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Tag: Anambra

  • NDLEA warns youths against use of drugs

    NDLEA warns youths against use of drugs

    Mr Ama Imalegwu, the Assistant State Commander, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), in Anambra, has warned youths against the use of drugs.

    Imalegwu gave this advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Awka.

    He said some youths, who engaged in taking hard drugs as a way of life, found themselves there without knowing its implications, urging parents to be alive to the upbringing of their children.

    According to the NDLEA commander, the dependence on drugs is a disease and mothers should be close to their children and advise them appropriately.

    Imalegwu said that the health implications of taking hard drugs were many and every drug when abused could have negative effects on the user, which might even lead to death.

    He said the symptoms of drug addiction include, sharp change in the normal behaviour of the affected individuals, unusual boldness, body odour, bully traits among others.

    Imalegwu said that if parents and guardians watched their children and wards closely and discover some of these traits, they should start to counsel them or send them to rehabilitation centres.

    He said that victims of drug abuse should not hesitate to go for medical treatment, as according to him, there is a centre, where they can be treated and rehabilitated in the state.

    The NDLEA officer urged the citizenry not to apportion blame on the drug user or peddlers but should see drug abuse, as a collective responsibility of individuals, family, the state and the country at large.

    Imalegwu advised Nigerians to stop stigmatising the victims of drug abuse but use love and kind words to win their attention, so that they can become good citizens.

     

  • Late Ilodigwe’s father begs Anambra, NFF to bury son befittingly

    A nonagenarian, Pa Samuel Ilodigwe, the father of the late ex-Rangers and ex-Green Eagles player, Kenneth Ilodigwe, says he will be consoled if his son is given a befitting burial.

    Born in 1952, the late Ilodigwe died on March 31, 2017 during a protracted illness.

    Ilodigwe, 94, urged the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), Rangers International FC of Enugu and the Anambra Government to rally round the family because his son’s death had created a vacuum.

    He told a Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in his home in Amikwo village, Awka that the 65-year-old bond between him and his late son had been severed by death.

    NAN reports that the deceased had been scheduled for burial on June 2, with a requiem mass at SS John and Paul Catholic Church, Awka.

    Ilodigwe said that Kenneth, who was his first child, was a brilliant and easygoing person.

    Referring to Kenneth as “Onye Egwu” (meaning a good player), he said the late footballer was born in Jos, Plateau, while he was on transfer to the state as a staff of United African Company (UAC).

    He noted that then young Kenneth was enrolled into Zixton Primary School, Ozubulu in Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra and came out with distinction and went on to the elite Christ the King College (CKC), Onitsha on scholarship.

    He said that while at CKC, he was fondly called “Swagger” by his fans in Awka due to his lively nature.

    He played for the school’s Academicals Team and Rangers International and then Green Eagles.

    “Kenneth is my first child of 10 children, comprising five boys and five girls, he was close to me and very brilliant, he finished with distinction from Zixton Primary School, Ozubulu.

    “He got admission into CKC on scholarship; while there, he played for the Academicals and then later for Rangers International and Green Eagles.

    “Some of his schoolmates are former governor of Anambra, Peter Obi, the incumbent governor Willie Obiano and former governor of Rivers, Peter Odili.

    “Onyegwu as I called him got admission to study in Howard University, U.S. in 1974 and returned in 1976 when he played for Rangers International against Mahala FC of Egypt,” he recalled.

    “You know I am 94-year-old this year, so I can’t remember every detail now but we enjoyed great father-son bond and his death has left a huge vacuum in the family,” he said.

    A childhood friend of Keneth, who lived in the area, Michael Chibuogwu, said he would sorely miss his friend and brother.

    Chibuogwu said that what stood Kenneth out on the field of play was his discipline and neatness which earned him the name “Don’t dirty”.

    “It is sad that Swagger has to go at this time; he was a jolly good fellow and made us happy; that is why we call him Swagger.

    “I have known him all my life because we grew up together, he was a great player, we call him ‘don’t dirty’ because his jersey was always as clean as he began the match when he finished.

    “May God grant his soul eternal rest,” he said.

    NAN also reports that Kenneth was a midfielder in the defunct Green Eagles.

