The Presidency has assured that the November 14 governorship election in Anambra State will surpass those of Ondo and Edo States in terms of transparency and credibility.
This assurance is coming on the heels of the calls on the various candidates in the election to engage on issue based campaigns rather than attacking personalities.
Special Adviser to the President on Inter Party Affairs, Ben Obi, who made the commitment in Abuja, at a colloquium organized for the 23 candidates in the election, by Anambra State Towns People Association, ASTPA, and Anambra State Public Officers and Elders Forum,ASPOF, said that the government is desirous of conducting a free and fair poll.
Obi said that President Goodluck Jonathan had mandated him to repeat the feat he achieved in Edo and Ondo states by conducting workshops for political parties on the need to have a free, fair and credible election in the state, disclosing that he had fixed the exercise for the 21st of this month.
“I have a clear mandate from Mr. President to conduct sensitization workshops for free, credible and transparent elections in any state going into election, so that the people in that state will engage themselves in a free, fair and credible elections and bring about the state of harmony, state of peace. We did that in Edo State, it worked, we did that in Ondo State, it worked.
“So, we are bringing back what we did sometimes ago in Edo and Ondo State, where we organized thorough fora that brought in peaceful elections in those states,” he boasted.
He said the Presidency was not interested in who emerges victorious at the election, saying rather, it was after the success of the exercise.
“You recalled that the candidates that emerged from those states were all opposition candidates. Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State and Olusegun Mimiko, from Ondo State emerged from the opposition and after their victories; the first congratulatory messages for them were all from Mr President.
“As far as this administration is concerned, we are committed to conducting credible elections at all levels in this country. That is why on the 21st of October the candidates have been involved; the parties have been involved for this sensitization exercise,” he stressed.
Obi, who insisted that the candidates must engage in politics of issues, added that they must have the mindset of coming to government to surpass Governor Peter Obi in terms of good governance after emergence at the poll just as he noted that Anambra State has the greatest entrepreneur in the southern region of the country.
“We have to engage in politics of issues, we have to engage in politics of understanding, selfless service. Anambra is a state that produces the greatest entrepreneurs in this sub region of the country.
“I told them here that we are not expecting anything less than what Peter Obi has done. Anybody that comes up after Peter Obi has to do double what he has done. Obi has done well, but there is need for improvement,” he insisted.
Hei said the Federal Government was expecting the candidates not to flout electoral laws, hence they must educate their followers and supporters to do the right things at before, during and after the poll.
Obi said he would have been happy if the various actors had heeded to the advice of the state governor, Peter Obi on the zoning of the governorship slot.
Chairman of the Organising Committee, Austine Ifedinezi, said the forum became necessary for Anambrarians to interface with the various governorship candidates on their programmes.
CHRIS NGIGE AND TONY NWOYE: DIFFERENT FACES OF THE SAME COIN
As Anambrarians prepare to troop out on Saturday November 16 2013 to exercise their franchise, the rest of Nigeria will be eagerly waiting to hear the results of the election. While some will be saying: “I knew it was going to happen”, others may be totally disappointed with the outcome. However, whichever way it goes, it is normal in life, to have winners and losers. The case of Anambra will not be different. Today, the news media are agog with information on the first five candidates and their parties (PPA, APGA, APC, PDP, and LP), no one might discern that PDP and APC candidates are really one and the same thing in their ultimate desire to destroy Anambra state through their intended position as the chief executive. Truly, the essence of democracy is the ability to choose between different candidates, but in this case, Ngige and Nwoye are just the same thing, especially when it comes to their desire to pillage Anambra through their exalted position of Anambra state governor.
The relationship between Ngige and Nwoye dates back to their early days in PDP, when Ngige was just an ordinary party man trying to make his mark, while Nwoye was the capon of black axe confraternity in the university (UNIZIK). A position he freely made available to the highest bidder who wanted to cause mayhem; as a result , he was easily used by politicians and very important people alike to cause trouble and unleash mayhem on the public and on real and imagined enemies. It also afforded him the opportunity to become the – henchman of Chris Ubah, the self acclaimed godfather of Anambra politics. Nwoye played the role of an enforcer for Chris Ubah; essentially, he was used to ensure compliance by stubborn associates and party members. In his role as the enforcer, Nwoye was instrumental to getting Ngige to the Okija shrine to swear an oath of allegiance to Chris Ubah, his benefactor. At Okija Shrine, Ngige in his birthday clothes, swore to hand over Anambra state finances to Chris Uba to use as he pleases, once he gets elected as governor.
Based on this agreement, Ubah pulled out all the stops to get Ngige elected; the rigging witnessed in that election has never be seen in the annals of Nigerian election. Although both players later admitted to their crime to illegally gain control of Anambra government house. As one columnist aptly wrote: Ngige admitted it, OBJ confirmed, and the courts proved it with the nullification of the results of the election.
