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Tag: Anambra

  • Ezeemo: PPA ‘II beat PDP in Anambra

    Ezeemo: PPA ‘II beat PDP in Anambra

    Chief Godwin Ezeemo is the governorship candidate of the Progressive People’s Alliance (PPA) in Anambra State. In this interview with NWANOSIKE ONU, he speaks on zoning and his chances at the poll.

    Why do you want to be governor of Anambra State?

    There is vacancy at Agu Awka right now. This is the time for all Anambrarins, who feel they have something to offer this state, to go for it. We all live here and know how things work here. In as much as the current administration is doing its best, that best is not enough and that is why I said there is vacancy in Awka.

    Their best may be best for them and their rating, but for a good number of Anambra people who yearn for good leadership, seeking for an individual that has character and love for the black nation, an individual that is contented and has ideas on how to move this state forward. That is exactly what Anambra needs now, and that is why I’m gunning for this position. I think I have all these qualities and I can use them to help, assist in building this state and getting to that height we all desire our dear state to be.

    Leadership that is only interested in money making can’t make it for us. Leadership that is interested in segregating among the youths of Anambra state cannot make it, leadership that is interested in favouring a particular group of people because they are in the corridor of power, leadership that will look after youths, leadership that will empower children is my dream. It is an abomination to me in this 21st century to see children hawking on the streets while others are in school, it is not acceptable. We must as a matter of sincerity and duty, empower these children. We will declare free education; at least, from primary to JSS 3 so that these children can be empowered and by so doing, we can eliminate the type of problem we are having today.

    We will at the same time look at harvesting the talents we have in this part of the world.We must go back to our good days in athletics, we have to harness these talents, give them special training. Everybody cannot be engineers and lawyers. Some can be football stars, volley ball and tennis stars, while some can be Olympians to get medals for the state. But, what is going on now, nothing is happening and nobody is interested at all. These children will grow up to adult hood but, nothing happens to them anymore, it is not going to be acceptable anymore.

    For this purpose, I will build a sports city in every local government of Anambra state. It will include a standard stadium, a standard swimming pool, a standard lawn tennis, a quality track and some other important games. We should give our children the opportunity of showcasing what they have and may be change the life of their families.

    What is your reaction to the high cost of nomination forms by political parties?

    I agree with you that the cost of these forms seem to be high and I have in one time confronted one of the national leaders of PPA on why it should be so because it will be better, in my opinion, to have greater number of people coming to vie for positions when they are available because the volume of money seems to be very high. But they have explained to me why it is so.

    They said that part of the money is used to run the political party. They also said they will organize the primaries from the money and it involves a lot of logistics. I agree with them because our own political party charges less, there are some political parties that charge more. Politics is not a small enterprise. It is expensive not because of the money that is being shared, but because of what is involved. People have to be transported, public address system and venue have to be booked, bill boards have to be raised and so on.

    Where we are getting it wrong is giving this money out direct as bribery. It is suppose to be the electorates judging candidates based on what they can be, who they are and what they can offer. Today, our politics is based on how much money you can share or give. So, without being misunderstood, politics requires lots of money.

    What is your position in zoning?

    There is no zoning in Anambra that is formal. I want Anambrarins to look to the fact that Anambra South have had this type of argument in the past when Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju was the governor. There was this contention that he should be allowed to continued, but he was stampeded because he didn’t do well. I learnt also that his brother, Dr. Obinna Uzor from the same South indicated interest to get the position again, but nobody gave him the chance and power was shifted to the Central that held to it for 11 years.

    For the sake of equity, the past administration said, let us shift  power to the North, but, the truth is that the governor is not doing very well which was exactly what happened in 2003 that made Mbadinuju lost the PDP ticket. Ordinarily, it would have been unfair for the South to be denied that ticket. So, the argument of the power going to the North does not hold waters, whoever that is saying that is saying that at his own personal aggrandizement. Mention all of them, I can confirm it and tell you what they are gaining. What they are saying is not in the interest of the Anambrarians. I spoke with a lot of stakeholders from there and they said it could be either be South or North so that we can meet up with what Central has done already. So, the only animal we don’t know how to dissect is an animal that has not been killed before.

