* Obiano
A political group in Anambra State, the Movement for Greater Anambra State, MOFGAS, weekend, says it has begun  searching  for a governorship candidate ahead of the governorship election for the State tentatively scheduled for early 2018, explaining it would not support Governor Willie Obiano for a second term.
The group, rising from a meeting in Awka, attended by all the 21 local government areas of the state, MOFGAS chairman, Chief Shedrack Anakwue, observed that apart from Mr. Peter Obi, who sponsored himself, other governors that had ruled the state were surrogates of some godfathers, who were not the choice of the electorate from the beginning. 

 Going down memory lane, Anakwue, a chieftain of All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, said: “After the military returned power in 1999, Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju was sponsored by a clique in the state after Professor Alphonsus Nwosu, who won the primaries of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was shoved aside. “When PDP refused to give Mbadinuju ticket for second tenure, another clique, led by Chief Chris Uba, sponsored Dr. Chris Ngige and because he resisted the dictation of sponsors, the result was the burning down of major structures in Anambra State. “Perhaps Mr. Peter Obi was the only person that sponsored himself into office and Anambra people saw the difference as it was during his tenure that Anambra witnessed meaningful development. 

 “However, at the end of Obi’s tenure, he tried to please the people of Anambra North senatorial zone by picking a candidate to run for the office of governor from there. In the end, Chief Willie Obiano became the beneficiary of the campaign for power shift as he succeeded Obi in office. We have watched Obiano for two years plus and it seems to us that the old trend of imposed candidates not performing has returned. 

 “Our position is that we will no longer support a candidate who has no solid base or a candidate who needs and must rely on sponsors to climb to power. “A candidate Anambra State needs in 2017 to make progress must be someone who must be standing on his own and be capable of contesting and winning election with his resources. “He must be a candidate who has the financial muscle and strength of character to shoulder the responsibilities of election and must be seen as a man of the people.”