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VANGUARD, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2017 — 37
Why I am backing Obaze
— Nwobu-Alor, APGA chieftain
CHIEF Sylvester Nwobu-
Alor is a second Republic
lawmaker and former
Director-General of the
Peter Obi Campaign
Organisation. He is a
founding chieftain of the
All Progressives Grand
Alliance (APGA).
In this interview, Alor gives
his perspectives on the
governorship election.
Excerpts:
By Dapo Akinrefon
WHAT is your take on the
impending election and
the standing of the incumbent
governor, Chief Willie Obiano?
Truly, Anambra in the past had
it good in terms of governance.
Starting from the regime of Ngige
and then to Peter Obi’s
administration, Anambra State
posted superlative and sterling
results in terms of democratic
dividends and performance, and
so if the citizenry now complain,
that means there is a gap and
lull in the expectation.
Truly, given the current outcry
and from personal observation,
Willie Obiano, though a nice
man, his government has not met
the yearnings and expectations
of Anambrarians.
But the government of Obiano
has reacted by saying that ‘Willie
is working,’ so why do you
doubt its performance?
It is preposterous and
prevaricating for a properly
constituted government with
huge allocations and IGR to point
at the payment of salaries and
pension as an achievement.
By the way, it is legal, moral
and natural to pay all workers at
the due time. It is unconscionable
and despicable really to owe a
worker who has completed his
task.
Therefore, Obiano’s
government should not see the
payment thereof, as an
achievement. Besides,
governments before it (that is,
Ngige and Obi’s) paid salaries
and pensions and still performed
and packaged the infrastructure
to the admiration of Ndi
Anambra.
More so, Obiano’s government
has no reason not to pay salaries
and improve the lives of Ndi
Anambra because a solid
financial foundation was availed
by the preceding government of
Peter Obi.
What of the N20million
disbursement to communities in
Anambra State by the
government of Willie Obiano?
I tell you one thing, Willie is
working, but regretfully Willie is
indeed working woefully and
that’s why his government is
illogical, comical and theatrical.
The N20million development
fund comes with too much
baggage. First, it is a misdirection
and misappropriation. No-
Why Anambra elders are behind
Obiano — Ezeife
By Vincent Ujumadu
FIRST civilian governor of
the state, Chief Chukwuemeka
Ezeife has given reasons
why the state’s elders are backing
the incumbent governor,
Chief Willie Obiano for a second
term.
Ezeife regretted that the
ongoing electioneering
campaigns in the state were
based on blatant lies and denials,
adding that people were even
denying the stupendous growth
in the agricultural sector, as well
as in infrastructural development
across the state.
The former governor, who is the
chairman of the Elders’ Council
said: “In the beginning, Governor
Willie Obiano, after being sworn
in, told the elders of Anambra
State in his first meeting with the
council, that his first priority
would be security.
“I was the first member to
respond to the governor’s
statement and I told him that it is
only people who feel secure that
will come and invest in our
•Alor
body knows where he is getting
the funds to finance the “Community
Projects,” but assuming
it is from the joint L. G. account,
then it is illegal.
The Local Government system
as enshrined in the 1999
Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria is the third
tier of administration with clearly
defined and delineated
obligations and mandates and
which obviously does not include
the wanton disbursement of cash
to communities.
Therefore, Governor Obiano’s
penchant for appropriating funds
meant for the Local Government
administration for other uses is
unlawful and illegal, ab initio.
Second, since such
disbursements are not lawfully
appropriated and deployed, it
gives room to all manners of
manipulations.
For instance, it’s been shown
that the current disbursement
bazaar by the current
government only gets to his
surrogates and lackeys.
Third, the direct cash
disbursement to communities
being an illegality itself is also a
Greek gift whereby it’s given with
the ‘right hand’ and stealthily
collected with the ‘left hand’.
You seem critical...
A government that cannot
point to a single signature project
to its credit has failed the
electorate and does not deserve
a re-election. The media is awash
of how previous governments’
projects are claimed as Obiano’s
achievement.
If the government has performed,
why claiming other people’s
projects, for instance, road
networks done by Ngige and
Obi’s regime? For example, it is
on record that Peter Obi’s administration
did a total of 265 roads
during his tenure and one cannot
point to a single road done
by this Willie administration and
that is scandalous and suffocating.
Your party, APGA has been
factionalized and fumbling,
what is your take on this?