    He was one of the second generations of Green Eagles players, who came to limelight in the early 1970s after winning the prestigious Academicals Cup with the dreaded East Central State team in 1971.

     

  • Publisher urges Ndi Igbo to invest in South-East

    Mrs Nneka Ezeemo, Managing Director, Orient Magazines, Newspapers and Communications Ltd, has appealed to Igbo sons and daughters to endeavour to bring their investments back home in order to boost development of the South-East.

    “We do not have to do everything in Lagos. There is this movement and notion within Ndi Igbo that we should bring our investment home.

    “If we really mean it, I do not see reasons why people from here must go to Lagos before they get quality print; that is why we have established a world-class printing press in the South-East, precisely in Awka, the Anambra capital.

    “Today, we have experts from outside the South-East, working and running the world-class printing press.

    “They are currently transferring knowledge to our people and expanding our local market,’’ Ezeemo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)on Monday in Enugu.

    The publisher, who also gave reasons why her firm participated in the ongoing 2017 Enugu International Trade Fair, said: “With this, we are doing what we are preaching; that is Ndi Igbo investing at home.

    “We want to focus in this region and have some national and international news to complement it.’’

    Ezeemo noted that the publishing company is aimed at capturing the South- East and South-South reading public.

    The Enugu International Trade Fair, which is being supported by the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment, is organised to showcase Nigeria’s non-oil products.

    The theme of the 28th edition is: “Promoting Nigeria’s Industrial Sector and SMEs for Inclusive and Robust Economy.”

    The fair which started on March 31 ends Monday, April 10.

  • Anambra UPP mobilizes for voter registration, adopts new slogan

    The United Progressive Party (UPP) has urged people of voting age in Anambra to get registered and obtain their permanent voter cards in the ongoing voter registration across the country.
    The state Chairman of UPP, Dr Sylvester Igwilo, made the call in Awka on Friday at the end of its emergency state executive meeting.

    He said that the call had become imperative as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) began fresh voter registration on April 10.

    Igwilo said that since registration was the crucial first step to obtaining the permanent voter card, those who have attained the voting age of 18 and those that lost their PVCs should make it a point of duty to go and register.

    “Anambra UPP believes that the amendment of the 2010 Electoral Act by the senate months before the Nov.18 governorship election is a positive indication that the choice of the people expressed through their votes would be respected,” he said.

    Igwilo said that the party had adopted a new slogan which had been developed into a jingle, as part of strategies to raise awareness to mobilize the people for exercise.

    “This is to ensure that no qualified voter is left out in the election.
    “ The slogan says; “Inweta go PVC gi? Ejim ofo election” meaning have you got your PVC? I have my symbol for election,’’ he said.
    He said that the party had been at the forefront in the advocacy for full electronic voting as part of the electoral system to curb rigging, violence and all forms of electoral malfeasance.
    “Now that the senate has done the needful, we plead with every citizen in the state to register because for the first time, the people have been given the legal impetus to elect the next governor of Anambra.
    “This is a golden opportunity for us to make our voices heard about the goings on in our state and nation, because through the PVC and electronic voting, political power will return to the people, the real drivers in democracy.
    “It is expected that with the freedom and ease guaranteed by the new Electoral Act and electronic voting, Anambra people will come out en mass and obtain their PVCs,’’ Igwilo said.

  • ‘Why politicians are defecting in Anambra’

    ‘Why politicians are defecting in Anambra’

    In this piece, Okechukwu Anarado examines the spate of defections in Anambra State, saying many politicians are moving to the ruling party at the centre, believing that whosoever gets the party’s ticket will succeed in upstaging Governor Willie Obiano, with the assistance of the federal might.

    Elections in Anambra State usually throw up such eruptions that leave trails of strange bedfellows amongst erstwhile associates. With the next governorship election scheduled to take place on November 18, the trend is being witnessed once again. Besides election matters, nothing else seems of rational consequence any more in Anambra today. Different political groupings bent on upstaging Governor Willie Obiano’s applecart and ruin the All Progressives Grand Alliance’s (APGA) chances of winning the election are to blame for the trend.

    The publicity blitz associated with the Anambra governorship is not unconnected with the fact that the election is staggered, because it takes place every four years at a time different from that of the rest of the country. It is also due to the characteristics of Anambra politics, which is capital intensive, fractious and can be potty.

