POLITICS
2023 Presidency: Women Will Do Better Than Men –Uju Ohanenye
By Jude Opara, Abuja
Ahead of the 2023 general elections, Nigerian men have been urged to give women the opportunity to rule the country so mas to right the anomalies allegedly created by them, after running the affairs of the country or over 60 years.
Mrs. Uju Ohanenye, a female presidential aspirant on the platform of the ruling All progressives Congress (APC) gave the charge in Abuja while addressing newsmen at the fallout of her successful filing and returning of her nomination forms to contest for the presidential primary of the party.
Ohanenye who also runs a charity outreach said the level of poverty suffered by most Nigerians is a direct fallout of the poor handling of the country by successive administrations.
She further revealed that her constant interaction with the less privileged Nigerians has given her an insight into what could be done to have a country where a majority of the people will live above poverty line.“I want to become the president of Nigeria because for a while I have been touching lives all over the country and I don’t want to be limited to a particular region. If I become a governor, I will be limited to my state, if I become a senator, I will be limited to my constituency and those that voted for me but if I am the president, I can touch the lives of all Nigerians, I will have the power to change things for those less privileged I have been working for, I want to do that because as the president, whatever decision I take, it will touch the entire country. I don’t even want to be a senator because to me it is a very dull job, I want activities, and I work more under stress, so I have the capacity and ability to be able to rule the country”.
The female aspirant also called on the womenfolk to support her dreams saying she believes that if a women even if not her gets the opportunity to run the country, that the impact would be felt in no distant time.
“So I am pleading with our women let us all come out and stand firmly for a woman to take charge, even it is not me, let it be another woman. Let us come because if the country is better it is in the interest of our children and if it continues to degenerate, it is also our loss. We as mother must guide our children to belong and take part in the governance of the country where they belong.
“Believe me, these banditry and all these illegalities will reduce to a heavy minimal and only those that are totally condemned in their mind that will continue to take to criminality. In fact, almost 90% will change from these bad behaviours, what they need is love, care and involvement in what is going on.
“That is why I am pleading with my fellow women to come out and let these men know that time has come for them to step aside because we are not satisfied, they should step aside, let women came on board and that is one of the reasons I am ruing, and believe me, I will be very strong to support and equip these my children to have a meaningful life”.
On how to reach the delegates that will vote at the primary election, she said; “I will tell you I have started this campaign long ago. Most of these states they are going to now because of election, I have been there severally and donated materials and equipment. I donated and equipped health centres, I donated and equipped skills acquisition centres, I have been empowering them for a while and some of them, even if I don’t go, they will strongly stand behind me”.
Ohanenye also thanked her husband and family for giving her all the support she needed to purchase the expression of interest form at the cost of N30 million Naira.
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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