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Tag: Obiano

  • JUST IN: Obiano fires 18 commissioners, other political appointees

    JUST IN: Obiano fires 18 commissioners, other political appointees

    The Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano, has sacked the 18 commissioners in his cabinet.

    Others fired were political appointees in ministries, departments and agencies.

    A letter signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Solo Chukwulobelu, obtained by our correspondent in Awka, ordered the affected officers to hand over to permanent secretaries of their respective ministries, departments and agencies or to the most senior civil servants in the absence of permanent secretaries.

    The memo directed the affected appointees to hand over any project/vehicles in their possession to the office of the Secretary to the State Government on or before Friday, 16th March, 2018.

    The memo read,”His Excellency, Chief (Dr.) Willie Obiano, Governor of Anambra State, has directed that all political appointees and non-civil servants, heads of MDAs in the state submit their hand over notes/reports on or before Friday, 16th March, 2018 to the Permanent Secretary of their respective MDAs, or to the most senior civil servant there in the absence of a Permanent Secretary.

    “All SSAs/SAs are to submit their handover notes/reports to the Permanent Secretary, Office of the SSG.

    “A copy of the handover note/report must be submitted to the Secretary to the State Government on or before Friday, 16th March, 2018.

    “Further to the above, political appointees and non-civil servants, heads of MDAs and SSAs/SAs under reference, are to also hand over any government project/utility vehicles in their custody to the Permanent Secretary, Office of the Secretary to the State Government on or before Friday, 16th March 2018.

    “The contents of this letter are for your attention and necessary actions, as I assure you of my high regards.”

    The memo was copied to the office of the deputy governor, among others.

    A Senior Special Assistant to the governor on media, Mr. Oliver Okpala, confirmed the development, saying, “It’s the proper thing to do in the circumstance.”

    “When a government is transiting to a new term, it’s proper to disengage all those who served in the former tenure.

    “Governor Willie Obiano will start his second term on 17th of March. So, all those who served in the first term should go.

    “If the governor wants to reappoint anybody, then it is a fresh contract. So, the disengagement of the political appointees is normal and proper,” Okpala added.

    Recall that Obiano was re-elected on 18th of November, 2018.

  • APGA will rule Anambra for 50 years – Soludo

    The former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, on Saturday said the All Progressive Grand Alliance would Anambra for 50 years.

    Soludo said this on Saturday at Umunze, Orumba South Local Government Area of Anambra State, during the inauguration of Obiano’s re-election campaign committee in the area.

    He said, “APGA will rule Anambra State for 50 years during which time Anambra would have become one of the best economies in Africa. I can see the indices of modern economic development being put in place by the Obiano government. His agricultural transformation is unique.

    “I urge our people to vote for Obiano again so that he can sustain what I’m seeing in this state. After Obiano, I see a continuation of APGA government in this state for up to 50 years because, for the past 11 years, APGA has done marvelously well in this state. I don’t see a change of loyalty soon.”

  • Anambra 2018: Obiano meets Buhari ahead of governorship election

    Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State on Tuesday met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja in preparation for the forthcoming governorship election in the state.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had slated the elections for November 18, 2017.

    The governor, in an interview with State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, said he was confident that he would win the forthcoming election with a landslide.

    Obiano, who is seeking re-election on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, however, called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to be impartial in the conduct of the election.

    He dismissed the claims in some quarters that his party was planning to rig the election in his favour.

    He said all necessary measures were being taken to ensure a peaceful election.

    The governor said, “Anambra remains the safest state in Nigeria today.

    “We don’t have cases of kidnapping, armed robbery or similar crimes. We have been firmly in control of that state and will continue to do so throughout my tenure as governor.

    “I am very confident that I will win the forthcoming election with a landslide.

    “All we want is for the umpire to be unbiased. A free and fair election is what we want and we will get the result.”

    Obiano said he had a very fruitful meeting with Buhari.

    He said the President likes state governors who are delivering dividends of democracy to their people.

    “He (the President) likes governors who work hard, who are delivering what people can see and are delivering dividends of democracy to their people. That is what the President wants,” he said.

  • Anambra Guber: ‘Give me another chance, don’t let Ojukwu’s APGA die,’ Obiano woos electorate

    Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State, yesterday, kicked off his re-election campaign in Awka by begging his people to give him another chance to sustain the good works he had already commenced in the state.

