Abia, Victim of Visionless  Leadership, Says APC Guber Candidate

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

The perpetuation of leaders with small mindset in running  the affairs of Abia over the years has confined the state to abysmal level of development, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), High Chief Ikechi Emenike,  has said.

Speaking at a meeting of stakeholders at Ikwuano Local Government, Emenike noted that Abia has been so unfortunate to have been left in the hands of leaders that lack vision and the capacity to think outside the box.

He said that Abia has a government that “thinks little and does nothing” hence the state has been running on low budgets that could not lift it above ground zero where it has remained.

“A governor envisions a huge state,” he said, adding that in a situation where the chief executive of the state cannot think and dream big and lacks the creativity to generate funds at local and international levels, development would remain afar.

“I will deploy financial engineering to attract funds with which to develop Abia,” he assured the teeming party faithful, adding that if APC gets the mandate in 2023 “we will serve the people of Abia from day one”.

The governorship hopeful, who was at Ikwuano in conclusion of his tour of the 17 Abia local governments, galvanised stakeholders at each stop of his tour in readiness for the 2023 rescue mission.

He stated that with lamentable state of infrastructure and government service delivery in Abia “even mad people will not vote for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party” in Abia at next year poll.

In her remarks, the deputy governorship candidate of APC, Rev Gloria Akara, said that the governorship candidate has given Abia women a pride of place by choosing a woman as running mate.

“This is going to be our government and we must support and give our votes to APC. The government of Emenike has reached us (womenfolk) and will remain with us,” she said.

The Minister of State for Science, Technology and Innovation, Chief Henry Ikoh, who hosted the meeting of stakeholders at his Ahuwa Oboro country home, assured the Abia APC leadership that the party was firmly rooted in Ikwuano.

His assurances was further corroborated by two ex-servicemen, Maj. Gen Jack Nwogbo and Maj. Gen Charles Ogbonna Okoro, who were among the stakeholders combining forces in Abia APC to birth the envisaged change in the state.

The minister said that the people of Ikwuano have discovered APC as the dependable party that has the capacity and commitment to satisfy their yearnings for development and inclusiveness in the Abia project.

He said that Ikwuano LG and the entire Abia State would reap bountiful dividends of democracy with Emenike as governor come 2023, adding, “I have brought blessings to you today” with the presence of Emenike at the Ikwuano meeting.

“Things will be better in Abia. We want progress, we want development and this would be made possible under APC government in 2023,”  Ikoh said.

He urged the stakeholders and the entire APC faithful “to become fishers of men” and bring other people to join the main opposition party in its quest to rescue and develop Abia.

Both the Abia APC chairman Dr Kingsley Ononogbu and the director general of the Emenike Campaign Organisation,  High Chief Uche Ogboso, urged Ikwuano people to remain steadfast and demonstrate their loyalty at the poll.

SDP Guber Candidate Promises New Society in Rivers

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

The governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Rivers State, Senator Magnus Abe, yesterday said if elected governor in 2023, his administration will build a new society in the state.

Abe stated this at the inauguration of the SDP Non-Indigenes Executives in Port Harcourt, adding that the new society will be based on justice, fairness, equal opportunity progress and prosperity for all.

He said: “Utility is your right to participation and citizenship. So, for those of you who have invested so much in Rivers State, you have built your homes here, you have brought up your children here, in fact, some of the young ones that are growing up, they don’t know anywhere else apart from here.

“So please, be rest assured as soon as you have taken this decision and you have implemented it next year, all these things will change.

“We will build a new society, based on justice, fairness, equal opportunity progress and prosperity. I don’t regard creating markets for Rivers people as doing a favour to any particular community.

“If we have an international market in Rivers State, that is not a favour to the Igbo people, that is the economic advancement of Rivers State, because the market will generate revenues for Rivers State.

“It will create employment opportunities for Rivers people. People, who go to buy in the market, will sleep in the hotel, they will use the taxi, they will pay taxes, they will pay revenue and they will contribute value
here.

“So, building market for our citizens is not a favour to any ethnic group. It is what a responsible government ought to do to give the people the opportunity to earn money, and when people don’t earn money they cannot be good citizens.”

The SDP governorship candidate said he does not regard the word ‘non-indigene’ because of his belief that once you have lived in a place for a long time and contributing to its economic group, you will no longer be regarded as an outsider.

Abe said: “Initially I had asked: ‘what is non-indigene? A Rivers man is a Rivers man; a Rivers woman is a Rivers woman. If you live here, you vote here, you train your children here, you built your house here, you have home here, you are contributing here, then you are a Rivers man and woman.

“Today we are celebrating the fact that a Nigerian has been appointed Secretary of Trade of the United Kingdom. But here in Rivers State, even if you have stayed for 50 years, you are paying your taxes, you are employing people, and you are contributing to the state, they still say you’re a non-indigene. I don’t recognise that fact.”

Earlier in his remarks, the Chairman, Non-Indigenes Forum, Rivers State, Chief Joseph Ijede, said: “Today, we the non-indigenes have gathered to declare with one consent for a man who is his brother’s keeper. He is a man who will not fail us like others.  We the non-indigenes resident in Rivers State have equivocally affirmed our support to Senator Magnus Abe as the governor of Rivers State in 2023. He is the best man for the job.”