  • Union confirms killing of Nigerian in South Africa

    Union confirms killing of Nigerian in South Africa

    The Nigerian Community in South Africa, on Wednesday confirmed the killings of one of its members, Mr Clement Ofoma, at Springs town, near Johannesburg.

    Ofoma, 35, a native of Obosi, Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra, was a businessman based in the town.

    Mrs Toewry Ofoma, the wife of the deceased and South African, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at Springs that about 10 South African policemen arrested her husband from his shop on Tuesday.

    She said the police alleged that he was a drug dealer, but her husband denied the allegations.

    “They searched our house, his store, and other places, but did not find any substance.

    “In the process, they tortured him to confess where he kept the drugs, but my husband insisted he had nothing.

    “The police used cellophane bag to cover his face and at a point, he was struggling to breathe and became unconscious. By the time they took him to a hospital, he was pronounced dead, Toewry said.

    Meanwhile, the chairman of Obosi Development Union in Springs, Mr Omezie Onyire, has expressed shock on the death of Ofoma.

    “He was an active member of our union and contributed to its improvement.

    “We condemn his alleged killing by the police and we will pursue this case to its logical end,” he said.

    Addressing Nigerians in the town, Mr Adetola Olubajo, President, Nigeria Union, South Africa, said the matter had been reported to the Nigerian mission.

    “We have also reported the matter to the Independent Police Investigating Department, a body that investigates crimes committed by the police.

    “Also, our legal department will follow the case until justice is done, he said.

    Olubajo advised them to be law abiding, be united and form a chapter of the union in their area.

    NAN reports that some Nigerians in the town who staged a protest at the police station were dispersed by the police who fired rubber bullets.

    On Aug. 30, a Nigerian, Kingsley Ikeri, 27, a native of Mbaitolu Local Government Area of Imo, was allegedly killed by the police while being interrogated for being in possession of drugs.

  • Battle for Anambra enters critical stage

    Battle for Anambra enters critical stage

    Following the emergence of candidates for the November 18 Anambra State governorship election, Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu, takes a look at issues that will shape the next stage of the battle for the Government House in Awka and the parties’ chances.

    The calibre of those who emerged as candidates of the leading parties in the Anambra State governorship primaries have further given a hint on how the electorate would likely vote in the November 18 election. Before the primaries, there were reports of intrigues within the big parties where influential and rich aspirants contested. By the end of last week, after most of the parties held their primaries, observers said some of the big politicians analysts thought would emerge, failed to make it. Others, who were not tipped to win, emerged victorious. According to Dr. Ephraim Okonkwo, a political analyst, “this has not only altered some informed permutations but has also raised fresh issues that would help to determine the likely result of the election in November.”

    The results from the primaries of some of the leading parties showed that the candidates include Governor Willie Obiano, All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Tony Nwoye, All Progressives Congress (APC), Oseloka Obaze,  Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Osita Chidoka, United Progressives Party (UPP), and Godwin Ezeemo for the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA). In APGA however, another candidate, Chief Ifeanyi Igwebuike, emerged from the Chief Martin Agbaso faction. This, and other issues, according to Okonkwo, has raised fresh puzzles that may alter political equations before the election.

    APGA:  Obiano vs Igwebuike

    Given the emergence of two governorship candidates from factional primaries in All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), it seems the intrigues in the ruling party is even worse than what is currently playing out in other political parties in the state. Notwithstanding that Governor Willie Obiano, from Anambra North Senatorial District, had been elected as the candidate of his party, the faction loyal to Chief Martin Agbaso, organised its primary elections and chose Chief Ifeanyi Igwebuike as its candidate.

    Addressing newsmen on the election, Chief Azubuike Iloh, factional Chairman of the party in Anambra, said “Agbaso remains the legal and authentic chairman of APGA and is the only one to produce the candidate of the party for the election.

    “Whoever emerges as candidate from other faction is a nullity as only Agbaso’s leadership is recognised under the law at the moment.”

    In his acceptance speech, Igwuebuike thanked the party members for nominating him as their candidate.