    Obiano, who is the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), urged the people not to allow the only Igbo party left in their care by the late Biafran leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, to die.

    Addressing a mammoth crowd that gathered at the Alex Ekwueme Square, the governor said for the good works he has on ground to be sustained, the people should give him another chance.

    He said that he has in the past three and half years worked tirelessly to ensure that the condition, which he met on ground is improved and that given another chance, excellence would be a habit as he had already set the pace.

    Obiano said APGA has in the past 11 years impacted the state positively, adding: “APGA was handed over to us by our late leader, Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu but the person it was handed over to by our leader ran away from the party. Ojukwu had given us the mandate to keep the light of the party shining, but the person jumped ship into an opposition party.

    The governor who was flanked by APG National Chairman, Chief Victor Oye; his campaign Director-Governor, Chief Victor Umeh; his wife, Ebelechukwu; Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Rita Maduagwu, late Ojukwu’s wife, Bianca; former Anambra State governor, Dame Virgy Etiaba and former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, among other party faithful, while reeling out his achievements in the last three years on security, agriculture, employment and increase of workers’ salaries, observed that if past leaders had adopted the strategy of letting all the communities to choose their project for government to finance it, the state would have been more developed.

    Earlier in his speech, Umeh, commended party faithful for turning out en mass to show support for the governor, saying that the large turnout is a clear testimony of what the people want. “It is left for the Federal Government and Nigeria to respect the wishes of Anambra people.

    We are by this crowd putting other political parties on notice that we are the party to beat. APGA is the peoples’ choice and we won’t allow the torch handed over to us to go off in our hands.”

  • Anambra polls: Obiano doesn’t deserve second term says Peter Obi

    Former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi has said that his successor, Chief Willie Obiano, doesn’t merit a second term.

    Obi urged Obiano to focus on telling the people of Anambra State what he has done for them in almost four years, rather than using the non-existent demand for N7 billion as an excuse to hide his gross incompetence.

    He was reacting to the statement credited to Obiano yesterday to the effect that Obi demanded N7 billion from him.

    Responding through his Special Adviser, Mr. Valentine Obienyem, in a statement made available to newsmen, the former governor said that now is campaign time but rather than tell the people of the state what he has done for them, he is busy sponsoring people on different media to say he demanded N7 billion from him, which was entirely false.

    The statement added that “now that he has accepted that he did not give the N7 billion to anybody, that he should go ahead and tell Anambra people what he used their money to do, bearing in mind that major projects in the state such as roads, Awka and Nnewi malls as well as Onitsha and Agulu Hotels, among others remain abandoned.

    “We know the governor has many questions to answer and cannot run away from them through blackmail. For instance, on the issue of the N75 billion Obi left for him, he tried to deny it by saying he met ‘near cash’, we went on and published the banks and account numbers where the money were and the bank certified the statement of accounts, but they tactically kept quiet.

    ”To refresh our minds, Obi left N2,139,951,400 billion in First Bank (Acc no. 2018779464) for Oko erosion; N4,909,576,925.98 billion in Sure-P Diamond account (0026290200); 1,782,568,032 billion in UBEC 1 Diamond account(0023484282); N2,101,864,766 billion UBEC 2 Diamond Account (0031151473); over N4 billion in many MDG accounts one of which was the N3,048,355,196 billion in Fidelity Bank (5030047097); over 35 billion Naira cash (set aside funds added) in all the banks. ”Obi also left $156 million in Fidelity Bank ($56 million); Diamond Bank ($50 million); and Access Bank ($50 million).

    ”If left as Anambra’s Future Growth Funds as conceived by Obi, the money with interest and accruals would have been about 200 billion Naira, but Gov. Obiano has sold all of them. In fact, it was one of the disagreements about the sale that led Mr. Oseloka Obaze to resign.

    Obiano should be busy telling us the status of these moneys rather than his current blackmail.”

    The statement further said: “Now is also the time for Obiano to justify before Anambra people why he takes 1.2 billion Naira as security votes, which is biggest in Nigeria relative to income.” The statement said that what was curious was that within his first 6 months in office, he vired all the money in MDG account, with which schools and hospitals get monetary and development support to his security vote.”

    The statement further said that now was the time for Obiano to clear so many lies his administration has been dishing out to the people of the state, with the phantom $5 million ugu export as an example. “As a seasonal vegetable, at least ugu would be exported once every year, but now, going to two years, we do not hear about it again.

