‘APGA not supporting Buhari’s re-election’

Anambra denies Obiano’s N3b donation
Vice presidential candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Jerry Chukwueke, has faulted insinuations that the party has endorsed President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term bid.Speaking to reporters in Abuja yesterday, he maintained that restructuring remains the panacea to the country’s myriad problems.

Echoing that hard times await Nigerians due to the over-dependence on oil revenue, he assured that an APGA-led administration would put in place measures to diversify the economy by exploiting the vast agricultural and minerals resources in the country.

Chukwueke likened the country to the mother reluctant to wean her children for fear of losing them, even when it was obvious that the breasts were running out of milk.

Alleging that he was schemed out of the recent vice presidential debate by the organisers, even when APGA is the fourth largest party in Nigeria, he claimed that the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lack the wherewithal to take the country out of the woods.

While accusing the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) of unjust treatment regarding the vice presidential debate, Chukwueke said: “Let me apologise to Nigerians and stakeholders across the globe for our absence at the vice presidential debate last Friday. I was there with the national chairman of our party, but we didn’t get the opportunity to participate. The organisers told us that they came up with five political parties based on an online report.

“The truth is, Nigerians were denied an opportunity to hear our message and our progressive agenda to truly evaluate what we are talking about as a true alternative party.

In the same vein, Anambra State government has denied that Governor Willie Obiano of APGA pledged N3 billion towards the re-election of Buhari.Opposition groups in the state had described the alleged donation as financial recklessness at a time the state was battling to raise funds to tackle infrastructure decay in the state.

Governor Obiano was alleged to have reached an understanding with Buhari to support his November 17, 2018 governorship election against APC’s Tony Nwoye, for a reciprocal gesture in the 2019 presidential election.

Last month, the social media were abuzz with the insinuations that Obiano travelled to Abuja to discuss with Buhari, but stayed off-scene to allow fronts to pledge N3 billion financial support to the re-election bid of the president.The Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Hon. C.Don Adinuba, said the allegations were coming from “self-serving politicians and their agents (who) set out to wreck the social harmony which has become the hallmark of the state in the few years.

“It is regrettable that despite the loud statement of Anambra voters on November 17, 2017, those who are against the prevailing social harmony in the state have returned to their discredited trajectory,” he said.The commissioner pointed out that the governor does not need to cough out such minding-boggling money to support Buhari’s re-election, knowing well that the state receives one of the lowest allocations from the federation account.