    The buildup to this year’s election aptly exposes the unpredictability and the unreliability of many Nigerian politicians whose missions in politics are driven by no conviction other than voracious hunger to either amass wealth or covet power. This explains the unrestrained, osmotic shuffles by many influential politicians to political parties that suggest protection of the defectors’ interests.

    For instance, when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had a grip of the Presidency (1999 to 2015), despite the poverty of its trajectory in Anambra politics, it was still fashionable for it to parade unprecedented numbers of governorship aspirants. While most of the political parties, including the parties that metamorphosed into the All Progressives Congress (APC), usually perform woefully in governorship elections, the PDP always parades no less than 30 aspirants each election season. After losing to APGA, the contest usually lingers in the courts; with the candidates hoping each time to use presidential fiat to rob the party of the people’s mandate. That was PDP in Anambra State!

    In Anambra 2017, majority of those who nursed hard impressions of the APC before it chanced upon presidential powers now gravitate towards it for an embrace that was considered leprous before now. Indeed, most of those clamouring for the party’s ticket to contest the governorship lacked the boldness to call the party by name in Anambra until very recently when the delusions of their past and illusions of self-preservation exposed their ideological ineptitude and insincerity to any genuine political cause.

    But for phantom assurances of the Presidency to reward them with Obiano’s seat, probably why, for instance, would acknowledged PDP high chiefs suddenly clamour to ingratiate themselves with the leadership of the APC? Some suddenly forgot the humongous destruction their private interests caused Anambra State and are insulting the sensibilities of the people by taking the people’s sense of history for granted.

    But come to think of it: Of what electoral value is the APC in Nigeria today that the people of Anambra would risk trading in their trusted home grown APGA-government for a faltering concept that gladly ignores the participatory impulses of the people of the Southeast? What would the class of emergency apologists of the APC tell the people, to make the party saleable, when the owners of the party contemplate no remedies for the unprecedented exclusions Ndigbo suffer in the party? Could there be unspoken underhand bargains between the party and its Anambra governorship aspirants to gain the state’s seat of power beyond the legitimate electoral mandate of the people? What has any state in the Southeast gained from being run by the party in power at the centre?

    The shenanigan about the advantages Anambra would gain if governed by the APC is a hoax. Professor Chukwuma Soludo calls it ‘an elite talk; an elite game for the elite interest!’ He further admonishes that “some might join a political party so that the federal authorities might deploy the armed forces and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to write election results for them. It has nothing to do with the people and their welfare.” The APC in Anambra is a sure recipe for erosion of the tempo of development the state has known for about 12 years of APGA government.

    Observably, the temper of majority of residents of Anambra State over the political sophistry of most of the politicians now in circulation is suggestive of anxiety and reprehension driven by the singular constant element characteristic of Igbo success in their legitimate pursuits. The people’s suspicion of the buildup to this year’s election stems from their recourse to history. Disgusting memories of trodden paths and fears of their pernicious relive confront the people of Anambra. And they would not be cajoled into any gloomy political misadventure; not by whatever repackaged niceties the exponents of past missteps recommend. The people would not be intimidated into lavishing a cherished political heritage that does not only bear Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu’s imprimatur, but increasingly offers them safety, dignity and functional development. The stellar achievements of Governor Obiano in the past three years, in keeping with the APGA tradition, have further entrenched the party in the people’s consciousness.

    • Anarado is a Special Assistant to Governor Obiano on Media and Publicity

  • Police nab five suspects in Anambra

    Kidnapped victim rescued

    The police in Anambra State have arrested five persons for alleged kidnap and rescued a victim at Okpoko, near Onitsha, the Grand Commander, Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS), Sunday Okpe, has said.

    He told reporters in Onitsha the suspects were nabbed on April 2, following a tip-off.

    “On April 2, men of the FSARS stormed suspected kidnappers’ hideout and rescued a victim.

    “Five persons, who are members of a kidnap syndicate, were arrested. They are helping us in our investigation.”

    Okpe said the hoodlums used the hideout, a “no-go” area at Okpoko, as a detention camp for abducted victims.