    He recently told us that Anambra got the order to export 10 million tubers of yam, maybe he did not even realize that over 80% of yam consumed in Anambra State come from Benue and Taraba States. He also said that Anambra is now producing over 200 metric tons of rice, when even Stines company source rice from Ebonyi State.”

    Concluding, the statement said there were legion reasons why he does not merit a second term, some of which, the statement said, included the signing of over 100 MoUs that are not functional, the claim that he attracted 7.5 Billion Dollars investment to Anambra State, the concentration of 90% of his few development projects in his town, saying that rather than develop Awka, he only built three falling and cracking flyovers and evacuated 50% of the power meant for the capital to his Aguleri town, which now enjoys 24 hours power supply as well as the relocation of the on-going stadium project in Awka to his Aguleri town.

  • Anambra polls: I will fight with last drop of my blood to defeat Obiano, says Peter Obi

    Former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi on Wednesday said he would fight against the re-election of Governor Willie Obiano with the last drop of his blood.

    Obi said this during a stakeholders’ meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party held in Awka, the Anambra State capital.

    He expressed disappointment at the manner in which his successor has managed the resources he left in the state.

    He added that Obiano’s government has destroyed all he laboured for with bad governance.

    Obi said, “I will fight in this election aggressively. I will fight with the last drop of my blood. I will fight to win this election the way the PDP has not won any election before.”

    The former governor pledged to reconcile all aggrieved PDP members in the August 28 primary election of the party.

    “I’m the beneficiary of the PDP confusion when I was governor on the platform of APGA. Today, I’m 100 per cent in the PDP. That confusion must end. We must win the November 18 poll; nothing can stop us from doing that. It’s a fight I must win for the PDP.

    “I’ll be in Anambra State all through from today (Wednesday), to accomplish this goal. In 2002/2003, I contested against an incumbent governor and defeated him; so there is nothing strange to me in defeating an incumbent governor.

    “If all the money I kept for this (Obiano’s) government, both in dollar and naira were properly utilised and our legacies sustained, Anambra will be on top of other states in development by now.”

  • No pay, no voting for you, ex-LG Chiefs tell Obiano

    Former Deputy Chairmen of Local Government Areas in Anambra State on Saturday threatened the reelection bid of the state Governor, Chief Willie Obiano.

    They said they would reconsider their support for the governor if the arrears of their entitlements totaling about N80m were not paid before the November 18 governorship election in the state.

    Rising from a meeting in Awka, the state capital, on Saturday, the council chiefs said the debts included wardrobe allowances, 28-day hotel claims, furniture allowances and salary differentials for two years they served.

    Speaking through their leaders Messrs Chuks Obiwelozo and Emmanuel Enwerem, under the aegis of Deputy Chairmen’s Forum, they alleged that former local government chairmen and councilors who served with them had long been paid such entitlements.

    They said each of them would be entitled to about N4m, adding that they were 20 in number.

    “We are 20 in number across Anambra north, central and south senatorial districts of the state; and we have siblings, children, parents, friends and well wishers.

    “We want the governor to know what is going on; we are suffering and this is adversely affecting our families.

    “And we want him to know that this is election period. We can’t go into that election in empty stomachs.

    “The governor is a good person, but some of his aides are blocking us from seeing him and lodging our complaints. There’s communication gap and we are not happy about it”.

    They said when their tenure ended about a year ago, they were paid N2.5m each in two installments in that respect from their total due of back pay of about N6m.

    “Our protest is not against the governor, but it’s clear and natural that hungry people cannot be expected to participate effectively in any electoral process. We want the governor to hear this and pay us so that we can be part of the electioneering”.

    They alleged that the Chairman of Local Government/State Joint Account Committee, Mr Tony Olih, was frustrating their payment.

    When contacted, Olih said the state government was not owing former council chiefs as alleged.

    He said the Anambra State Government had settled the council ex-workers as stipulated in their letters of engagement, expressing surprise at the claims of the former council chiefs.

    He said, ‘‘What you people should consider is whether the contents of the appointment letters were fulfilled or not. Their appointment letters were clear and they accepted them, so why return now after they had served out their tenures to complain?”

    He said during their meeting with the deputies, the government had placed its cards on the table and told them what it could afford and it was agreed that payment would best be staggered, and that was government did.

