Makarfi: PDP will Support to Obaze to Take over Anambra

• Obaze insists on serving one term
David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka
The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ahmed Makarfi, has said the party will give full support to its candidate, Mr Oseloka Obaze, to win the November 18 governorship election in Anambra State.

Makarfi who was in Onitsha for the flag-off of the governorship campaign of the party’s candidate, said the PDP is united, and that with unity, the party would take back Anambra State and Nigeria for things to work in the country again.

He commended members of the party for the unity that exists in the state, saying it was high time they took their destiny in their hands by voting out the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) government in the state.

Makarfi said: “Anambra people, I urge you to take your destiny in your hand.
“You are enterprising people, you must change this government and vote in PDP. We will continue to unite men and women of PDP in the state and Nigeria. PDP is a Nigerian party and it is the only party under which Nigeria is one and has no tribal disunity.”

The party chairman said the party is now one family and would move from winning the Anambra State governorship election to winning back the country in 2019 and return the country to happiness and not one of lack and poverty as has been witnessed under the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Meanwhile, Obaze has insisted that if elected, he would do only one term to complete the remaining four years of the Anambra North Zone, where he and the incumbent Governor of the state, Chief Willie Obiano, hail from.

He said: “Anambra State is in utter disrepair. The state is broken. We must fix it. Our party has been out of power in the state for over 12 years. This is therefore a moment of reckoning.
“Today, we seek to return Anambra State to the stage of prosperity; in keeping with our party manifesto, we must return power to the people.

“Anambra people are suffering. Despite the hype and propaganda, our people are no longer enjoying the true dividends of democracy. The government of Obiano has failed them in more ways than one. Anambra State deserves better. We must therefore change the leadership and political narrative.

“I have committed myself and my administration to a single four-year term in office – 2018-2022. It will be four years of intensive and productive hard work. Our focus will be primarily on human development capital anchored on education.

“We will thus commit 26 per cent of our budget to education, with 10 per cent going to parochial and privately owned schools. We will in that context offer free education from kindergarten to JS3. We will also tackle youth unemployment through vocational training and certification.

“The state is not doing very well. Poor leadership, fiscal recklessness and lack of transparency and focus remain key challenges for the incumbent government. However, we know we have not done so well economically, not because the natural resources do not exist, not because the talents are not there, but because narrow political considerations have progressively and consistently trumped rational economic thinking and policy in governance. Such a defeatist mindset must change.”

The state Caretaker Committee Chairman of the party and former Minister of Health, Prof ABC Nwosu, in his speech called on Anambra people to connect the state to national grid through PDP in the forthcoming election.
He said Anambra State has for too long been a lone state, being the only APGA-controlled state in the country. He said such has denied the state of most democratic dividends that accrue from the centre.

The flag-off campaign was attended by a huge crowd and political bigwigs from the party including; Celestine Omehia; former Rivers State governor, Senator Abdul Ningi, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, former Vice President, Dr. Ekwueme Alex; Dayo Adeyeye, former Governor of the state, Mr. Peter Obi; Senator Ben Obi, Hon Emeka Ihedioha, former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives; National Vice Chairman of PDP South-east, Austin Umahi, among others.