    A pro-Biafra group, Biafra Independent Movement (BIM), has demanded release of the suspects, claiming they are not kidnappers but security guards.

    Mr. Emmanuel Omenka, the group’s zonal leader, who criticised the action, said the alleged hideout was the operational office of BIM in the area.

    “We do not know where they took our members to. They seized two of our motorcycles, ransacked our office and invited soldiers to help them kill us,’’ he alleged.

  • Anambra poll: Can Nwoye succeed Obiano?

    Anambra poll: Can Nwoye succeed Obiano?

    In this piece, Dr Peter Ekweme states that the pedegree of the aspirants will determine how far they can go in the party primaries and the governorship election in Anambra State.

    It is laughable that rivals could resort to the gutter to press against the front line governorship aspirant for the upcoming Anambra State gubernatorial election, Comrade Dr Tony Okey Nwoye. The online rant by one Aniagbaso is even more so.

    In this era of social media, misfits sit in the dark corners of their dark rooms and from their disturbed dark minds spew forth unfounded lies which the undiscerning and unsuspecting can fall for, hence my decision to put down these clarifications for record purposes as a concerned citizen of Anambra State who has a duty of patriotism to tell the truth as he knows it.

    Firstly, only the uninformed will consider that crap about Tony ever being linked to the horrible murder of Barrister Igwe and his wife. As at that time, young Tony was still far away from Anambra State politics. He was not even remotely involved. For such a high profile case, it is instructive that NEVER had Tony’s name ever been linked to that despicable crime. And he has run for the House of Representatives twice and was the governorship candidate of a major political party. Not once did this come up! The little matter of the confessant not being able to correctly name such a close buddy, consistently writing ‘Nwonye’ instead of ‘Nwoye’ readily gives the faceless con artist away for what he is – a very cheap scammer.

    But the one that takes the cake in that incongruous litany of fables is the allegation that Tony Nwoye belonged to a cult group while in school. Nothing can be further from the truth. Tony Nwoye had his university education in University of Nigeria (both Nsukka and Enugu campuses), and Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki. These are public institutions whose records the public can readily avail themselves of. Not for once was he ever accused from any quarters of belonging to a cult group. Not even the authorities he severally stood up against could trump up such charges against him.

    The records of the universities’ security departments can readily be referred to and cross checked for this. Those at the helm of the schools he attended are all still alive and can be reached to get a clarification on Tony’s antecedents in school, even a characterisation of his persona. Tony NEVER was a member of any cult group! If anything, he deployed his time as a student leader both at the Enugu campus of UNN and much latter, at the national level (NANS) to campaign against cultism and campus violence. The records are there for those interested in truth and facts!

    The other frivolities of kidnap, arson and their likes do not deserve any serious response. Anyone who knows Tony Nwoye can attest to the fact that his humaneness and innate detest for any form of oppression, repression and impugning on human dignity will never let him get involved in such acts. By his very nature, the Tony Nwoye I know so well simply cannot descend that low. I was in College of Medicine, University of Nigeria with Tony Nwoye at about the same time (I was a class ahead of him). We were active in the politics of University of Nigeria Medical Students Association (UNMSA). We were together in the Students Union Government House of Representatives. We even contested against each other for the Speakership of the SUG House of Representatives.

    It is the stock in trade of dirty politics to try to impugn the character of adversaries but there is limit below which any self respecting politician should never descend. Fabrication of such wicked outright lies against an opponent this early in the contest will do the fabricator no good. The candidates should stick to issues, and there are many! We want to hear of their solutions to the myriads of problems confronting our dear state, Anambra. We want to hear of their strides in their former or present positions towards improving the lot of the common Anambra man. They may do well to provide us with verifiable accounts of their personal efforts in their personal capacities towards alleviating the suffering of private citizens of Anambra – the indigent, the unemployed, the widows, the orphans, downtrodden women and neglected children.

    We want plans, initiatives, strategies and policy proposals; not poorly crafted lies,  baseless propaganda and cheap blackmails. That crap by the faceless Anagbaso belongs to the latter. Because it is incoherent, facts challenged and downright pedestrian, it is, as Shakespeare would say, nothing but *”a tale told by an idiot – full of sound and fury but signifying nothing.”*

    It shall be well with Anambra State.

