Friday 30 August 2013

ANAMBRA 2013: Candidates to pay N1m for posters

Pix: Soludo, Ogene, Odenigbo, Uzoh, Mrs. Ekwunife , Okonkwo, Wille Obiano, Ndubuisi & Ifeanyi Uba


FOR one who came to government from the field of business, it is understandable that Governor Peter Obi would explore all avenues to generate money for the state.
As it prepares to exit, the Obi administration has discovered that election is even a good way of generating internal revenue.
It is thus not surprising that the administration has recently notified candidates for the governorship election that they are to pay N1 million each for their posters being pasted in all parts of the state. This is in addition to unspecified amounts they are to pay for their bill boards.
Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Chief Joe Martins Uzodike said that the state government decided to wait for candidates to emerge so as not to bother those who lost at the primaries.
The charge, he said, is provided in the signage law passed by the state House of Assembly, adding that it is done everywhere.
The commissioner said the payment became necessary because of the mess created by the posters in public places, explaining that the state signage authorities would use the money to restore the walls the politicians would have defaced after the election.
He said: “The candidates are being notified already about the payment and they are expected to pay into a designated government account. In the next two weeks, we will begin to bring down the bill boards if they fail to pay the stipulated amount.”
Guber candidates: Ogbaru people excited at emerging trends
The people of Ogbaru area of Anambra North are excited about the emergence of governorship candidates of two major political parties from Anambra North senatorial zone.
The people say they are indeed grateful to Governor Peter Obi who championed the zoning of the next governor to the area to give them a sense of belonging.
Former secretary to the state government, Mr. Oseloka Obaze, who spoke when Mrs. Margaret Obi visited Ogbaru, said the area was grateful for what Governor Peter Obi has done for Ogbaru people during his two terms in office.
He said: “The governor has shown us love and support and we wish to acknowledge that today. We also thank him for his steadfast support in ensuring that the governorship candidate of APGA came from Anambra north senatorial zone.
“It is true that we all yearned for a candidate from Ogbaru; I was part of that intense effort and campaign, but that did not happen. But as Ndi Ogbaru, we must remain steadfast in our support for APGA and its candidate, my dear friend, brother and schoolmate, Chief Willie Maduabuchi Obiano.
“Let me say here that I have known Willie Obiano for forty-three years. He is a good, caring and God- fearing man. He was one year my junior at CKC Onitsha. We were boys scouts and belonged to the same troop.
“He comes from Aguleri, a part of Anambra that share a lot of identical values, needs and concerns with Ogbaru.
PPA spoils Ulasi’s fun
Suggestions had been rife that London based Mrs. Blessing Ulasi had been endorsed by the PPA hierarchy as the presumptive nominee of the party in the gubernatorial election.
Mrs. Ulasi, a lawyer has been all around the state campaigning not as an aspirant, but as a candidate.
Sources say that after Mrs. Uche Ekwunife exited the party following the 2010 gubernatorial election, that Mrs. Ulasi helped to revive the fortunes of the party.
However, her unrivalled claim to the ticket came under dispute yesterday after the national chairman of the party, Chief Sam Nkire put off yesterday’s governorship primary on the excuse that it was to enable more aspirants to pick up the party’s gubernatorial primary forms.
He was equally firm in disputing assertions that the party had anointed anyone as its candidate for the polls describing the speculations to the evil “handwork of other political parties that are afraid of facing PPA in the election.”
The governorship primary is now to hold on September 2.
Primaries: Dan Nwanyanwu urges parties to emulate LPNational chairman of the Labour Party, LP, Dan Nwanyanwu has been basking on the peaceful conduct of his party’s governorship primaries, urging other political parties to emulate LP in the way it conducts its activities in the interest of the country’s democracy.
Speaking in Awka after the oil magnet, Ifeanyi Ubah, was nominated as the party’s flag bearer for the forthcoming election, Nwanyanwu expressed delight at the way every member of the party accepted the choice of its candidate.
“This is how party primaries should be conducted. You can see how happy our members are and how they are exchanging banters because the exercise is very transparent, unlike what happened in some political parties where rancour had become the order of the day.
“What is happening in LP makes us happy and gives us hope that we will go into this election as a united political party.  “Our opponents are already jittery because they know that our candidate is solid and has the support of a cross section of the people of Anambra.”
Ubah, in his acceptance speech, promised not to disappoint the people of Anambra State, if elected the next governor of the state.
He said that his government will be for all and will strive to meet the aspirations of the people, irrespective of their political leanings.
Newsstand campaign begins
The emergence of the governorship candidates of the various political parties have emerged and campaigns appear to have shifted to the newspaper stands. Every morning in the major towns of Awka, Onitsha, Nnewi, Ekwulobia, Ihiala, Otuocha, among others, large numbers of people, mainly youths, gather and discuss the candidates and their chances.
While some argue that the state needs an untainted person to be elected governor, others argue that experience matters in every sphere of life.
Perhaps, what attracts the most heated argument is the unfolding events in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. For instance, some of the people say that they still find it difficult to believe that the controversy over the party’s rightful candidate should be raging between Senator Andy Uba and Comrade Tony Nwoye, knowing that both worked together in the past.
A long standing member of PDP tried desperately to make his listeners believe that both factional candidates are working together, recalling that it was Andy Uba, as President Obasanjo’s aide, that single handedly made Nwoye the state chairman of PDP.
For APC, some of the people said the confusion in the state was created by Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, who they accuse of not reasoning like a politician. To some of the people, the Imo governor, if he meant well for Senator Chris Ngige, should have ensured that primaries of the party was conducted before his coming to Awka to announce to the people that Ngige is the candidate of the party.
Those who watched Ngige speak on television after presenting his nomination forms to the party said that was an action he should have taken before coming with Okorocha to Awka.