    He said the party was sure to retain the state government if everybody support him in the race.

    With such a division, observers say APGA’s votes may also be divided amongst the two candidates.

    APC and Nwoye

    Although he is not a neophyte in Anambra State governorship race, not many analysts predicted that Tony Nwoye, who flew PDP flag in the last governorship election, will emerge the candidate of APC in the November election. Described as a grassroots person, this medical doctor from Anambra North, however emerged the party’s candidate, beating influential aspirants like Senator Andy Uba from the South.

    Given the demand by many for the ticket to be given to the North, his emergence may be described as being positive to the zoning sentiment but his challenge and that of the party may be the allegation that he is being sponsored by one of the old political godfathers, a development many fear would enslave the state again. Since his emergence, commentators and critics of APC have repeatedly levelled this allegation.

    For example, a commentator, Echezona Okechi, alleged that Nwoye’s major backer is multi-millionaire Arthur Eze. His cuties have given reasons why such a support is not acceptable to them.

    So, the fear currently expressed by APC stakeholders in the state is if the party and the candidate would be able to disprove this allegation. Describing allegation of existence of a godfather as ‘a baggage we can’t afford now,” they said if APC and Nwoye hope to get the votes of ordinary people in the state and if they hope to dislodge APGA, they may have to convince the people that Nwoye is his own man.

    Besides this, another major challenge would be to retain the support and cooperation of the influential aspirants and their supporters who either withdrew at the last minute or lost out at the primary.

    It would be recalled that by June this year, about 20 influential politicians were linked with the ambition to pick the party’s ticket. Apart from Nwoye, others linked with nursing the ambition to fly the party’s flag included Senator Andy Uba from Anambra South; Dr. Chike Obidigbo, from Anambra North; former Senator Uche Ekwunife, who served in the Senate on the ticket of the PDP; former PDP governorship aspirant, Dr. Obinna Uzor; APC National Auditor, Chief George Moghalu, Engr. Barth Nwibe, among others. After the primary election, some of them have  levelled allegations against the candidate and the process that threw him up. Resolving this will be APC’s major challenge.

    PDP and Obaze

    Born in Ogbaru, PDP’s candidate, Dr. Oseleke Obaze, is a native of Ochuchu Umuodu and the son of a local government administrator and a school teacher mother.

    A product of Christ the King College, Onitsha, he studied Political Science and International Relations and have had an interesting career in Diplomacy.

    Between 1991 and 2012, he was in the UN, working  mostly on the African Dossier.

    Between 2012 and 2015, Obaze served as the Secretary to State Government (SSG) in the then Governor Peter Obi-led Anambra State Government.

    He emerged PDP’s governorship candidate after polling a whopping 672 votes in the party’s primary election held on August 28, 2017. But although he defeated his opponents overwhelmingly, including the second runner-up, Alex Obi-Ogbolu, who scored 190 votes and Ifeanyi Ubah, who polled 94 votes, sources confirmed to The Nation that the party still has so much to do to resolve the internal wrangling that may affect its fortunes in November.

    Even before the result was finally announced, it became obvious that many stakeholders are not satisfied with the outcome of the primary election. For example, at the middle of the primary election, Ifeanyi Ubah grabbed the microphone and protested the result, alleging that the election was marred by irregularities.

    He said the delegates list was only given to the aspirants two days to the election unlike what obtains in other parties where the aspirants got their lists about four weeks before the primaries.

    Obaze’s critics are also alleging that former governor Peter Obi is the power behind his emergence. How this will impact on his fortunes remains to be seen.

    UPP and Chidoka

    The United Progressives Party’s candidate, Chief Osita Chidoka, was a former Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and later Minister of Aviation. Although he reportedly enjoys support of youths and some elders, arising from his acclaimed successes while he served in FRSC, the intrigues that trailed the party’s primary election may pose a challenge in his quest to emerge as the state governor. No doubt, his party, led by Chief Chekwas Okorie, has achieved visible popularity in Anambra State. But the unfortunate death of one of the delegates during the party’s primary election have generated a major controversy that would need to be carefully resolved if he hopes to emerge successful.