    Indeed, it MUST be well with Anambra state.

    God bless Nigeria ©

    C. Ekwueme is the Secretary of the Nigerian Medical Association, Enugu State branch.

  • Anambra: ‘As governor, I won’t discriminate against women’

    Anambra: ‘As governor, I won’t discriminate against women’

    Mr. Barth Nwibe, an oil and gas entrepreneur, engineer, consultant and All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant in Anambra State speaks on his humble beginning, challenges of leadership and sundry issues in this interview with Arinze Igboeli 

    What was your growing up like?

    I grew up like every normal person born in the 60s. I had a father who was a tradesman while my mum was a business woman. But they believed in education, so they sent me to school. I grew up in those days when almost everybody in the village then was almost at the same level. Nobody was too rich and nobody was too poor. I will say that I had a humble beginning, but my parents realised that education was a path.

    So, I had my primary school at Ifite Primary School, Igbo Ukwu. When I left primary school in 1975, I proceeded to Christ the King College, (CKC) Onitsha in Anambra State for my secondary education. CKC was one of the premier schools then. So, I was very happy when my parents sent me to CKC. And at the end of my secondary school in 1980, I came out with distinction in my school certificate examination. And with that, I proceeded to University of Nigeria Nsukka, where I read Civil Engineering.

    What inspired your choice of engineering for your first degree?

    I was reading Ebony magazine one day and I saw a black guy dressed as an engineer. He said he schooled at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). As I looked at that picture, I was so inspired to study in the same institution. But of course, my parents didn’t have the money to send me to MIT. So, that was how the thought and inspiration of becoming an engineer came. My parents actually wanted me to read medicine and almost everybody around me thought I was going to ready medicine because just like I said earlier, I was the leader of my class. So, I chose to read Engineering and Civil then was the engineering course. In fact, in my JAMB, I registered for Civil Engineering and Physics and Physics as single honour because I liked Mathematics and Physics. That was what inspired me to read engineering.

    How would you describe your career path so far?

    It has been very excellent and fulfilling. Engineering has given me the opportunity to believe that anything is possible as long as you can think it through. I left the university in 1980 and I did my youth service in Rivers State. In fact, during my service, I was given a certificate of commendation for my excellent performance in my place of primary assignment. After that I got employed by a relation who has a structural engineering firm in Enugu. I worked with the firm for six month and got a job with an oil and gas firm – Wog Allied Services Ltd. I did three years with this establishment and joined Sperry Sun Drilling Services – a division of Halliburton Company. I did about three years with Sperry Sun and the company left Nigeria because they had a big contract to do in Saudi Arabia. I joined Baker Hughes where I worked for about a year and then left to work with Schlumberger Drilling and Measurements where I had most of my working life. Having spent about five years with Schlumberger, I left them to become a consultant also to Schlumberger. I did that for two years before I got a consultancy job with Shell which I did for about five years and I quit to start my own when the local content came into play and that is the company I have been running till today.

    What are your hobbies?

    I like reading and football. I am a fan of Arsenal because I don’t believe you always have to win, I believe in doing things right.

    What is the book that impacted your life most?

    The book that impacted me most in life is ‘Success through a Positive Mental Attitude’ by Napoleon Hill. I read this book just after I left secondary school. It was a book that helped me to realise that whatever the mind can conceive and believe, that the mind can achieve it. I was so inspired by that book. The titles were so catchy that one of it says ‘if you don’t have money, use OPM’.

    And OPM means ‘Other People’s Money’. And reading further, it will tell you that you are going to meet the most important living person. And you keep reading to know who is the most important living person, it tells you that you are the most important living person. It was a book that helped to shape me. But once in a while, one comes across some good books. Then another book that inspired me is ‘Why Nations Fail’ by a Turkish-American Economist, Daron Acemoglu and a British Political Scientist, James Robinson. With this you will understand why some countries are rich while some are poor. It is a book people should read. Also, in Nigeria here, the book by Mallam Nassir el-Rufai, ‘Accidental Civil Servant’, is also a good book. So, such books, you read them and you get to know how people navigate through life and what leadership entails.

    As a governorship aspirant, do you believe in giving women equal opportunity to utilise their talents and expertise in different fields and endeavours?

