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Tag: Anambra

  • Obi strengthens communities

    Anambra State government has continued the rejuvenation of communities in order to complement the Peter Obi administration’s development plan for the state. Schools in urban and local communities are rehabilitated while pupils and their minders are inspired to give their best.

    Dilapidated rural roads are reworked. In the communities local security outfits get a helping hand from the state government. For their effort in fostering peace, traditional rulers are amply rewarded, even as they are expected to help keep their domains safe and secure.

    In fact, for royal fathers in the state, you could say things are looking up. No fewer than 200 of them got a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) each, courtesy of the Obi administration.

    Governor Obi while presenting the vehicles to the traditional rulers inside Government House, Awka, said the vehicles were given in recognition of the pivotal roles the traditional rulers were playing in the state.

    The vehicles were manufactured by the Innoson car plant in Nnewi, Anambra State’s industrial hub.

    Obi explained that his administration chose the locally-manufactured vehicles because of their good quality, adding that with such a plant, there is “no need to search elsewhere”.

    He said that the state government has unofficially adopted INNOSON vehicles as the state brand and revealed that the next set of official vehicles he would use would be bought from Nnewi-based firm.

    On the source of finance for the projects, the governor said it was from the money he attracted to the state. Using the education sector as an example, he said that the budget was N3 billion, adding that by the end of the year, N13 billion would have been spent.

    In his remarks, the chairman Anambra Traditional Rulers’ Council, Obi Alfred Achebe described the state’s achievement under Obi’s administration as unprecedented. He further said he was particularly thrilled not by the vehicles, but by the revolution in schools which he noted, would be for the benefit of the children.

    He assured the governor of the support of traditional rulers in the state.

    Contributing, the traditional ruler of Umuoji, Igwe Cyril Iwueze thanked the governor for developing every sector of the state’s economy. He noted that after witnessing billions given to the church to rehabilitate schools handed over to them, it was encouraging to see that the same gesture was extended to public schools.

    The state gave out N2.53 billion to principals of secondary schools to rehabilitate dilapidated structures.

    He assured that by the end of the year, all the schools in the state would get buses and a Microsoft academy in addition to computers on the average of one computer to 10 students, laboratory equipment, sports equipment and various learning materials.

    Obi said: “We budgeted about N3 billion for education this year, but surprisingly we have spent more than N10 billion. Before we came in, everything was in a shambles and we started by returning the schools to their original owners and giving them money to rebuild their infrastructure. We would continue until the schools are returned to their former prime status of excellent learning centres.”

     

     

     

     

     

  • Interim APC chair in Anambra

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has appointed former state chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Pat Orijiakor, as its interim Anambra State Chairman.

    Former Deputy National Vice Chairman Annie Okonkwo, who resigned his position in Awka on Monday, said Orjiakor’s appointment was to make sure the party was not lagging behind.

    Okonkwo said: “The party has found out that the only person to lead, pending ratification of every other thing, is Orjiakor.

    “The gentleman is a vibrant person with vision; and for our party to move ahead of others, we have to appoint him before a substantive chairman emerges.

    “APC cannot be allowed to operate in a vacuum; it has been like sheep without a shepherd, so we cannot continue like this.”

    Orijiakor said: “It is the handiwork of God for me to lead the eminent persons in APC, but what I am promising members is that I will not fail them.

    “This is the era of truth, I will not lead my members astray, but one thing is sure, and that is APC is going to take over from Governor Peter Obi on March 17, next year.”

  • “Deportation” saga: Anambra’s to blame

    SIR: I had cause to speak on the vexed issue of the relocation of some indigenes of Anambra State from Lagos to Onitsha at a private forum in Lagos last weekend.  Based on the facts then available to me, I condemned the action of the Lagos State government (LASG) and also blamed Anambra State government (ANSG) for resorting to letter writing to President Jonathan each time the issue arose instead of confronting the problem frontally. I had also argued that Anambra State government should have screened the alleged 72 returnees, identify those from Anambra State and rehabilitate them while returning the non-Anambrarians back to the sender.

