United Progressives Party candidate takes campaign to Enugu State, unveils agenda

The governorship candidate of the United Progressives Party (UPP), Osita Chidoka, yesterday took his campaign to the Enugu Sports Club promising that if elected, he would forge new strategies to make Anambra compete with economies of the world.

The aspirant for the November 18 election told members of the Club and other stakeholders: “We need new strategies in Anambra to ensure real growth because since the state was created, it has remained backward. Anambra’s economy is driven by burials. This has always reduced workload, especially productive time for civil servants. They go to work from Monday to Wednesday and use the rest (of the days) to do burials.”

Faulting the level of development in the state, Chidoka said: “Our state capital, Awka, is still a village. We celebrate three flyovers. But come to Awka, as capital, you still see the absence of water, absence of security, a plethora of bad roads and several others that will make one wonder if Anambra is a state.”

The UPP candidate however noted: “We are coming with a new thinking.” He said: “We will transform Anambra into a trade hub. We will grow the commerce the state is known for. Our ability to handle matters of Anambra State is the beginning of the independence the Igbo man is looking for. Our strategy is to play in the digital economy such that we will connect our markets to the digital world called, ‘Anambra Wi-Fi’. Our schools will go digital, so that our students compete favourably with their peers in the world.”

Chidoka noted that to grow the economy of the southeast zone, there was need for a new leadership with vision. He added that the zone must push for return to power generation through coal, saying it was not only cheap but also reliable and affordable. He therefore urged southeast governors to “pull resources to see the realisation of coal power plants”.

Chidoka said APGA had “betrayed the Igbo”, noting that in the last two elections, it failed to produce a presidential candidate and was planning to back President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 elections.

“Our people are turning to rallies for the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) because they have lost confidence in Igbo leaders. The Igbo should be bold enough to tell our leaders that Nigeria’s unity is negotiable because we cannot continue to live this way. That is why it is easy today to send soldiers to the southeast, which to me is a war against the people of the zone. We will not continue this way,” he said.

Also, during a visit to Igwe Ralph Ekpe, the traditional ruler of Enugwu-Ukwu in Njikoka council area, Chidoka advised the electorate to use its votes wisely to end bad governance and the marginalisation of Igbo.