Forum rejects ‘imported’ aspirants for Anambra guber

Great Anambra Forum (GAFORUM) has said it will not support aspirants who are not from Anambra South Senatorial Zone for the November 6, 2021 governorship election.

The facilitator of GAFORUM, Fab Ozoigbo, who disclosed this to newsmen in Awka, yesterday, cautioned the aspirants outside Anambra South to respect the zoning from Anambra North to Anambra South.

He pointed out that the principle of power shift “has gained wider support and acceptance” with the majority of the citizens, including Anambra Elders Forum, religious organisations, political parties, market men and women, and traditional rulers.

Ozoigbo said the group was reaching out to political parties to ensure that they abided by the principle of power rotation and ensure that a governor from Anambra South took over from Governor Willie Obiano, who is from Anambra North, come 2022.

He advised those governorship aspirants to drop their ambition, stressing that the people of the state were tired of having “imported” governors, who use more time to learn the terrain of the state, rather than concentrate on the job.

According to him, in the next three months, the group is studying the various governorship aspirants in all the political parties, to discover those with the highest capacity to govern the state.

He added that the would-be candidate must be a person of moral courage, capacity, and political will to effect positive change for the progress of the state.

“The impressions gathered in the field regarding the capacity and suitability or otherwise of the aspirants will form part of the group’s criteria for recommending and accepting contestants in the political parties.

“If a wrong candidate emerges, ab initio, the group must have got it wrong. The first thing to do is to select the best contenders, and from there narrow down to one. Let our people look round for the best aspirants and when we get that, our people will be happy for it,” he noted.

While noting that the contestant must have a mindset of institutionalising sustainability of development projects founded by Obiano to avoid the spectre of abandoned projects, he also expressed the belief that the candidate must not only have a wide reach among the various segments and strata that make the state but also be humble and empathetic in his relationship with the people of the state.

GAFORUM said would endorse any candidate with sound education and demonstrable cognate experience in terms of governance and management of human and material resources, with particular reference to the state.