    Most unfortunately but not unexpectedly, my views  were  maliciously and mischievously distorted by the media aides of the Anambra State governor and planted in some national dailies and on the internet. The sole intention was to pitch me against my elder brother, Senator Chris Ngige who had criticized the handling of the matter by the Anambra State government  and sow discord between me and my brother silk, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN.

    Let me make it clear that the wicked plot of the Anambra State government has failed abysmally.  Nigerians and Anambrarians can no longer be fooled.

    It is noteworthy that at the time I made the said remarks at the private forum, I was not privy to the exchange of correspondences between the Lagos State government and its Anambra State counterpart.  However, after the event, I read the  emerging  correspondences  and reports on the strong defence mounted by the LASG.  It then became obvious to me that the documents showed clearly that LASG had by March 2013 intimated ANSG on the planned transfer of the destitute. It is equally apparent from the documents that it was a clear case of dereliction of duty by the ANSG. The Anambra State government has no excuse whatsoever not to follow through on the transfer after acknowledging letters from LASG and agreeing on the exchange date. Further reading the letters, I have no doubt whatsoever that the blame for the current debacle rests squarely with ANSG despite its desperation to politicize the matter with the unholy aim of gaining votes from the crisis during the forthcoming  Anambra State governorship election in November.

    It is apparent that the  controversy would have been averted had the ANSG played its part as agreed. What is clearly in issue is that ANSG wrote to LASG requesting ‘urgently’ for particulars of the destitute claiming to be indigenes of Anambra State so as to “facilitate their integration with their families if they are from Anambra”.  LASG responded with a list of 14 names including their particulars and requested the presence of ANSG officials for a screening exercise at  the Ikorodu Rehabilitation Centre. Anambra State Government  never got back to LASG!   Anambra governor now alleges that 72 persons were repatriated instead of  only  14.  Where is the honour? Where is the integrity?  This is obviously a very sad reminder of the Nigerian Governors Forum election where 16 became a majority against 19 and the Anambra governor was in the fore-front of this show of shame.

    The Anambra State government  should simply apologise to the Fashola administration for maligning  the administration and  misinforming Nigerians on the issue and stop this unethical and ungodly ethnic politics. LASG remains the most friendly government to Anambrarians and Ndigbo in general more than any other state in Nigeria.

     

     

    • Emeka Ngige, SAN

    Lagos

     

  • Anambra unveils social security scheme

    Anambra State Governor Peter Obi yesterday unveiled the Unique Social Security Scheme for indigent Anambra elders above 75.

    Unveiling the programme yesterday at the Women Development Centre, the governor said the law setting up the State Indigent Relief Law was passed in June and signed last month.

    He said the initial N1 billion made available for the project covered July to December.

    The governor said the state has a special account for the project in which his administration has provided enough money for the project till December next year.

    Obi said the aim was not to burden his successor.

    Assuring the people that his administration is hinged on sound planning, he said the measures were put in place to enable his successor to take off seamlessly.

    The Chairman of the occasion, Prof. Chukwuemeka Ike, said Obi’s decision to start assisting the elderly not only showed him as a good father, but also a visionary.

    He appealed to those in charge of the project to have the fear of God and humbling spirit to render services without hindrance.”

  • Anambra LG polls: PDP youths seek cancellation

    Youth Transformation Movement, South East zone of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on the Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission (ANSIEC) to cancel the scheduled October 5 local government election in the state.

    The youths also urged the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) to dissolve all the PDP factions in Anambra.

    The movement made the call at Nnewi at a function to honour Chief Sam Ebeku as its patron. They said Ebeku had made meaningful contributions to ensure peace and unity of the party.

    According to the South East zonal co-ordinator of the movement, Mr Ikechukwu Sunday, the scheduled October 5 council polls should be deferred to take place after the governorship election. He said that allowing the local government election to hold as planned, prior to the gubernatorial election, would deal a major blow to any attempt to take real control of the governorship race in Anambra.

