A former Secretary to Ebonyi State Government (SSG), Prof. Bernard Odoh, has declared intention to run for governor on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
Speaking in Abakaliki, he promised to engage the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and other separatist groups in a dialogue to tackle insecurity in the state and Southeast.
He said: “Solving the security challenges we face here at home with a committed and advanced partnership with our existing conventional security apparatus in the state, will be our priority.
“To the leaders and followers of IPOB, our strongly held view is that we will not shun them or cast them out into the wilderness.
“Any Igbo man or woman who pretends that the grievances of IPOB members are irrelevant or that Ebonyi is an isolated island, unconcerned about those central issues, is what Igbo people call ‘efulefu or ohu’.
“An avenue of dialogue must not just be created, but also remains open, genuine and altruistic until the case is solved and closed.”
Odoh, who resigned his appointment as SSG under Governor David Umahi’s first term after three years of the administration, said governance in Ebonyi was in a state of paralysis under the current government.
He said his coming into the governorship race presented a positive alternative and hope to the unfolding political machinations threatening to bring the state close to anarchy.
Odoh said: “Over the past 18 months or so, the political fever across Nigeria has reached a hysterical crescendo. The dust of political activities has risen to the atmosphere, blanketing us all with roaring noise, rumours, innuendos, blackmail, intrigues, plotting, scheming and betrayals.
“Such is the universal nature of politics. It is par for the course, provided that violence and bloodbaths are avoided at all costs.
“But here in Ebonyi State, however, we have watched as events have unfolded and political machinations are threatening to bring the state close to anarchy.
“The political space cannot and must not be surrendered to political manipulators or to dangerous clashes of ambitions. As we witness the paralysis that has overcome the process of governance, Ebonyi people must be given hope for a better future and better prospects for themselves and their families.
“And this is exactly what I am presenting to us – I represent that positive alternative; a generational forward-match that will take us, as a people, into the immense developmental opportunities of the 21st century.
“This state of paralysis today is dramatically typified by the comical spectacle whereby two-thirds of the House of Assembly is judicially sacked and the remaining one-quarter has arbitrarily been suspended or allegedly resigned, leaving a lacuna in governance that is both intolerable and dangerous in a democratic setting.
“This would have been laughable under normal conditions, but we live in dangerous and anguished times and, therefore, cannot afford any aspect of our full complement of governance to be in abeyance or crippled by crisis, no matter the circumstances.
“The primary purpose of this media interaction, ladies and gentlemen, is to publicly announce to the long suffering Ebonyi people that an alternative, a credible and competent alternative, to the current way of doing things will now be provided under the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).”
The Professor of Geophysics promised to restore water supply to Abakaliki within three months of assuming office.
He described the state civil service and the health sector as being moribund and comatose.
The aspirant promised to revitalise the health sector through Public Private Partnership (PPP).