    In the company I run today, 40 per cent of my managers are women. I don’t see any difference between a man and a woman; the important thing is brain and character. What does it really mean that you are a man or woman? For me, as long as somebody can perform and deliver the expected result, she gets the job.

    As a governorship aspirant, how comfortable will you be with a woman being your deputy?

    To me, there are some things women even do better. Which man has done the kind of job late Dora Akunyili did in NAFDAC or even Oby Ezekwesili in this their advocacy ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ they are doing? Like I told you, women should be encouraged. If I have the opportunity and a good lady presents herself to be my deputy, why not? But I am not going to go all out searching to bring a woman on board. But if she has what it takes and she is prepared to do what she need to do – to partner to make it happen, that will be okay.

    I have on my own trying to fund some women organisations. There is a movement in Anambra State that came up, I was the person that gave them the seed money to organise themselves into a mass movement, even though at the end of the day, the leader derailed and it became a mess. To me, it doesn’t matter whether you are a man or a woman and I have more daughters and sisters, why should I discriminate against them?

  • Fresh confusion over Anambra Central Senatorial election

    Fresh confusion over Anambra Central Senatorial election

    Following recent court rulings on Anambra Central Senatorial Election, the confusion over parties’ candidates seem to have deepened, reports Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu 

    The confusion surrounding the seemingly illusive Anambra Central Senatorial Election has increased since 14th March, 2017, when an Abuja High Court ruled that the time for nomination, withdrawal or substitution of candidates for court ordered election in the district has elapsed and that the concerned political parties can no longer substitute any of their candidates.

    As soon as the verdict was made, there were reports that it means both All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the strongest opposition political parties in the state, cannot field candidates in the election. Accusing the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) of deliberately sponsoring such media interpretation to deepen the confusion and discourage opposition, some Anambra stakeholders, especially APC henchmen, said there is nothing in the judgment that suggested the party does not have candidate for the election.

    But APGA organs had insisted PDP and APC are out of the contest, following the Abuja High Court’s ruling. For example, in a press statement made available to The Nation during the week, APGA Women for Good Governance (APGAWGG) said the court ruling has cleared all the hurdles for INEC to conduct the election and for APGA to win the seat.

    Explaining its stand on the confusion and its understanding of how the matter deteriorated to its present situation, the group’s National Coordinator, Mrs. Grace Chike, said in a release made available to The Nation during the week that: “It is INEC’s task, function or role to clear all hurdles impeding the smooth conduct of elections in the country and fix appropriate dates. No political party or candidate can influence that or speak for the Commission which is independent as its name denotes, adding: “The good people of Anambra Central Senatorial District desire and deserve effective representation in the Senate. Patriotism demands that the rerun should be conducted immediately.

    “APGA Women for Good Governance (APGAGG) will continue to campaign for sustainable democracy and good governance in Nigeria.”

    APGA Integrity Group also called on INEC to conduct the rerun as soon as possible, saying the Court has, by its recent ruling cleared all the hurdles that had hindered the conduct of the election. The Publicity Secretary of the group, Mr. Great Martin Kalu, said, “It has become necessary to conduct the Court ordered Anambra Central Senatorial rerun two years after the March 28, 2015 National Assembly elections.

    We call on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to take urgent steps to ensure that the rerun is conducted. The Supreme Court has cleared the hurdles in its landmark judgements that will guide the Commission in discharging its constitutional duties.”

    The group also argued that “to abandon the people of Anambra Central Senatorial zone to their fate is justice juxtaposed and a big step backward in quest for democratic ethos, ethics and ideals.”

    The confusion

    Since Justice Anwuli Chikere gave the judgment, declaring that the candidates that contested the original election can no longer be substituted, APGA and her supporters have rolled out the drums, announcing that PDP and APC had been barred from presenting candidates for the rerun.

    Reacting to this, Sharon Ikeazor, who had approached the court to be declared the substituted candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Anambra Central Senatorial Election, said in a statement made available to The Nation that “The import of the judgment is that the APC can still be part of the election, but the candidate MUST be Chris Ngige, who, by the Grace of God, also has the capacity to win this seat for the APC. This is contrary to the celebration of opponents of the party in the media, that the court has barred the APC from fielding a candidate for the election. The correct interpretation of her judgment is that only Senator Ngige, our duly nominated candidate, can fly the flag of our great party in the election,” Barrister Ikeazor said.