    The stand of the youths is that the PDP NWC should dissolve all the PDP factions in the state and convene a caretaker committee with universal representation, to oversee the up-coming guberbatorial election in the state as reconciliation of the factions continued.

    Reacting,  Ebeku assured the youths that he would continue to contribute his quota in ensuring the desired peace in the state PDP and called on the leaders of all factions to listen to the voice of reason.

  • Moment of redemption for Anambra

    Hitherto, Anambra State has consistently represented a failed state. Created since 1991, the state’s development, socially, infrastructurally, and wholistically, has been completely stunted on account of poverty of leadership, poverty of ideas, entrenched anti-democratic practices and selfishness.

    The main ills of Anambra State’s political life are money politics, godfatherism, naked bid for power, do-or-die politicking, political gangterism and vendetta, thuggery, ceaseless desecration of the ballot box through high wire rigging and gerrymandering, economic plunder, financial rascality, selfish and self-serving leaders and the premium placed on politics as an avenue for self-enrichment and personal aggrandizement.

    All the leaders produced by Anambra State since the return of democratic republicanism in 1999 have been nothing short of abysmal failures and tragic disappointment. All of them failed in building social harmony in the state. They failed in providing infrastructural facilities. They failed in the physical development of the state. For a long time, the state was in a state of social, political and economic anomie and it became the butt of beer parlour jokes as a place where the people are enmeshed in a continual war for leadership and control of affairs of government because of the spoils of office.

    The state was held and bugged down by a wicked, mindless, predatory and mischievous cabal who continued to suck and milk her dry. At a time, it was as if the state was going to die. In fact, metaphorically, the state was dead from the pillage and economic plundering of these predatory godfathers who saw it as no more than an extension of their business empires.

    There was disorder, brigandage, looting, stealing, burglary, arson, murder, treasonable felony, destruction of government property and lawlessness in the state. This spate of gangterism came to a head when an erstwhile governor of the state was arrested and detained by the police in a hotel on the instruction of a godfather who had links with the Presidency then.

    I have taken pains to recount, in a nutshell, the historical and political malaise in the state to enable us know from where we are coming and the positive way forward as the next round of elections, particularly the Gubernatorial election, beckons.

    Now, enter Dr. Ifeanyi Patrick Uba, the Nnewi, Anambra State-born business mogul. His entry into the gubernatorial race in the state is, in my view, the best thing to have happened to Anambra State politics.

    The political platform under which Uba is seeking to serve Anambrarians is not important. What is of utmost importance is the man himself.

    It is unfortunate and disgraceful that the same politicians who bled Anambra State to a state of nausea and coma, who inflicted grievous injuries on the state, who plundered her resources in the past, who ordered and supported destruction of public property as vendetta for not being allowed to milk the state dry, who sponsored brigandage, mayhem and anarchy, are the ones on the blocks again with intent to continue from where they stopped.

    Given his precedence as a selfless philanthropist, the common people in Anambra State, especially the youths, see Dr. Ifeanyi Patrick Uba’s entry into the race as important. This is because it is easy to agree that he is not in politics to make money like the known vultures parading themselves as gubernatorial aspirants who have nothing to show for their aspiration.

    Apart from the fact that some of them are old, discredited politicians who compounded the problems in Anambra State, some of them have no pedigree. They do not have any vocation or profession. They cannot point at any philanthropic work they have done. They have not empowered any body from their families, let alone Anambrarians. Most of them are selfish and self-serving. They have not lifted anybody before and so we think they cannot lift Anambra State.

    On the other hand, Dr. Uba, who, as a private citizen has chains of businesses that offered employment to Nigerian youths numbering more than 4,000, also has a scholarship scheme with which he assists indigent students.

