Governments help determine local needs and how to meet them. They also act as a link between the centre, state, and local people.“They are created to decentralise power and bring the government closer to the people. They perform both mandatory and concurrent functions.“It is in view of this that I took it upon myself to enhance the viability of local governments through the Paris and London club loan refunds,”he said.Dr Folashade Olabanji-Oba, ALGOVC National Chairman, while presenting the award at its 7th Annual National Conference, said the award was in recognition of the lawmaker’s significant contributions to strengthening local government administration.She highlighted Nwoko’s critical role in ensuring the Paris and London Club loan refunds, a financial breakthrough she said enhanced the capacity of local governments nationwide.(NAN)
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