  • BREAKING: Obiano wins as court sacks Agbaso, reinstates Oye as APGA chairman

    The Court of Appeal Siting in Enugu Wednesday upturned the judgement of an Enugu State High Court that sacked Victor Oye as the National Chairman of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA).

    An Enugu High Court presided over by Justice A.R Ozoemena had ordered the removal of the national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Victor Oye and replaced him with Chief Martin Agbaso.

    The judge ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to stop further dealings with Oye.

    The action of the lower court followed a suit by the Secretary of the party in Enugu State, Comrade Mike Alioke, who challenged the continued occupation of Oye in office after the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party affirmed his suspension on October 5, last year.

    But, delivering judgement on an appeal brought against the judgment of the lower court, the appellate court presided by Justice Abdul Aboki quashed the judgment of the lower court.

    The judge declared that the Appeal succeeded in its merit and declared Oye as the authentic chairman.

  • Anambra governorship election: I don’t need Peter Obi to win, says Obiano

    Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State said he doesn’t need the help of his predecessor, Mr Peter Obi to win in the forthcoming Anambra governorship election, stressing that the former governor, cannot on his own make him governor.

    He said this when he appeared on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday, shortly after he emerged the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance.

    Asked how he expects to succeed in his reelection bid having reportedly fallen out with some of those who were key to his emergence as governor, including Peter Obi, he said it was up to God and not one man.

    “First, it is God that makes the king. Again, let me also correct this impression; Peter (Obi), the former Governor, cannot on his own make me the governor if the former chairman of the party or the whole party did not agree. So, it is a wrong perception to think that one person can come and make you a candidate,” he said.

    He, however, acknowledged that the former governor played a role in getting him elected.

    “But having said that, he (Obi) helped us during the campaign, ran around and all those stuff, but I have established myself firmly through my performance and that is what people listen to.

    “I don’t believe in Godfatherism and you can see how I played it out. I am a very straightforward, no-nonsense, very focused, very visionary leader and I don’t need to climb the back of anybody. My performance this past three-and-a-half year is stellar,” he added.

    The emergence of the governor as the sole candidate of the party, which is witnessing a leadership tussle between Victor Oye and Martin Agbaso has not been without criticism.

    Tuesday’s primary was organised by the Oye-led faction and saw the governor emerge as the party’s flag-bear having been the sole aspirant in the primary.

    In a phone interview, also on Politics Today, factional APGA chairman Agbaso said the primary was unconstitutional.

    “I always say that the key to unlocking Nigeria’s progress is the rule of law so you can say that what happened today is quite an abuse of the law and constitution of this country,” Agbaso said.

    “The Supreme Court is very clear on this matter that only the National Working Committee of a party can conduct primaries into any office. Now the leadership of APGA as an order of court rests under my control, I am the Chairman of APGA.”

    Governor Obiano, however, dismissed the claim, saying Agbaso is “a non-issue” and has no say in the activities of the party.

  • BREAKING: Gov Obiano nominated as APGA’s governorship candidate

    Governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano was on Wednesday declared as the official flag-bearer of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA in the forthcoming November, 28 governorship election in the state.

    According to the Chairman of APGA’s electoral panel, Alhaji Sani Shinkafi, Obiano polled a total of 1,070 ‘Yes’ votes out of an aggregate of 1,092 delegates who were present at the APGA’s primaries.

    Speaking on his emergence as the APGA’s governorship candidate, elated Obiano said, “I stand before you today with humility to accept the challenge to be the flag-bearer of this party in forth coming Anambra Gubernatorial election.

    With one voice our party has chosen to make sure it keeps ‘Willie’ working, I will honor the privilege given to me with dignity and continue to make you proud. I will do what I know how to do best.”

    In his speech, the governor also assured his party members that he will rise up to the challenge and ensure he gets reelected by the people come November.

    He said, “What you have seen so far is simply a confirmation of what is to come…Our children in diaspora will soon be coming home, knowing this state is of a greater opportunity to their generation.

    “APGA has shown that it is the best party to lead our people… we have been faithful to our promises and our dear state is today better for it, Willie has worked willingly.

    He urged all party members to join hands to resolve APGA’s differences, work assiduously to ensure the party’s success in the November election.

    He thanked the National Chairman of APGA, Dr. Victor Ikechukwu Oye, his campaign manager, Chief, Victor Umeh and other top stakeholders in the party for organising a peaceful primaries for the party.