POLITICS
Abia Guber: Why I Stepped Down for Emenike, Ugorji Explains
By Jude Opara, Abuja
A House of Representatives aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia State, Mark Ugorji has said that he perished his earlier ambition to contest for the state governorship election in order to support the aspirations of the state’s party leader, Chief Ikechi Emenike.
Ugorji who picked his expression of interest and nomination form at the National Secretariat of the APC on Wednesday said he was confident that Emenike could become the “messiah” Abians need at this point in time that the state has been in ruined.
He insisted that his quest for the position is to alleviate the people whom he said have been buried in abject poverty by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which has been in power for over 23 years.
He further noted that since Emenike has more than he can offer, he had no choice than to step down and support him in rebuilding the state.
He said; “Presently I am a strong member of the APC. I have done so much for the party and still doing. I was running for governorship position of the state but a time came when I saw the way things were going and took the decision to step down for Chief Emenike to run for the House of Representatives.
“Having seen that he is a pragmatic, intelligent, sincere and honest man decked with integrity, I jettisoned my ambition to allow my good people of Abia access to the dividends of democracy he is bringing on board. In Abia State we have gone through thick and thin in the hands of people not qualified to govern the state. We have gone through difficult situations. Our state is not developed. Our state appears to be the most undeveloped among the 36 states just because of the calibre of people governing the state.
“So today we have decided that somebody who can hand the dividends of democracy to our people should take over the reins of leadership. Someone who can give us infrastructure, quality education, take care of security, health, a lot of things that will bring joy to the people is the one we are giving our mandate to lead us and that person is Chief Emenike. If he becomes governor of Abia State come 2023, I Know for sure that Abia will not remain the same again.”
According to Ugorji, there is no faction in Abia APC because what people are calling faction is a group of people that has been misled or misinformed by those working for the PDP at night and become APC in the day.
He accused them of working tirelessly to endure the PDP retains the state and continue the destruction that has been there for 23 years but advised them to change because Abia people have become wiser and are ready to take back their state.
“I don’t want to discuss PDP here. I don’t want to discuss other parties or the people that have ruled the state over the years but the fact remains that if we elect Chief Emenike as our governor in 2023, Abia State will not be the same again. Leakages we have in our economy will be a thing of the past. He is a man who can make Abia great once again.”
Speaking further, the aspirant said as a national legislator, he needed a very solid home to fight for the dividends of democracy for his people at the centre.
“When I emerge as the lawmaker representing my constituency and by extension my state, I will definitely need a solid back up from my home state to fight for my people’s dividends of the democracy and that brings to bear the importance of a quality governor. A governor who will definitely stand by and for his people at all time.
“I will offer good representation to my people. I won’t be somebody that will be at the Chambers of the House of Representatives watching others make case for their people. I am bringing change in the aspect of representation. By interacting with me, you should know that I am very active politically and in governance.
“So, when I get there, the entire Abia will see the impact because I am going there to make sure that Abians are adequately and effectively represented, particularly the Ikwuano Umuahia federal Constituency.”
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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