It is painful seeing a project one
heavily invested in suddenly
sinking and skidding. As one of
the founding fathers of APGA, I
know the plan was to make APGA
a national party with an Igbo
base.
So, why are you backing
Obaze?
I believe in objectivity and not
swayed by parochialism and
sentiments. Honestly, the
government of Obiano has not
done anything positive to warrant
a second tenure.
I say it again; giving Obiano a
second chance means total liquidation
of Anambra State.
•Ezeife
economy. Another member of the
council stated with emphasis that
should the governor succeed
with security, he would easily be
allowed to go for the second term,
although most people doubted
the possibility of achieving
meaningful security in Anambra
State because of the situation the
state was in at the time.
“Today, the story is clear and
definite. Anambra State is one of
the safest in the country.
Before Obiano’s security
solution, visiting Anambra State
was with great fear and some
Why Anambarians want Nwoye
— Arinze
Barrister Ken Arinze
served as a commissioner
in the Dr. Chris Ngige
administration in Anambra
State and is a passionate
supporter of Dr. Tony
Nwoye in the forthcoming
election. In this interview,
he speaks on why Nwoye
should be elected the next
governor of the state.
Excerpts:
WHAT is your opinion of
the forthcoming contest
in Anambra State?
To us in Anambra, the contest
is between black and white.
Governor Obiano represents the
black and Dr. Tony Nwoye is the
white. I am bold to say that I
support him though I know that
there are others who are also
angling to stop the rot that we
are now seeing under Willie
Obiano.
The other major candidates
have their good sides I must
confess, but their advantages
compared to what Dr. Nwoye is
bringing becomes insignificant.
What are those advantages that
you see in Nwoye?
Number one is that Nwoye has
the vision of a better Anambra
more than all the other
candidates all of who are far
better than the incumbent. He
has lived with us here and the
only times he has been out is
going to Abuja to represent his
constitutency in the House of
Representatives. So he knows
the pains and the pressures on
our people. You see the way he
connects with the populace, he
speaks the common language of
the people, he understands their
pains.
Secondly, Tony as some of us
call him, has the energy of the
youth to drive his vision. One or
two of the other candidates may
have good vision, but they are
getting too old, into their sixties
and though life and health
belongs to God, these men may
not have the dynamism to pursue
whatever vision they are
espousing in the same way that
Nwoye has been going about.
But some paint him in the
negative, saying that as a former
president of NANS that he must
have been a cultist and all that?
Well, I will answer your
question by putting it to you that
you are a 419ner or all the
negative things that they say
about Nigerians. Is that correct?
No! The fact that Tony became
president of NANS does not
mean that he was a cultist. I think
it is an insult to the sensibility of
Nigerian students who aspire to
leadership to say that they are
all cultists. It is even more
revolting given the fact that it is
on record that Tony played a
major role in fighting cultism as
a student activist. Have you not
heard the record of how Prof.
•Arinze
Mbanefoh (Prof. Ginigeme
Mbanefoh, former vice-chancellor
of the University of Nigeria)
commended Tony’s role in the
fight against cultism in UNN? It
is rare in this country for a vicechancellor
or a former vice-chancellor
to commend a students
union leader, but in the case of
Tony, the commendation was
glaring and he earned that commendation
without sacrificing the
demands of the students.
He has since progressed to
qualify as a medical doctor and
now a sitting member of the
House of Representatives where
he has demonstrated ability and
capacity.
Some say that he didn’t do very
well during the television
debate.
Ah my brother, that is another
thing. But he was not the last.
You sure knew that Obiano took
last in the debate. For me and I
have asked, Tony may be a
medical doctor, but he is not
dumb and I know that he had
about two hours to prepare for
that debate. Tony in the past one
month hardly sleeps more than
three hours in a day and you
could see the physical stress on
him during the debate but even
at that, I am proud that he was
able to project his passion for the
development of infrastructure.
You heard how he kept on
harping on power, power, power
as the thing needed to liberate
the entrepreneurial spirit of
Anambarians.
How confident are you of your
man’s chances in this election?
If you don’t know, Tony
represents Governor Obiano in
the House of Representatives.
He is perhaps the only member
of the House of Representatives
who won election despite the
opposition of the sitting governor.
That is because the people of his
constituency saw something in
him and voted for him despite
the opposition of the governor
who is also from the same place
with him. It is this good thing that
the people of Anambra East/West
Federal Constituency saw in
Tony Nwoye that I and every
other Anambarian want to enjoy.
As a member of the House of