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.