    She added that: “The moral burden is now on Senator Ngige, as a leader of the party, to rescue the APC from a psychological defeat, which we do not need as we go into the governorship election later in the year.

    “In football, when an opponent refuses or fails to show up, the referee declares a walk over; my appeal is that Senator Ngige graciously spares the APC the agony of being walked over. This will be a great sacrifice to the party at this crucial moment of need.

    “At this point, I must thank my supporters, members of the APC, especially the leadership for the confidence reposed in me to fly the party flag. I gave it my all but unfortunately the court has ruled that I can’t be a candidate in that election.

    In the greater interest of the good people of Anambra and the party, I consulted widely and also as a lawyer with over 30years experience, I will not challenge the decision. As any further appeal will continue to short-change our people, who deserve to be heard on the floor of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The district has been without a representative since 2015, when the court disqualified our sister, Uche Ekwunife, on the grounds of invalid nomination.

    “I call on the National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun, NWC, the leaders and elders of the party and indeed all members of our great party to encourage and support Senator Ngige to clinch this crucial Senatorial seat in Anambra for APC,” she said.

    Following this development, observers have expressed concern following claims by some stakeholders that Ngige, a former governor and former senator, who is now a serving minister, may not want to leave the position to vie for the senatorial election because of the uncertainty associated with an election.

    Although the actual disposition of the senator towards the current development is yet to be ascertained, a source close to him said the minister’s fear may not be unconnected with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution which requires a public servant to resign his position before contesting an election. Section 66, sub-section 1 of the constitution says “No person shall be qualified for election to the Senate or the House of Representatives if:  (f) he is a person employed in the public service of the Federation or of any State and has not resigned, withdrawn or retired from such employment 30 days before the date of election.”

    Given this provision, the source said the Minister of Labour may not be allowed by INEC to fly APC ticket, except he resigns first and that it is doubtful if the minister will like to resign from his current job to contest the election.

    But unlike the position of most of his party men, Chief Victor Umeh, the APGA candidate for the senatorial election, had said in an interview he granted a national daily in February that Ngige is free to contest in the election. He said: “Since Senator Chris Ngige, the APC candidate, is now a minister, can the APC bring another candidate to replace him? The answer is still no because the time for withdrawal and substitution has elapsed and Ngige is still alive,” he said, adding, “So, Senator Chris Ngige is qualified to run. If he wants to run, he has to join the race and resign within 30 days to the election date. That is what the law says.”

    Reacting to the claims made by some organs of APGA in Anambra State that APC has been barred to present a candidate in the senatorial election, Okelo Madukaife, the APC Publicity Secretary in Anambra State told The Nation on Friday that such a claim is both “premature and preposterous. It also conveys the level of immaturity of the people making it.” He said there is nothing in the court rulings so far to suggest that APC has no candidate or that APC has been barred from Anambra Central Senatorial Election.

    According to him, “We have a candidate, because, as you and the court admitted, APC has a candidate in the election. So, our position today is that whenever all the issues entangling the senatorial election are disentangled and a date is fixed for the election, APC will not only field its candidate but will also win the election. We are favourably disposed to the resolution of all the issues, particularly along the rule of law and we are confident that when all the issues are resolved and the election date is fixed, APC will field its candidate and will win the election,” he said.

    INEC’s hesitation

    Besides the issue of parties’ candidates, another source of confusion is INEC’s delay in fixing a date for the rerun election.

    It would be recalled that since March 28, 2015 National Assembly elections, various National Assembly Election Petition Tribunals and Court of Appeal Tribunals nullified about 80 elections and ordered fresh or rerun polls. Most of these rerun elections had held but Anambra Central’s re-run has remained an illusion.

    Madam Chike, blaming it on INEC’s hesitation, said, “It will be in the interest of justice, equity and good conscience for INEC to fix a date to conduct the Anambra Central Senatorial rerun.

