POLITICS
2023 Election: Why I Want to be President – Nwankwo
A U.S.-based Mechanical Engineer, Mr Godswill Nwankwo, has declared his intention to contest the seat of the country’s president in the 2023 election.
Nwankwo made his intention known on Monday in a telephone interview in Abuja.
He said that his intention was borne out of concerns to build on existing structures and improve the standard of living in the country.
According to the intending presidential aspirant, the country needs to be repositioned economically to retain its status of Africa’s best economy and “Giant of Africa’’.
Nwankwo, who hails from Ukwa East Local Government Area of Abia, also said he would review the country’s constitution and positively review the command structure of the police among others.
“When I am elected, my first line of action will be to review the constitution.
“Also, the command structure of the police will be reviewed.
“There is what we call community policing where you allow people that belong to that community to police or protect the communities that they are serving.
“For example, you don’t expect an Igbo man to go to Sokoto State and police a community; language will be his or her number one barrier in that kind of structure because he doesn’t understand Hausa-Fulani language.
“We will want a situation whereby , for instance, people of Sokoto are responsible for their police, Abia communities policed by their people, and in the end you have a state and local government police.
“This structure must not be influenced by the Federal Government.
“So, my first assignment will be to begin to address the issue of the constitution and come up with recommendations that will work for Nigerians,” Nwankwo said.
He said that though he had yet to decide on which political platform to contest, his main obligation would be to the citizenry.
“I have been contacted by several political parties. In the end, my sole commitment will be the manifesto, agenda and what I promised Nigerians before the election.
“I will not let anything get in the way of my promise when elected and there will be no shackles holding me down from executing my promises.
“The 2023 election will be a decision for Nigerians electing a constitutional value that will affect the core values, and the lives of their children and grandchildren.
“When I emerge as president, it will be about Nigeria and not PDP, APC, APGA or any political party and so on; I will stop at nothing to see that Nigerians are secured and are prosperous.
“I will also ensure that Nigerians are able to access the opportunity we will provide and also able to have access to law enforcement that is supposed to protect them,” he added.
Nwankwo added that his manifesto, which can be viewed on “Nigeriapresident.com” , was crafted to ensure that when he becomes president, Nigerians would be entitled to have equal rights, freedom, liberty, justice and opportunity.
He said that the focal point of his administration would be for every citizen to be happy and safe while going about their lawful duties.
NAN reports that Nwankwo had previously worked for Schlumberger, Halliburton, Baker Hughes INTEQ and several national and multi-national companies both in Nigeria and overseas.
He has a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering with specialisation in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) from Rivers State University.
He also has a Master of Science (MSc) degree in Computer Science with specialisation in Cognitive Artificial Intelligence from Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas.
The aspiring presidential candidate also acquired a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Finance with specialisation in Private Equity and Investments from the University of Houston CT Bauer College of Business in Houston, Texas. (NAN)
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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