    These, added to his well known contribution in the oil distribution chain in Nigeria paint a picture of a man capable and willing to serve the people and just another opportunist looking forward to clean the state’s treasury.

    Also, Uba has been able to show that he does not joke with the affairs of the youths. When Igbo Youths, especially Anambrarians, were displaced in Balogun Market in Lagos, none of these politicians struggling to run the affairs of Anambra State said a word. They all felt unconcerned because they were not involved. Only Dr. Uba had the courage and milk of human kindness to visit the market and address the traders most of whom hail from Anambra State. He comforted them, intervened in their plight and proceeded to hold discussion with Governor Fashola of Lagos State on the matter. Following Uba’s intervention, meaningful support and contributions, the issue was resolved.

    Of all the aspirants to the seat of Governor of Anambra State, only Dr. Ifeanyi Uba has had the courage to showcase to Anambrarians his work and his means of livelihood. It is on record that he brought Anambra State stakeholders, including traditional rulers and Presidents-General of town unions to Lagos and took them to a facility tour of his vast business empire in Lagos. It became obvious that Dr. Uba’s Oil business is the most public-friendly in the whole of the country.

    Though up there, Uba enjoys great support of common traders and petty traders. When he visited Alaba Market, Lagos the other day, he was welcomed by a tumultuous crowd of cheering supporters. Traffic came to a standstill. The same happened when he visited Coker Building Materials Market.

    Already, some of his opponents are afraid that his acceptance by the youths and the common people is the current headache political godfathers do not know how to tackle.

    The fear is because many have sworn that the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Anambra State is an opportunity for the state to start all over again on a clean slate. The people are tired of political profiteers and electoral fraudsters who rely on rigging or jaded technical legal principles to manipulate themselves to power. Anambrarians finest moment is now.

    Dr. Ifeanyi Uba’s victory is a forgone conclusion. For everybody – young and old, men and women, the rich and the poor, the lettered and the unlettered, rural and urban dwellers are all rooting for his peculiar type of leadership and amazing style which transforms into excellence and success.

    Governorship of Anambra State is the target. Transformation of Anambra is the goal and the man to deliver the goods is Dr. Ifeanyi Patrick Uba, the man of the moment and modern day Moses.

    — Okoye, a political analyst, wrote from Lagos.

  • Youths seek credible polls in Anambra

    The youth wing of the All Progressives Congress Party (APC) in the Southeast has appealed to the leadership of the party to insist on a free and fair ballot in the forthcoming primaries of the party at which it will select a governorship candidate for the November 17 governorship election in Anambra State.

    The Anambra State acting Leader of All Progressives Youth Forum, Comrade Unegbu Ozoemena warned that imposition of candidates in the governorship election will derail the feat the party is already recording and will affect its chances of winningn the election.

    Unegbu, who spoke after a meeting of the zone in Awka, said the youths will resist any plan to impose a candidate, stating that democracy should be allowed to play its role in Anambra State.

    He said the meeting was attended by the zonal coordinators, state caucus and local government representatives of all the five states of the Southeast comprising Ebonyi, Enugu, Anambra, Imo and Abia states.

    Unegbu explained that the reason for the formation of the youth forum is to have a large spread of youths mobilisation in wards, communities, which will be part of the decision-making body of the party.

    He, however, appealed to APC stakeholders to create an enabling environment for choosing the right candidate at the primaries.

    “APC believes in internal democracy and we want internal democracy to play its role in choosing our candidate; we are totally against any form of imposition at the detriment of the party members,” he said.

    Unegbu also reminded the party faithful of the need to choose a marketable candidate who will be accessible at all times.

    “We need a candidate who is accessible. All the aspirants in our party are okay and can deliver but we need a new person who will have the interest of the youths at heart and it is not what we will do in a hurry; we need to cool down and fish out such a candidate through free and fair primaries and not by appointment or imposition. We cannot tolerate that this person has done this or that or he is a serving or former senator. If APC makes the right choice in the primaries, there will be no more APGA [All People’s Grand Alliance]”.

