2019 ;I Have The Capacity, Credibility, Competence And Character To Defeat Umahi - Prof. Odoh
The governorship
aspirant in Ebonyi state, on the platform of the All Progressives Congress
(APC), who is also the immediate past secretary to Ebonyi state Government
(SSG) Prof. Ben Ifeanyichukwu Odoh has revealed that he is strongly and very
much active in the governorship race to restore the true essence of Democracy
to Ebonyi people. He said that he has been reaching out and interacting to his
supporters and 171 ward coordinators across the state and maintained that, he
is the only candidate who possess the full capacity, credibility, competence
and character to defeat Governor Umahi and enthrone participatory democracy in
the state come 2019 election.
Odoh, who spoke during
media interaction with journalist in his campaign office in Abakaliki, Said
that if given the ticket by his party and eventually win the election, he will
ensure that Government appointees and its agencies are given free hand to
operate and make contributions to the policies and programs of government
without unnecessary interference which characterize the current government of
Umahi.’’ a situation where everything ends up in one table is undemocratic and
will not happen in my government’’ Odoh said.
He said that government
will formulate workable policies that will make the state investors friendly,
unlike what is being witnessed today under Umahi, where the state has been
ranked one of worse place to do business in Nigeria, due to its harsh economic
and tax policies. Odoh also faulted the empowerment programs of the current
government where #250,000 were given out to people without right information,
knowledge, training and requisite skill, which he described as an act of recycling poverty. He said
that his government will rather focus more on capacity building, which implies
giving the people the right training, right skill and education so as to be self-
reliant, when he took over the government come 2019.
On zoning and consensus
arrangements, Odoh describes them as ‘’undemocratic and fraudulent’’. He stated
that zoning of political offices was `fraudulent and did have served the best
interest of the people. He said that zoning arrangement often lead to the
emergence of incompetent and visionless leaders. According to him, zoning as
practiced in the state is not clearly defined and there is no written and
signed agreement binding the people to the alleged agreement. He said that the
alleged zoning arrangement has led to the marginalization of the Izzi and Ezza nations
which, according him, were the most populous ethnic groups in the state. Prof.
Odoh maintained that the emergence of Dr Sam Egwu from Ebonyi North Senatorial
zone and Chief Martins Elechi from Ebonyi Central as the first and second
executive governors of the state respectively, did not serve the interest of
the Izzi and their Ezza counterparts. “if we must zone our key political
offices, we must sit down and discuss how the zoning should be done. “The two
dominant groups in the state; the Izzis and the Ezzas have been marginalized
and have not produced governor or deputy governor of the state since 1999. “ we
must discuss zoning in the real context of how it affects all of us as a
people, Zoning on senatorial line cannot reflect the true character and if we
are looking at fairness and equity, the state has been unfair to my own people
and I have reasons to establish that. “The Ohaozara bloc will have been in
power for about 20 years by the time Gov. Dave Umahi leaves office in 2019,
having produced Dr Chigozie Ogbu as former deputy governor. “The Ikwo people in
Ebonyi Central produced immediate former governor, Chief Martin Elechi and the
Ohaukwu Local Government produced Dr Sam Egwu, who ruled between 1999 and 2007.
“We are enlightened people and if we have to look at the issue of zoning, we
have to look at it objectively and not follow the band wagon,’’ Odoh said. He
also said that the adoption of consensus option for the party’s primaries will
not reflect the true essence of democracy.
Prof. Odoh said that
consensus method was a “rape on democracy’’ and insists that leadership must be
based on character, competence and credibility. “Democracy allows for mass
participation and it is a government of the people by the people and for the
people. “Consensus will deny party members the right and opportunity to
participate in choosing their flag bearers in the forthcoming 2019 general
elections,’’ he added.
On education, Prof Odoh
said that in the last three years, about six courses has lost accreditation in
Ebonyi state university, which implies that they cannot admit students. ‘’The
first thing we want to do is that our budget for Education must not be less
than 20%’’ we are going to give $1m research grant annually to our educational
sector and ‘’we will consciously improve our educational standard so that our
children can have future’’ Odoh said. He stated further that his administration
will make education very competitive. Partner with international organization and
will ensure he produce secondary school that will compete with top ten
secondary schools in the country.
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