Politics
Ikpeazu, Ahiwe get traders endorsement *You’ve given me wings to fly – gov
Things are looking up for Okezie Ikpeazu and Okey Ahiwe, as their bids to move into the Senate and Government House, Umuahia respectively, on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have got a major boost from major stakeholders in the state.
Ikpeazu, Governor of the state, is eyeing the Red Chambers in the National Assembly, while Ahiwe, who emerged the candidate of the party a fortnight ago, to replace the late Uchenna Ikonne, who died recently, while still campaigning ahead of the March 11, wants to replace the former the state’s number one job.
Their ambitions, got a major boost on Monday, from leaders of the various markets in Abia South Senatorial District, including Committee, Zonal and Line leaders, saying both candidates were the best suited for the jobs they were seeking.
Chief Lucky Akabueze, who spoke at the the well-attended event held in Aba, extolled the Governor for being a trader-friendly leader, always fighting for their welfare, while describing Ahiwe as a leader whose time had come.
Displaying the Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) as proof of their eligibility to vote in the general elections, commencing this Saturday, February 25, the traders who came in their numbers renamed the voting as “OVI PVC” (Okezie Victor Ikpeazu – PVC).
Urging their counterparts in other areas of the state, regardless of their state of origin, not only to toe the same line, but to turn out en masse with their family members on February 25th to vote for the Governor, saying that they not only believed firmly in him to represent them well, but had the capacity to redeem the glory of Abia South at the Senate. Responding, a highly elated Ikpeazu described the gesture of the traders as gratifying and an acknowledgement of the work he had done in the past eight years to improve their welfare.
Ikpeazu, who particularly vowed to take up the Aba-Ikot Ekpene and Aba-Port Harcourt federal roads with the relevant federal agencies within his first four years in office to ensure its speedy reconstruction, told his audience: “I’ve lived here with you and together we have battled to reposition Aba to ensure that your businesses grow in leaps and bounds.
“There is nothing you have asked me to do that I haven’t done for you, and even now. I am still working to further improve your welfare. As we speak I am laying final asphalt along Faulks to enable you have smoother access to Ariaria.
“By endorsing me today, you have given me the wings to fly to Abuja and bring home more dividends of democracy to you. I have never failed you and will never fail you because you are the reason I wake up everyday to work hard. I thank you for the endorsement which I know you mean because you believe in my vision and mission in government.”
Commissioner for trade and Investment, John Okiyi Kalu, who thanked the traders for the massive support they showed the governor over the years, assured that he would continue to work for them in Abia and from Abuja as a Senator, calling on the traders to turn out in their numbers to ensure a landslide victory for the governor on Saturday.
Justice Haruna Tsammani, on Monday killed the attempt by Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic (PDP) and Peter Obi, his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, both presidential candidates, respectively in the February 25 election to get Nigerians watch the proceedings at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, currently sitting in Abuja, live.
The court court, ruling on the plea that originated from the former Vice President, who had argued that it would give integrity to the process and was later joined by Obi, in a unanimous ruling, held that the application was without merit, adding that televising court proceedings is not provided for in any extant law in the country.
Tsammani, Chairman of the five-man panel of Court of Appeal Justices, sitting as PEPT, who read the lead ruling, while adopting the arguments of Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, his All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which declared him winner of the election and which also railed against the move, agreed that it would not make the outcome of their decisions any cleaner.
To him, the court sitting in public did not mean that it should sit in a stadium or in marketplace and that there was no way televising the proceedings could advance the interest of fair hearing for parties or advance the interest of the petitioners in relation to issues raised in their petition, adding that granting the request by Atiku and the PDP could trivialise the serious business of the court.
Orji Uzor Kalu, former Governor of Abia State and current Chief Whip of the Senate, may be kissing his quest to lead the National Assembly in Nigeria by becoming 10th session Senate President goodbye, if the attempt to strip him of his All Progressives Congress (APC) identity succeeds.
Kalu, seen as one of the front runners for the nation’s number three citizen, was among the party stalwarts suspended by the ruling party on Thursday, alongside Ken Nnamani, former Senate President, Geoffrey Onyeama, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Sullivan Chime, former Governor of Enugu State.
Alongside former Speaker of Enugu state House of Assembly, Hon Eugene Odo; Director General Voice of Nigeria, Osita Okechukwu and former Commissioner in Enugu state, Joe Mammel, the APC bigwigs, who had earlier been slammed with their fate shortly after the 2023 general elections, had their suspension sustained by the party’s South East caucus.
The ratification of the suspension of the chieftains from Enugu and Abia States, who were initially slammed for allegedly engaging in anti-party activities, according to the APC Zonal Secretariat came after South East Executive Meeting on April 16, 2023.
Ijeomah Arodiogbu, National Vice Chairman (South East), who gave the reason for the action, as the need to enforce discipline in the party, in order to strengthen APC in the zone, listed other names to include: SA to Minister of Foreign Affairs, Flavour Eze, former chairman of the party in the state, Ben Nwoye; former deputy state chairman, A. C. Udeh; Obodoeze Ocho; Chukwudi Igwe; Kingsley Uduji; former Military Governor of the state, Joe Orji; Maduka Arum (A.K.A Mama) and Chidera Obed.
Others suspended alongside Kalu in Abia, included Sam Nkeire, Uche Sampson Ogah, former Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Senator Nkechi Nworgu, amongst others.
Ezeanyawu Michael, spokesman of the party in Enugu State, while stating that it was the right thing to do, said: “I want to further use this opportunity to call on the APC leadership, at both the state and national levels, not to relent in its efforts to rid the party of saboteurs.”
Former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, on Monday emerged from a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Rock villa in Abuja, with a definite message to Nigerians – I will introduce something new, if elected as the new Senate President.
Akpabio, who left as the Minority Leader after losing his return bid in 2019 to take up appointment as Minister of Niger Delta, flaunted his credentials as governor, where he claimed to have made significant contributions to infrastructure, stating that he would be an “uncommon transformer” as the head of the nation’s legislature.
He told State House Correspondents after the meeting: “It is well known that Akpabio is a results-driven individual. You will remember that when I was a governor, I made significant contributions to infrastructure, education, social issues, and human empowerment.
“I intend to bring a lot of reforms into the senate, in the ways and manners we do business, to assist the next administration to succeed. We will be very thorough in doing everything; we’ll bring about loyalty to the constitution.
“The restiveness that we are seeing across the nation, we’ll do our best to make good laws and to assist the administration to bring about policies that will empower the youths of the country. I made that promise even on the convention day that being a man who used to turn boys into men and who still does, that I will like to work with the incoming president, who has also shown that example in Lagos state as a governor and thereafter as a leader of the APC in Nigeria.
“So, the youths are in for a very good time, in terms of empowerment, there will be no time for slacking and we’ll restrict a lot of them from being lured into criminality, into brigandage and all that.”
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