Information from Elombah.com shows that:
It was Tony Nwoye using the members of Black Axe Secret Cult burnt down public properties in Anambra State when illegal Gov Ngige refused to hand over the state purse to Chris Uba, yet neither Andy, Chris Uba nor Tony Nwoye were charge and prosecuted for arson, kidnapping and other electoral crimes. After kidnapping Ngige and burning down Anambra State properties Tony Nwoye was rewarded when Senator Andy Uba and Chief Chris Uba brought him to do their dirty work of intimidating PDP party members as factional state chairman. The short regime of Nwoye as PDP factional chairman witnessed the master rigging in Anambra State where elections were not held but Andy Uba was declared the winner of that election with more votes in Anambra State than what was registered as the total electoral numbers of actual registered voters in the state. Every PDP aspirants and eventual candidates has to bribe his/her way for Tony Nwoye to give them party ticket. He made name as a ruthless cult killer and intimidator using the instruments of thugs backed by Andy and Chris Uba. Andy Uba illegally occupied the position of governor for 17 days before the Supreme Court threw him out on the day he was holding meeting with Traditional Rulers in Anambra State and had to abandon the meeting midway to escape from the back door. It has been long alleged that it was Tony Nwoye that Hon Chuma Nzeribe recruited to kill Chief and Mrs Igwe the Onitsha NBA Chairman during Mbadinuju regime, today Tony and Hon Chuma Nzeribe has reunited. APGA should beware of strange people in their midst as Chuma Nzeribe is now working for Tony Nwoye b/c they shared a common secret
According to human rights watch; at a January 2007 meeting called by the state PDP at the Parktonia Hotel in Awka, two men stood up and complained that they had been robbed of victory in the party primaries even though they had paid Tony Nwoye money in return for the promise of an “automatic ticket.” According to a state legislator and another PDP member who were present at the meeting, Nwoye responded by ordering several thugs who were standing nearby to “beat them to a pulp.” “They started slapping and beating them,” the legislator said. “One man, his clothing was torn to shreds and no one ordered them to stop…Andy Uba was there and said nothing.
Fighting Over the Spoils
According to police, cults, and other sources, after the PDP primaries Nwoye began channelling funds into the hands of members of his own Black Axe cult to the exclusion of other cult groups in the state. Several cult groups including the Vikings and the Buccaneers saw this as deeply unfair and reacted violently. Some also complained that they were not paid in full for working on behalf of Andy Uba’s campaign during the primaries.
As the Anambra guber races enters its final days, candidates are mopping up support and putting finishing touches to their campaigns and horse trading is fast become the other of the day. However, the majority of Anambra voters don’t know that without Ngige’s clandestine agreement with Ubah and Nwoye, Anambra state would not have witnessed a destruction of such magnitude. Becaue , the crisis was as a result of the reneging on a gentleman’s agreement between Chris Ngige and Chris Ubah sealed at Okija Shrine. Although, no one can say for sure, to what extend Ngige kept to the agreement, but what is certain is that the agreement was not followed in the spirit with which it was entered. Hence Chris Ubah having a listening ear with OBJ, got Presidential immunity to remove and punish Ngige with whatever arsenal at his disposal. Then enters Nwoye, who used members of his cult group to cause havoc. Properties destroyed after several days of rampaging by the dreaded black axe cult members, Anambra govt house was destroyed, ABS radio station burnt, Owelle of Onitsha, Zik residence was also destroyed.
Due to the presidential immunity, the police and other security operatives looked on, without doing anything. Ngige, the architect of the debacle that ensued was locked up in a toilet at Government House, and forced to write a letter of resignation. Although in hindsight, Ngige later claimed that the letter did not emanate from his office, but suffice to say, it looked genuine to members of the state assembly hence the reason why the considered it.
The blame for the entire fiasco should be placed on Ngige and Nwoye. Nwoye’s part in the fiasco for being the henchman for Uba and for recruiting thugs that held the entire Anambra state at ransom for 3 whole days. Even a war situation had never been so devastating. Our dear state was raped and pillaged by a band of brigands under the control of Nwoye.
Ngige’s part in the imbroglio cannot be over emphasised. For one, Ngige entered into an agreement with the devil. It goes to show the extent he wants and covets power; why will Ngige in the first instance just because of love for power admit to such an arrangement, why will Ngige, as a knight of St John in catholic church, (the highest order of Knights) admit to going to a parley with the devil at Okija shrine. Knights are defenders of the faith, that is the first and the only duty and responsibility of a Knight; actually if Ngige wanted to visit Okija, the only acceptable reason is to bulldoze the place down, to forestall idol worship. Rather he wants us to believe that he visited with his Bible, and his bishop gave him penance for the visit! What a story.
What of Tony: His activities as a cultist are well documented. Tony Nwoye can never deny being a cultist; for as anyone who ever saw the four walls of a higher institution can attest, no one ever becomes the President of NANS without being a cultist. Why will Ndi Anambra North, even consider voting the man? It makes no sense to vote a cultist, who introduced kidnapping to the hitherto peaceful Anambra state, with the kidnap of Ngige. Anambrarians should look well before they leap. Anyone who exhibits any unbecoming behaviour does not need to contest even for the post of a local government councillor, for elected representatives are suppose to be role models. Abali agba aka! Where is the wife of Tony Nwoye, or doesn’t he have a wife?
In conclusion, common sense dictates that these two should have nothing at all to do with who governs Anambra, not to mention giving the reins of the state to them. For they have institutionalized criminality, and anything short of saying a resounding NO to them, will no doubt jeopardise Anambra’s quest to be counted among the prosperous states of Nigeria such as Lagos and Rivers.