Pix: Ngige
In the face of the transparent governorship primary elections in Anambra State, in other political parties, the state was thrown into mourning on August 21, 2013 when it was announced that Senator Chris Ngige has been presented as consensus governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the November 16 election.
This was mainly so because no primaries have been held to select the candidate of the party,
This is moreso since, on August 22, almost all the newspapers that circulated in Anambra state that day had a picture of Chief Bisi Akande, interim national chairman of APC and Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State raising Ngige’s hand as the party’s candidate.
As expected, some aggrieved and disappointed party members had troop out to demonstrate in some parts of Anambra State, as they condemn the  APC for not allowing primary election to take place, before pronouncing Ngige as the candidate.
Some of their placards read: “APC is not democratic; APC, you have shot yourself on the legs; Ngige is not our choice; APC give us primary election; We will swim or sink with Godwin Ezeemo’ Please save Anambra now; Ngige, don’t enter house through the window; Abuja can’t choose for us; Ngige come home and face us in the primary; We don’t want sponsored governor in Anambra State again and  Godwin Ezeemo talk now,”
When Godwin Ezeemo released a statement demanding a primary election, the aggrieved people felt that something will be done. And it’s more gratifying that the APC has decided to hold primary election on Monday, September 2.
My advice is: Ngige should come back to Anambra State to test his popularity with the people, in a free and fair election. Ngige must think less of these greedy sponsors, as Anambra can’t progress with that. Ngige must understand that Anambra governorship is not a do or die affair. To all politicians, do not mortgage Anambra to these heartless moneybags again.
Anambra people must reject all form of godfatherism. We must learn from what happened in 2003.

Monday 19 August 2013

HTC One Mini Launches on AT&T This Friday



If you've been holding out for a smaller version of the HTC One flagship smartphone, the wait will soon be over. AT&T will welcome the new scaled-down HTC One Mini phone on Friday.
The HTC One Mini, which was first announced in July, features an aluminum body and a 4.3-inch screen. The LTE-capable phone is 21 grams lighter, 5.4 mm shorter, 5 mm less wide and just barely thinner than its 4.7-inch big brother. Carrier AT&T will sell the HTC One Mini for $99.99 with a two-year agreement.
The more compact HTC One Mini makes some power compromises when compared with the flagship HTC One. The One Mini utilizes a dual-core 1.4GHz Snapdragon processor, 16GB of storage and 1GB of RAM. Its HD screen is 720p, compared to the larger One's 1080p display. But similar to the One, the One Mini also has dual front-facing speakers with a built-in amplifier and other HTC-specific perks like BlinkFeed and Zoe.