POLITICS
Anambra 2021: SDP Guber Candidate Promises to End Social ills, as 100 APGA Members Decamp to Accord
Dr Obinna Uzo, candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, in the Anambra governorship election on Nov. 6, said that his administration will end the prevailing insecurity in the state if elected governor.
Uzo said this during a town-hall meeting oraganised by the SDP state party chairman, Chief Cyril Chinwuba, in Awka on Sunday.
He urged the SDP stakeholders from the 326 wards of the 21 local government areas of the state that his administration will be guided by the party’s philosophy.
Uzo said that the SDP is the only political party in the state that have a genuine programme that is targeted at uplifting the indigents.
He said that he wants to do things differently in Anambra.
With the party ideology, all sectors of the economy will be structured to benefit everybody in the state.“I have a plan to restructure the core areas of focus in the state to ensure quality and affordable schools, markets, health centres, roads. security and Agriculture amongst others,” he said.
Uzo said that all forms of criminality would be checked through empowering the poor to be gainfully engaged either in trading, agriculture and through skill acquisition.
He stated that he first contested for the governorship of Anambra in 2003; that time I contested against Dr. Chris Ngige, Mr. Peter Obi, and, some others.
He said that the zeal to develop the state to a higher level keeps pushing him to rewrite the mistake of the past leaders.
“I have been in the act of philosophy over the years, building houses for the poor, the widows; awarding scholarships to indigents students, and empowering the youths, amongst others.
“I am in politics to improve the welfare of the poor; if we eventually emerge victorious on Nov. 6, which I am confident I will win because you people have been mobilising the grassroots, we shall rebuild Anambra.
Uzo said to have quick development like good road network would be built to promote economic growth and trade among communities and neighboring states.
“Youths would be empowered to fend for themselves and improve their welfare and so social vices and crimes like kidnapping, banditry, unknown gunmen, and other forms of criminality will vanish,” he said.
Uzo said that about 18 political parties had fielded candidates for the governorship election, and, urged the electorate to canvass for the success of the election.
“Time is now for all the party faithful to fish for voters so that SDP will come out on top.
“SDP has submitted about 6,068 party agents to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and, expressed optimism that if the election is conducted free and fair, he will win.
Earlier the party chairman, Chinwuba, encouraged the faithful to go back to their wards to preach SDP candidates to their friends and relatives and ensure victory at last.
Chinwuba urged the voters to come out on election day to vote and protect their votes by watching well to avoid exchange of votes by desperate politicians.
Mrs Uche Okpala, the woman leader of SDP, urged the women to come out and vote on the election day as security has been provided.
Okpala advised women to go look up their voters cards and keep them handy for the Nov. 6 election.
Mr Innocent Aroh, a party faithful, said that SDP have provided a good candidate for the election and urged them all not to loose focus.
Aroh said that election 2021 is peculiar and urged voters to stand strong on their belief that Uzo can deliver dividends of democracy to them.
Dr Godwin Maduka, Accord party candidate, received over 100 members of APGA from Ogbaru council area of the state.
Dr Chris Opia led the delegation who decamped, citing APGA’s lack of internal democracy and bad leadership.
Opia said that the decided to join Accord because its candidate, Maduka, is God sent, what he has done in his Umuchukwu community as an individual speaks volume.
The election period is at its peak but would be gradually winding down by Thursday, Nov. 4.(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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