    It would be recalled that Chidoka’s opponent at the primary, Hon. Chudi Offodile, had, in a press conference, after the primaries, described the August 19 primary as “a sham,” stating that “the party had derailed from its objectives.”

    Announcing his resignation from the party, he had said, “I have noted the willful and corrupt manipulation of the party delegates list by Chief Chekwas Okorie, but it is the display of gross insensitivity to the life of a party member that has made me reconsider my membership of the UPP. Responding to the allegations, the party leadership said the former lawmaker was “just playing true to type,” adding that he “wants to reap a political fruit without sowing the seeds.” Instead, the party said that the events that led to the delegate’s death could be traced to the confusion allegedly caused by Offodile’s supporters.

    PPA and Ezeemo

    Born June 20, 1954, Godwin Chukwunenye Ezeemo, the candidate of Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), is a native of Umuojogwu-Amanasaa, Umuchu in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State. He was the first aspirant to emerge a candidate of his political party for the November governorship election.

    When he picked the ticket, the founder of Orient Group of Companies called on the electorates to shun money politics and be guided by their knowledge of the candidate’s antecedent and not just because of the political party.

    “The electorate should now choose their candidate, who they want to vote for according to who that candidate is and not according to what his political party is.

    “Because we have followed this routine in the past and that is the reason why we are held up in the forest.

    “But in our own, we are not buying the electorate. We appeal to the conscience of the electorate for them to make a choice between us and some other persons that are in the race. So, they know that their association is not based on the money they have collected. Do you understand that?”

    “My appeal to the electorate is for the electorate to start to look at candidates now from the point of view of their antecedence, from the point of view of what they have done in the past, from the point of view of who they are, what they have been able to do in the society at large.”

    Fear of desperate multi-millionaires.

    As the candidates and their parties now move out to campaign to the electorates, it remains to be seen if the people will adhere to Ezeemo’s advice against money politics. The Nation investigation however shows that though some aspirants with deeper pockets failed to emerge as their party’s candidates, all the aspirants that eventually emerged as candidates are currently linked to very wealthy sponsors. This confirms the fear that, as has always been the case, this year’s governorship election in Anambra State will be another power game of desperate multi-millionaires.

  • Forum drums support for Anambra APC governorship candidate

    Forum drums support for Anambra APC governorship candidate

    Ndigbo Unity Forum (NUF), a socio-political group says Dr Tony Nwoye, All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, is the only candidate with the pedigree to transform Anambra to a model state.

    The President of the forum, Mr Augustine Chukwudum, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Saturday that Nwoye had the needed charisma, dynamism and exposure to lead Anambra to the next level.

    Chikwudum, therefore, called on Anambra people to vote en mass for Nwoye for the needed transformation on the Nov. 18 governorship poll.

    He expressed optimism that an APC-led administration with the support of from the Federal Government would fix all existing infrastructure and developmental lapses in the state.

    “Nwoye is the only person who can continue from where the former governor Chris Ngige stopped in terms of building an enduring developmental infrastructure because since Ngige left office, the state has remained stand still.

    “No solid road; no water both in the urban and rural area; no free education; hospital has been overgrown with weeds and no new jobs creation,’’ he said.

    Chukwudum said that other notable areas where the state had been doing well previously had continued to retard behind.

    “While agriculture, tourism and industry, where the state had been faring well in the 80s, 90s and early 20s is nothing to write home about now.

    “To correct all these ills is why Ndigbo Unity Forum endorse Nwoye because he is well equipped to lead Anambra to higher level of development,’’ he said.

    “I therefore call on the good people of Anambra to vote Nwoye, APC governorship candidate come Nov. 18 election.

  • Anambra poll: Nwobodo congratulates Nwoye

    Anambra poll: Nwobodo congratulates Nwoye

    The Chairman of the Anambra State All Progressives Congress (APC) Govership Election Planning and Strategy Committee, Senator Jim Nwobodo, has congratulated the winner of the primary election, Hon. Tony Nwoye.

    In a statement in Enugu, capital of Enugu State, he urged party to brace up for the governorship  election.