    Also responding, the Acting National Secretary of All Progressives Youth Forum (APYF) Mr. Ausca Uchenna Obi, averred that the principle of democracy stated that people should be allowed to choose their candidates.

    “Their can’t be any imposition unless if it is on consensus but the law says credible primaries.”

    In their separate speeches, the Enugu State chairman of APYF, Mr Titus Nnamani and his Enugu East Senatorial zone colleague, Comr. Michael Nnamani stressed that the emergence of APC has answered the yearnings of Nigerians but regretted that some political parties elect old people as youth leaders in their various political parties, an action they said has crippled youth development in the country.

  • Anambra distributes new cassava variety

    Governor Peter Obi has flagged off the distribution of high pro-vitamin “A” yellow cassava cuttings to farmers. A press statement by Obi’s media aide Valentine Obienyem stated that the governor kicked off the exercise at the ADP premises, Awka.

    He also presented a brand new utility vehicle and 21 computer machines to enhance implementation of the programme.

    Obi said the vehicles should be solely used for the execution of the project while the computers were for monitoring and evaluation of the outcome of the new cassava variety across the state.

    He assured that the state government would provide all logistics to ensure success of the programme as cassava had multi values including being raw material for beer.

    The governor stated that agriculture had fundamental role in turning around the state and national economies with huge employment potential. He assured that the state was now on course for sustainable development and made clear that no future administration could take the people for granted again.

    A representative of the development partner, Dr. Paul Ilona said Governor Obi had demonstrated more commitment to development of agriculture than any other government in the country and had continued to provide all necessary logistics to boost farming. Ilona explained that the new cassava variety was not only for food security but also for promotion of health by supplementing nutritional intake of the people and assured that the state would receive more supply.

    The Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development,Mr.Ndubisi Menakaya,said the intervention became necessary to solve the increased rate of micro-nutrients deficiency among children under five years and pregnant women which he noted had risen to about 30 percent. Menakaya urged the farmers to take advantage of the programme to reap its huge benefits.

    In his address, the programme manager of Anamrba State Agricultural Development Programme, Comrade Leo Imoka, said the programme became a reality in the state because of regular and timely payment of counter-part contributions by Governor Obi administration.

    Imoka disclosed that cassava production in the state had increased remarkably which placed the state as the highest producer of cassava in the country.

     

     

  • Anambra: Tension in APGA over ‘anointed’ candidate

    Anambra: Tension in APGA over ‘anointed’ candidate

    There is tension in the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) over alleged plot to impose a governorship candidate for the party in Anambra State.

    Fourteen aspirants, including a former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, a former Minister of Transport, Prince John Emeka and 12 others have paid N2million each to obtain Expression of Intent forms.

    The others are a former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Chief, Paul Odenigbo, a member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Uche Ekwunife; Dr. Chike Obidigbo; a member of the House of Representatives, Emeka Nwogbo; John Chuma Nwosu; the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Oseloka Henry Obaze; Patrick Obianwu; Nnamdi Ekweogwu; Emmanuel Nweke; Chinedu Francis Idigo; Ogbuefi Tony Nnacheta; and an Executive Director of Fidelity Bank, Mr. Willy Obiano.

    According to an APGA source in Abuja, six of the 14 aspirants as at 7pm on Tuesday had obtained the governorship nomination forms and paid N10million each.

    The six aspirants are Odenigbo, Ekwunife, Obidigbo, Nwosu, Obianwu and Obiano.

    Interrogations, however, revealed that the nomination process has generated tension following the preference of Governor Peter Obi for a technocrat to succeed him to be able to consolidate on his achievements.

    It was gathered that Obi is likely to back an Executive Director of Fidelity Bank, Mr. Willy Obiano, who was dragged into the race last Wednesday.

    Most APGA members in the state however prefer a political candidate to a technocrat.

    The aggrieved APGA members in Anambra have vowed to resist plot to impose Obiano.

