PDP Chieftain Decries Obiano’s Refusal to Conduct Council Elections

Gboyega Akinsanmi

A chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Okechukwu Okafor at the weekend criticised Anambra State Governor, Mr. Willie Obiano for failing to conduct election into 21 local government areas in the state.

Okafor, also, said the people of the state should look beyond Obiano in the next governorship election, noting that it t was imperative to produce another candidate from Anambra North to complete the zone’s second term.

He canvassed the position in a statement he issued in reaction to a claim by Obiano’s Senior Special Adviser on Political Affairs, Mr. Tony-Collins Nwanbunwane that Anambra state “will return to crises days if the zone is not allowed to complete its eight-year term.”

As indicated in the statement, Okafor explained that the refusal of the governor “to conduct local government election is antithetic democracy in the state. It is a major failure of this administration.

“It is also a move to drag the state backward. Any approach that will make the governor a sole administrator is not acceptable. There is no justification whatsoever for not conducting the council elections.”

The chieftain argued that if the president had refused “to conduct guber poll over one flimsy excuse or the other, definitely Obiano himself will not have the opportunity to come on board.”

He thus scored the governor low, noting that his performance “is so abysmal and that the only thing that will make power to remain in Anambra North is for a better candidate to emerge from the zone.”

He said: “People like Nwanbunwanne should go and ask the market women who are moved from one market to another on weekly basis if Willie is working or not. Obiano’s aides drive on Nnewi-Okija junction road and other roads in the state that have become death traps.”

He urged the leadership of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) “to visit Awada, Ogbaru, and parts of Nnewi South where floods and erosion have swallowed homes and destroyed property worth millions of Naira.”

Okafor noted that Obiano governor declared zero tolerance for potholes on roads at his inauguration more than two years ago, though he had not made good his promise to the people of the state.

He added that the inauguration speech would soon be re-produced and circulated among the people of the state so as to make it public if he has made good his promises with action.
He agreed with a position of Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige that the incumbent governor would be flushed out of Government House in the next election for incompetence.