    Nwobodo said: “I watched with keen interest the live transmission of the 2017 All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship Primary for Anambra State, where Dr. Tony Nwoye was declared as the winner with a total of 2,146 votes.

    “I congratulate Dr. Nwoye for the overwhelming mandate.  This is a victory for the APC and all the aspirants for the peaceful manner they conducted themselves at the primary.

    “I wish to use this opportunity to remind all the aspirants of their commitment to support whoever emerges as the party flagbearer. And appeal to you to join Dr. Tony Nwoye and form a formidable campaign team that would secure victory for our party, the APC, in the forthcoming November, 2017, Governorship Election.

    He added: “I also congratulate the Governor of Borno State, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, and his Committee for conducting a free, credible and rancour-free primary in the state, making it the first time any political party would conduct such a transparent and rancour free primary in the state.

    “I wish to congratulate the National Chairman and National Working Committee for making this possible.”

  • Sad twist to Anambra UPP primaries

    What could anybody have done differently to have brought a different outcome? What was not done to make sure that everything went well? These are the questions officials of the United Progressives Party (UPP), have not ceased to ask since the current rumble in the party, owing to the August 19 primaries to select the candidate for the November 18 governorship election in Anambra State.

    In their determination to create a quintessential, exemplary, and seamless process to showcase that Nigeria could replicate what is done in other climes, they had gone to a great length to detach themselves from the entire process.

    In a recent media interaction, founder and national chairman, Chief Chekwas Okorie, underlined the raison d’etre for this. His explanation was UPP would not toe the line of selection instead of election that has become the bane of Nigeria’s democracy. Nobody wins in the party, except in the field, he asserted.

    This was why the party came up with a constitutional amendment adopted at its June 29 non-elective convention in Awka that all the delegates for primaries such as in Anambra, must be known in advance.

    This was to cure the situation in other parties, where war delegates become products of officials of political parties who come from the national headquarters to elect candidates most times strange to them.

    Hear him: “In Anambra, there are 326 wards. So, if you want to hold elections in those 326 wards, that party must have 326 electoral committees, who will not come from those places. And every member of the party in the ward is a ward delegate that will come to elect three people.

    “It is a logistic nightmare. It has never succeeded. Rather, what you get from that exercise, is different lists of those who have been purportedly been elected as delegates. So, when you now come to the state congress, it has happened severally all over the country, you have parallel congresses. And after that you have two or three candidates emerging. The battle is then taken to the national headquarters of the party, where only the national chairman and secretary have the authority to now sponsor candidates on behalf of the party by signing the nomination forms.

    “And so, the highest bidder will now have his own form sent in, while the losers will either go to court or work against the party, because they are unhappy. They have always lost in Anambra because of this.

    “What our party now did is to say, instead of three people per ward, make it five. But let it be Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, Woman Leader and the Youth leader of the ward. They are the delegates. Nothing stops the ward executives from meeting and saying you are going to cast votes on our behalf and this is the candidate we want you to vote for. It doesn’t bother me. But the important thing is that we know who our delegates are. Their names will be in our website. On the day of state congress, the accreditation will be in that order. If your name is not on that list, you will not be accredited to enter the ground. And they will all sit in the alphabetical order of their local governments. Then, it is going to be televised live.

    “Then, we will have the ballot boxes designated in the names of those who are aspirants and then we will be calling out the names of the ward delegates in alphabetical order. You will go and cast your votes in the boxes and people will be seeing you. So, if you have gone to take money from the aspirants, they will be there to see how you are voting.”

    Of course, among these were supposed to be 724 statutory delegates made up of 362 women and 362 youths, to give both segments adequate representation and voice, an innovation, which he said was exclusive to the party.

    So, where did the party go wrong? This question even becomes more germane for anybody who was at the Emaus House, Awka, the capital of Anambra State, on that June 29.

    Right there, before thousands of supporters and with the Klieg lights of tens of television cameras beaming the proceedings live to millions of viewers, the eight aspirants then, had sworn to ensure that they would neither do anything to scuttle the process before nor undermine its integrity thereafter.

