Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu has denied reports that South East governors and Igbo leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are opposed to the nomination of Mr. Peter Obi as the running mate to the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, for the 2019 election.
Governor Ikpeazu who stated this in an interview with newsmen in Aba when Mr. Peter Obi visited the state over the pipeline explosion in Osisioma Ngwa council, described Obi as a worthy son of Igbo land and a gift from Ndigbo to Nigeria whom every Igbo man both at home and in the Diaspora will queue behind considering his pedigree.
He said: “It is a lie that South East governors and Igbo political leaders in PDP are opposed to Peter Obi as vice presidential candidate. Let me use this opportunity to congratulate our brother and a worthy son of Igbo land for his nomination.
He’s a gift from Ndigbo to this country. His works and pedigree bears eloquent testimony of the Igbo DNA. “It will be foolhardy for anybody not to queue behind a man like this to continue to serve this country to the best of his ability.
What the South East governors said was that we expect our candidate to come back from his trip and have a tete-a-tete with us and he has said he will come to speak with us.
“If we are banking on the eleven million Igbos in the diaspora to vote, it is only Mr. Peter Obi that can get them to do so.”
Speaking at the occasion, South East caucus of the National Assembly, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe said that Obi’s nomination has lifted the spirit of every Igbo person and has no opposition from any angle.
“As the chairman of South East Senate caucus of the National Assembly , I can say that the whole National Assembly is behind Peter Obi and at no time was there any problem about his nomination as running mate to our presidential candidate. “We need people who will not see subsidy and call it under recovery
Responding Obi said: “We in the South East have never been divided and we have never acted against each other. We have always acted as a team. I’ve spoken with the three PDP governors.
The governors and the leaders are my own leaders. Since this wrong insinuation started, I’ve consulted governors Umahi, Ugwuanyi and of course today, I’m here with my brother, Ikpeazu.
“I’ve spoken to Senator Ike Ekweremmadu, one of our leaders. Of course, Senator Abaribe is here with me. I’ve spoken with all of them including Sam Egwu. For us, we are going to work like a team.
For us what is important is to rebuild Nigeria and rebuild the South East.” Obi commiserates with victims of Abia pipeline explosion Obi, who was in Abia State to commiserate with the government and people of the state over last weekend’s pipeline explosion which claimed scores of lives and left in its trail, several others with severe burns, visited Ikpeazu at the Government House Umuahia, before proceeding to the scene of the inferno in Osisioma.
He explained that he was directed by the Presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to “come to Abia State to commiserate with Abia people on the fire incident in Osisioma. Ohanaeze laments ‘structural’ marginalisation of Ndigbo
“He asked me to see you, see the site of the incident and be able to contribute to your effort to ameliorate the suffering of the victims. What happened has happened.
That is one of the problems in Nigeria. “Nigeria is not the only country that produces oil, but here from time to time, we have this type of incidents and we lost lives.
I thank Abia people for the efforts to ameliorate the suffering of the victims, your efforts will not be in vain”, Obi told Ikpeazu and his cabinet members. Ikpeazu sets up c’ttee on pipeline explosion In his remarks, Ikpeazu said: “We have set a committee to find out what caused the problem.
The committee is headed by a retired director of DSS, the committee will locate what was wrong so we can forestall future occurrence. “We are trying to provide succour to the victims. Government is under pressure to provide accommodation and schools.
The burden is now less because we have a sympathetic leader in Atiku. We Abia indigenes say thank you.
We are proud that you work with him.” Atiku donates N10m to victims of Abia pipeline explosion Also yesterday, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Presidential candidate , Alhaji Atiku Abubakar donated N10 million to the victims of the pipeline fire which killed over 150 persons at Umuaduru and Umuimo communities, Osisioma Ngwa council area, Abia State.
The presidential candidate who was represented by his running mate, Mr. Peter Obi, said he was saddened by the incident and consoled the families who lost their relations. I worked to reconcile, not endorse, says Bishop Kukah
“Our presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is out of the country. He would have been here by himself; he insisted that we must come to sympathize with our people. We commiserate with the governor, the people of Abia State, Osisioma Ngwa council and the families who lost their loved ones in the incident
“When we were riding to the community, the governor said the government should check the quality of pipes being used and how to secure the pipeline to avoid a recurrence. We will join hands to fix our land so that we won’t record such incident.”
While expressing gratitude to Atiku for the donation, Ikpeazu pledged to offset the hospital bills of the victims and urged those who are yet to access medical attention to do so without further delay.
The governor also promised to help rehabilitate those who suffered losses in the incident to enable them restart their businesses and directed the Commissioner for Health to ensure that the victims are taken care of at the hospital.
Meanwhile, as political parties strategise for 2019 general elections, the Yoruba Council of Youths Worldwide has called on Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to prioritise his programme if he emerged president in 2019.
The President of the group, Aremo Oladotun Hassan, who made the call, yesterday, in Lagos, said Nigerians would not stop complaining until the economy, fiscal federation, security, education and infrastructure were repositioned.
Hassan, a lawyer, said that the PDP candidate must set out as an advocate for rule of law if he wins the 2019 Presidential Election.
The youth leader said that the restructuring agenda must be faced head on with setting up of a National Restructuring Affairs Commission with an Executive Bill.
“He (Atiku Abubakar) must be able to summon a greater patriotic will towards building and reviving our dying nation from economic stagnation and social insecurity.
“He must be able to implement the 26 per cent UN Budgetary standard allocation to the Education sector with a view to postulating and establishing a statutory principle of law by enacting the Education Right Bill into law.
“He must be able to have a master plan for transportation development from roads network development programmes,” he said.
According to him, the establishment of a National Transport Park and Fares Management Authority is expected to regulate the amount spent daily on transport fares by Nigerians.
He added that Abubakar also needed to quickly review the Land Use Act laws into Land Licensing and Allotment Law via an Executive Bill, wherein all lands right must revert back to the land owners and communities.
Hassan said that the government would only regulate its operations and management, while the Certificate of Occupancy and Consent should be replaced with Land Certificate of Ownership License.
“Also, the government must be ready to equip youths by granting 40 per cent youth affirmative action plan on appointment and involving the Nigerian youths in his government.
“There must be a robust vocational training programme in information technology, Agriculture and other ancillary training, which will place and rank Nigeria as first world nation via economic revolution plan.
“Security architecture needs a total overhaul and ensure absolute neutrality in the discharge of their statutory duties,” he said.
The youth leader said that more emphasis should be placed on rebuilding peace and national orientation on patriotism.
He said that Atiku must choose a South-West youth with intellectual acumen for economy and law as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation since the zone lost the position of running mate.
According to him, paying attention to above issues and adequate representation of youths will galvanise support for PDP come 2019.