By Chuka Nnabuife|ANCISRO
Politics and governance may mean anything to anyone who has little or no sense of value. To him that keeps his promises and has good sense of self dignity and his society’s worth he, not lives up to his words, what he gives his people is what will yield treasure beyond immediate gains.
This is evident in Anambra Government’s approach to the approaching local government elections.
The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) last Saturday held a rally in Awka, Anambra State, demonstrating its strong governance foothold ahead of the local government elections scheduled for September 28, 2024.
Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, who led the rally, noted that the organisers, Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission (ANSIEC) had already kicked off the electoral process while participating political parties have launched their campaigns for the elections. He disclosed the parties’ and ndị Anambra’s readiness for the civic event. He reaffirmed APGA’s commitment to progressivism and its achievements in infrastructure development, human capital, and technology innovation.
The impressive turnout at the rally held at the radically renovating Dr. Alex Ekwueme Square, Awka presented APGA as a vibrant political aggregation with expanding followership in Anambra. Governor Soludo noted that APGA is the only party going into the elections with candidates for all 21 local council chairs and councilorship aspirants in all the 326 wards, solidifying its position as a dominant force in the state.
“APGA is ready. We are fully on the ground. There is no opposition here,” Governor Soludo declared.
Charging the party’s candidates to campaign confidently for victory, he highlighted APGA’s accomplishments, under his reign as Governor, to motivate them. He urged them to remind voters that “it is APGA that is giving them unprecedented transformation in terms of infrastructure.”
The feats, as he recounted, include over 500 kilometers of road development; the over 20 years of economic transformation in the state and a guarantee of at least a clear agenda of two-decade transformation which includes highpoints like Awka 2.0 and Onitsha 2.0 industrial cities/infrastructure developments; human capital development programs and technology innovation initiatives which the state is already developing.
He added : “we are breaking the 33‐year old jinx. For the first time, Anambra is going to have Government House and a Governor’s Lodge. First time in its history, as well as the human capital, free education, free antenatal care and free delivery scheme that have benefitted over 60,000 women.
“The future is technology and innovation. Tens of thousands of our youth are receiving digital training because we are purposeful that Anambra will be the unchallenged digital tribe. The Silicon Valley is already under construction, but our youths are already being enabled to even get jobs all over the world sitting in Anambra. We are training the human capital that is productive at home and exportable abroad.”
He asked them to leverage on the feats in their campaigns.
Prof. Soludo communicated his government’s keenness for the LG elections.
The governor’s words: “Today, while we mark this campaign, we also use this opportunity to make an important point — that the conduct of the local government election is promise made and promise kept.”
He went ahead to explain how his personal pledge from the outset of his stead as governor, to hold the LG polls influence his resolve to ensure the fruition of the September 28 event.
“During my inaugural speech, I promised ndi Anambra that as soon as we put in place the institutional mechanisms and the legal framework for the organisation of the local government election, that we were going to organise the election. Many people did not believe,” Gov. Soludo noted.
Indeed, many doubting Thomases who would chose to ignore that very early promise by the governor and go to town with the diversionary that the governor was arm-twisted to organise the LG elections, by the recent Supreme Court judgement on the status of local government council, and conjecturing that the governor is lulling because of APGA’s perceived dwindling clout in the state heard their reply from the governor and his party.
What the rally clearly, established was the teeming, and still expanding followership of APGA in Anambra. The governor observed it and had good words for those who romanticise and sensationalise the Supreme Court judgement factor, unnecessarily.
“We originally planned that we were going to conduct local government elections by December, but the Supreme Court judgement literally declared a state of emergency by compelling all states with no elected local government councils, to do so immediately. That’s why we had to bring it forward from December to 28th of September, 2024.”
The rally also showcased APGA’s strengthened leadership, as its past leaders like Chief Victor Oye appeared in visible support of the current national chairman, Mr. Sly Umeokenwa and his national working committee (NWC).
However, what many may not notice, except those who have good eye for qualitative governance and visionary leadership is the kind souvenirs the party members who attended took home. Unlike the usual handouts of “stomach infrastructure” such as food items, pieces of cheap clothes and tokens of cash, the thousands of APGA members in attendance went home with improved varieties of high-yield cash crops as souvenirs, empowering them to become millionaires when the plants begin to yield fruits in about five years.
As Anambra State prepares for the local government elections, APGA’s rally has sent a strong message on how its mode of governance and commitment to progressivism have lent it impactful foothold in Anambra State.