    It was also learnt that the governor’s choice is different from the recommendations made by a socio-cultural group, Olu Na Adagbe, and a Technical Committee, headed by Prof. Sylvester Anika.

    A highly-placed source said: “APGA leaders are not happy that the governor is planning to impose Obiano, who is from Fidelity Bank, from where the governor came to lead the state.

    “We have always known since last year that the governor might anoint his successor but he has been wasting our time by asking Olu Na Adagbe, and the Technical Committee to advise him.

    “We have kept on pestering the governor on the direction to go but he said everybody should go to the field. Now, he has dragged Obiano from nowhere.”

    Another source said: “If APGA leadership is arm-twisted and a governorship candidate is imposed by the governor, there will be mass defection from the party to either PDP or APC.

    “Obi might be the last APGA governor in Anambra State. Does it mean that all those who have worked for him for eight years, including Secretaries to the State Government, are unqualified to govern the state?

    In response to a question, the source added: “It is true that APGA has reached a consensus to pick its governorship candidate from Anambra North but no one is zeroing in on Obiano from Aguleri.”

    Another source said: “In fact, if he is looking for a technocrat, why can’t he consider Soludo, who has a deep knowledge of politics and the economy?”

  • 2015: INEC may weed out 7m multiple registrants from Voters Register

    2015: INEC may weed out 7m multiple registrants from Voters Register

    •INEC uncovers 100, 458 multiple registrations in Anambra

    Barring last minute hitches, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) may eliminate about 6-7million eligible voters out of 73.5million from the nation’s Register of Voters.

    The affected voters had engaged in multiple registrations in order to corrupt the electoral process.

    The commission also said the first phase of the production of 40million Permanent Voters Cards is almost completed.

    INEC’sDirector of ICT, Chidi Nwafor spoke at an interactive session between the Chairman of the commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, media professionals and Civil Society Organisations in Abuja.

    He said the exercise had so far revealed between 6% and 20 per cent of duplicates in each state.

    Nwafor explained that about 100,458 multiple registrants out of 1,718,165 registered voters had been uncovered in Anambra State.

    He said the 100, 458 multiple registrations in Anambra State represented 5.6% of the registered voters.

    He said: “In 2011, tentative figures were declared based on feedback from the field and the commission declared a total of 73.5million registrants nationwide.

    “After the successful conduct of the 2011 elections, the register of voters has been undergoing several processes to improve its quality to ensure a flawless Register of Voters which is the basis for freer, fairer and more credible elections in 2015.”

    He said the deployment of Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) has led to the elimination of multiple registrations.

    He added: “We adopted the Standardized Biometric solution developed by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

    “The AFIS software allows the commission to execute a de-duplication process on its database of registered voters. This de-duplication process identifies multiple registrations and appropriately flags such

    “The exercise has revealed between 6% and 20% of duplicates in each state. About 34 states have been run successfully, we have only Lagos and Kano left and the process will be completed before the end of this month (August 2013).

    “So, we are looking at eliminating about 6 -7million multiple registrants from the nation’s Register of Voters after the completion of the exercise. I will prefer to give you the accurate figures when we finish.

    “In Anambra State, our data consolidation showed 1, 811, 519 but AFIS revealed 1,718, 165(leaving a difference of 93, 354 or about 5.2 per cent). And when we applied business rules, we finally arrived at 1, 711,061 voters with additional difference of 7,104 bring the percentage of multiple registrations to 5.6 per cent in Anambra State.

    On the Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVC), Nwafor said: “The first phase of PVC to print 40million voters’ cards is almost completed and the delivery of these cards to the commission is ongoing.

    “The PVC second phase to print 33million voters’ cards has been awarded and it is ongoing.

    “INEC has employed the services of an Independent Card Assessor to confirm that card quality meets specifications.”

    When a stakeholder raised, the ICT Director said: “The PVC has ten years durability and it can be used for electronic identification and authentication of voters during general elections.”