    “We urge the Commission to withdraw its matter in court as the Supreme Court has decided the PDP fate, while Mega Progressive Peoples Party (MPPP) and United Progressive Party (UPP) did not file any suit against the conduct of the election. Their candidates are eligible to participate in the rerun.”

    We gathered at the weekend that the last may not have been heard about the Anambra Central Senatorial Election intrigues as more stakeholders from both PDP and APC are still approaching the courts to straighten more grey areas. While such individual moves are being made, we learnt that the concerned parties are meeting behind the scene to resolve outstanding issues.

  • UPP, HDP flay appointment of LG transition committees in Anambra

    Two political parties have condemned the appointment of caretaker committees into the 21 local government councils and 326 electoral wards in Anambra by Gov. Willie Obiano.

    The parties, United Progressives Party (UPP) and Hope Democratic Party (HDP), gave their condemnation of the appointments in interviews with the News Agency Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Awka.

    NAN reports that Obiano appointed the transition committees and councillors on March 29, to take over the affairs at the councils which has been run by the Head of Services at the various councils for a while now.

    The Chairman of UPP in Anambra, Dr Evans Igwilo, told NAN that the appointments were not in the spirit of the constitution of Nigeria.

    Igwilo said he did not know what could have informed the appointment of caretaker committees just when the Anambra governorship election was around the corner.

    He wondered why Obiano who is a product of democratic election would not allow elections to be conducted in the councils.

    “Gov. Obiano has not done the right thing in this matter; I do not know what he is afraid of or wants to gain by appointing caretaker chairmen for the councils.

    “Unfortunately, these are some of the negative indices that will work against him because the people of Anambra have been yearning for this election.

    “The UPP condemns these appointments and call for elections, this is a product of bad advisers, if the Federal Government decides to appoint caretaker committees in the state, Obiano could not have been a governor,” he said.

    Also, Sam Oragbunam, Chairman of Hope Democratic Party (HDP), described the appointments of the caretaker committee’s members by Obiano as sign of desperation for second term.

    Oragbunam said the refusal of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) led government in Anambra conduct polls at the council was because of the allocation accruing to them.

    “I see these appointments as desperation for second term but it will actually work against them.

    “The appointment and swearing in was done in the night; so, it shows that APGA believes that the appointments will be necessary to deliver the governor for a second term in office.

    “It is all to the detriment of democracy and the people, the party in power in Anambra has abused the trust and confidence bestowed on them, successively they have not showed willingness to conduct elections.

    “Although Obiano sent a list of nominees for the Anambra State Election Commission board, the election itself was not provided for in the budget, so they are not just ready for it because of the money accruing to the councils,” he said.

    But defending the appointments, Chief Jude Emecheta, an APGA chieftain, hailed Obiano for ensuring that quality people were at the councils to pilot their affairs pending when elections were conducted.

    Emecheta who is the National Chairman of Obiano Support Group (OSG), dismissed the notion of the opposition that the governor was not keen in conducting elections at the councils.

    He noted that part of the evidence was the list of ANSIEC board members he sent to the House of Assembly for confirmation, assuring that the elections would still hold.

    He, however, decried the litigations that have trailed the membership list, urging the litigants to withdraw their suits to enable the House screen and approve the board members.

    “I must commend Obiano for appointing the caretaker committees; the councils must be run and it is not true that APGA or the governor does not want or are afraid of election.

    “The list of ANSIEC board members before the House is a matter in the courts and this not healthy, let those people withdraw the suit and allow the process to go on because they are credible nominees.”

    The Acting Chairman of Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) in the state, Mrs. Oby Okafor, said she was not in the state when the appointments were made.

    Okafor, who is also the chairman of Advanced Congress for Democrats (ACD), said IPAC would not make a statement on the matter until they meet to discuss it.

    She said the appointment could be because there was no budget for elections in the 2017 appropriation bill and expressed the hope that the council elections could still hold before the governorship.

    According to her, the local governments will not be devoid of leadership, some people must be there while waiting for election.

    “Local government election is good, we want it, but the election is not in the budget, if it was contained in the budget and the government did not do it, we would have started agitating,” she said.

    Contacted, the Chairman of APGA in Anambra, Chief Norbert Obi, declined comment, saying he was at a burial ceremony.

    NAN reports that Anambra has been without elected council officials since January 2016.