High Chief Ikechi Emenike |
The All Progressives Congress, APC governorship candidate in Abia State, High Chief Ikechi Emenike, on Sunday slammed the ruling People Democratic Party, PDP for keeping the State in a perpetual cycle of rot and corruption for the past 24 years. "...in the past 24 years, almost every government in Abia has turned itself into an agent of underdevelopment. Indeed, many do not know any other way to behave or govern except to do nothing but systematically line their pockets", he lamented, pointing to the PDP which he says had been in power for the past 20 years plus
The journalist-turned politician added that those who have one thing or the other to do with the parlous rot in the State comprises 80%-90% of the governorship candidates in the State, excluding himself.
Proffering a way forward, he urged journalists, pensioners, teachers and other workers being owed salaries to troop out on election day and vote out those who have been part of the underdevelopment of the State, stressing that they constitute a significant block of voters to entrench a new order.
Emenike maintained that rescuing Abia from its quagmire requires a holistic and systematic approach including passing a verdict on the PDP by rejecting them totally at the polls in the 2023 General Elections.
The APC chieftain made the remarks at his country residence, Umukabia, Umuahia North LGA during the unveiling of his manifesto tagged “Rescue and Develop Abia" and during an interactive session with Abia Online Media Practitioners, OMPAN
The APC flagbearer further declared that he is on a rescue mission to salvage Abia from the clutches of poor infrastructure, bad governance and endemic corruption which has eaten deep into the fabrics of the State.
He added that his aspiration to govern the State is to demonstrate to Abians that they have been shortchanged for too long. He described the socio-economic state of Abia as a total mayhem, ranging from infrastructural decay, non-payment of workers and pensioner's salaries and lack of vision for the State by successive leadership
He further charged youths in the State to be passionate about the well-being of the State as those who had managed the affairs of the State for the past 24 also failed in creating jobs for the teeming youths population with professional and vocational qualifications
The APC guber candidate revealed that his unique approach towards accelerated development of the State if elected would be to “increase the size of the State’s annual budget", maintaining that only one with the wherewithal can develop the State. He also added that he would adopt a “holistic approach" in turning around the state of affairs, stressing that no one sector should be left to suffer while tackling the State’s hydra-headed challenges “Fiscal re-engineering is needed for development of Abia", he affirmed.
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