    Of course, one of them was Hon. Chudi Offodile. Yes, the self-same Offodile, who, on Monday, August 21, made a show of resigning from the party. Why this new turn?

    He now claims that the delegates list which the party posted on its website, to ensure nobody was kept guessing was changed at the last minute and that the new names had no telephone numbers.

    What he did not explain to his media audience was that he had earlier failed in his surreptitious bid to stymie the entire event by filing a suit at the FCT High Court, Abuja, to obtain an ex-parte motion, while at the same time still showing still campaigning for votes.

    The second, was that the exercise should have been put off due to the death of one of the party members during a stampede at the venue of accreditation.

    First, the delegates list was posted on the party’s website on July 14, more than a month before the exercise.

    However, Chief Dike Ogbuehi, in putting a lie to the allegations insists that Offodile, participated in all the processes up to the eve of the August 19 primaries, only to demand that it be put off right at the point the exercise was well underway. Not only did he voluntarily purchase the party’s Expression of Interest Form, but presented himself for screening, after again, paying the nomination fee. Why would he surreptitiously sue the party, at the same time he was pretending to be fully involved in the exercise, if he had nothing up his sleeves?

    What would he be doing with the telephone numbers of the delegates on the morning of the primaries, if indeed that was part of his beef?

    Now, he argues that the party should have put off the exercise as a result of the death of its member during the accreditation without considering the logistics and other factors. A country’s entire football team had perished in the sea prior to a competition, yet a new team was raised to continue. People had even died on their way to wedding ceremonies, which still took place.

    The only plausible conclusion anybody could glean from the foregoing is this is a case of a typical Nigerian who is unable to deal with political defeat.

    Incidentally, Okorie tried to obviate this early enough. Three days to the exercise, exactly on Wednesday August 16, he held a meeting with Offodile and Chief Osita Chidoka, his opponent at the polls in his Enugu home. The purpose was to try to get them contest as friends and members of a family, which has obviously failed.

    As it were right now, Offodile, insists that the last has not been heard on the matter. He has asked his supporters to await his next step. But what step could have been more sensible and honourable than to reconcile himself to the fact that his streak of electoral misfortunes may have more to do with himself than those he usually accuses? Would a deep introspection ought not have been better instead of making trouble or blaming others for what appears some clear cases of self-inflicted woes?

     

    • Chinemere writes from Awka, Anambra State.
  • Uba debunks PDP defection

    Uba debunks PDP defection

    Sen. Andy Uba says he has not defected from  the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the outcome of the Anambra governorship primaries.

    Uba, who is from Anambra South made this known to newsmen at his country home, on Tuesday.

    He debunked  reports making the rounds that he planned to dump the APC for a new party.

    In a statement issued by his media aide, Mr Joseph Itazi, the senator said that he was still a supporter of the APC, irrespective of the outcome of the party’s primaries.

    “Let us put the record straight, I have no intention of leaving our great party -APC – for another party.

    “I have always supported the party, so please people should stop spreading false news that I am planning to defect to another party.

    “I am still a member of the APC,’’ he  said.

    Uba  emerged second with 931 votes at the just-concluded APC primary election, losing to Mr Tony Nwoye.

    Uba and Nwoye were members of the PDP before defecting to APC.

  • Nwoye wins Anambra APC governorship primary

    A member of the House of Representatives, Dr Tony Nwoye, has won Anambra State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary ahead of the November 18 election.

    Nwoye, who represents Anambra East and Anambra West Constituency in the National Assembly, polled 2,146 votes to defeat his closest rival, Senator Andy Uba, who scored 931 votes in the party’s primary conducted on Saturday.

    The result of the primary was announced yesterday by the Chairman of the state’s APC Governorship Primary Election and Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima at Prof. Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre in Awka, the state capital.

    The election started on Saturday and extended till about 4.10 p.m yesterday when the result was announced by Shettima after a long period of collation of ballots.

    A breakdown of the result showed that Chief George Muoghalu polled 525 votes to place third, while Ms Adaobi Uchegbu, the only female aspirant, scored one vote.

    The Borno State governor said the total votes cast was 4,332, out of which 4,302 votes were valid and 31 were invalid.

    He noted that the total figure tallied with the number of ballot papers brought by the committee for the election.

    Shettima described the election, which had 12 aspirants as “very tedious” but the “easiest” he had ever taken part in.

    He said: “It was an easy one for us as an umpire because none of the members of the committee has personal interest. That was why we did our best to make the election free, fair and credible.”

    Shettima said the committee resisted overtures from aspirants, which he noted would have adversely affected the outcome of the primary.

    The governor hailed security agencies and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for their roles at ensuring that the primary was successful.

    He said: “I must thank the security agencies, especially the Commissioner of Police and state’s Director of Department of State Service (DSS).”

    Presenting a copy of the election result to Nwoye, the Borno State governor urged him to ensure that APC wins the November 18 governorship poll.

    In his acceptance speech, Nwoye described the process that led to his victory as “thorough”.

    He pledged to lead the party to victory.

    Nwoye, a medical doctor and former President of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), was born on September 13, 1974.

    He studied Medicine at the University of Nigeria at Nsukka (UNN) and at the Ebonyi State University at Abakaliki.

    The APC candidate hails from Nsugbe in Anambra East Local Government Area, the same area with incumbent Governor Willie Obiano.

    He is a former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra State and its governorship candidate in the 2013 election.

    Nwoye won the election to the National Assembly in 2015 on the platform of the PDP.

  • Shettima: ‘Anambra APC primaries easiest for our committee’

    Shettima: ‘Anambra APC primaries easiest for our committee’

    Governor of Borno State and chairman of the Anambra State APC 2017 Governorship primaries committee, Kashim Shettima on Sunday declared the tedious electoral process that lasted for nearly 24 hours as the easiest election himself and members of his committee were ever associated with mainly ?they had no candidate in mind and didn’t have any interest in who was to win.

    The Governor made the remark before declaring the results which was won by Mr Tony Nwoye who scored 2146 votes to beat his runner up, Andy Uba who scored 931 votes while George Moghalu came third with ?525 votes. A total of 4,333 votes were cast out which 4,302 were valid and 31 declared invalid. The elections which was covered live by the Nigeria Television Authority, NTA held Saturday with collation and counting lasting throughout the night till about 4pm the following Sunday at the Dora Akunyili Development Centre in Awka.

    “This primary election was obviously a tedious one but for me and members of the committee saddled with the responsibility of conducting the election, this is the easiest election we have ever been part of or witnessed. You see, when you are an election umpire, election becomes difficult only when you you have interest in who wins the elections because by having interest,  you have to battle with other contestants, battle with those who have different interests and battle with your own conscience in trying to bend the rules of the game to favour your interest. But so long as you are neutral as an election umpire, the election becomes easy. It is easy for all to know when you are trying to be fair and when you trying to be bias.  I am very proud of each and every member of our committee for being absolutely unbiased.

    I am very proud of observers from the APC National headquarters led by Presidential Adviser Ojudu. I am proud of the APC leadership in Anambra State and everyone that helped in making us stand by the principles of conducting a free, fair and credible primary election, particularly the security agencies. The Commissioner of Police did a wonderful job. I thank and commend the INEC observers for being with us all through the processes” the Governor said.

     

  • Anambra agric agency advises farmers on use of herbicides

    Anambra agric agency advises farmers on use of herbicides

    Mr Onyeme Nwodo, Programme Manager, Enugu State Agricultural Development Programme (ENADP), has advised farmers to use herbicides for weeding and bush clearing instead of bush burning.

    Nwodo told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Sunday that the use of herbicide improves soil nutrient while bush burning scorch the soil nutrient.

    He said that the state government had purchased quality herbicides that could kill all the weeds and grasses in the farm completely.

    Nwodo said that ENADP was collaborating with local governments to sensitise the farmers on proper way of preparing land for farming.

    He explained that ENADP had in stock improved seedlings for sale at reduced prices to farmers to enhance production.

    “We have arranged with the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources to make sure that the tractors are ready for land preparation.

    “We have also, through the assistance of the governor, purchased fertilisers which will be distributed farmers,” Nwodo said.