Emenike vows to fix Arochukwu road, promises first-class development for Abia
From BONIFACE OKORO, Umuahia
Governorship Candidate of All Progressive Congress (APC) in Abia State, High Chief, Ikechi Emenike, has vowed the to fix the less than 35-kilometre dilapidated Ohafia-Arochukwu road if he emerges the governor of the state next year.
This is even as the APC Candidate for Ikwuano/Umuahia North/Umuahia South Federal Constituency, Hon. Obilo Ogbonna, has expressed optimism that Dr Uche Ogah would not stop High Chief Ikechi Emenike from wining the governorship of Abia State next year.
Emenike who made the promise when he took his statewide consultations to Arochukwu local government area during which he met with members of the party and stakeholders in Ututu, described the Ohafia-Arochukwu road as the worst in the state.
Past federal and state administrations have found it extremely difficult to fix the road, thereby subjecting the road users to horrible experience over the years, with the Abia APC governorship standard bearer noting that the condition of the road has become most embarrassing “now that most third world countries are no longer talking about road as one of their headaches.”
“By the grace of God, if I am elected into office in 2023, I will end the age-old saying that there is no easy route to Arochukwu by rebuilding the road before the end of that year,”Emenike promised.
According to him, the development he would bring to Abia would be such that he would not only build infrastructure, but also build a strong Abia economy to sustain and upgrade them, when necessary. Emenike assured that he would be “building a first world state in a third world country.”
In his remarks, the APC candidate for Arochukwu/Ohafia Federal Constituency, Hon. Dan Okeke, assured that they will support Emenike’s candidacy as that state could not afford to choose another governorship candidate other than him.
Meanwhile, the APC candidate for Ikwuano/Umuahia North/Umuahia South Federal Constituency, Hon Obilo Ogbonna, has said that efforts by the immediate past Minister of Solid Minerals, Mines and Steel, Dr Uche Ogah, to dethrone High Chief Ikechi Emenike as the governorship candidate of the APC in Abia would end as a futile exercise.
Ogbonna, in an interview in Umuahia, was emphatic that Ogah could not stop Emenike from being the APC candidate and even winning the governorship elections in Abia in next year’s general election.
Ogbonna spoke against the background of the failed bid by the former Minister to stop Emenike’s candidature at the Court of Appeal in Owerri recently.
He said he was not surprised that Ogah, who was the party’s candidate in 2019 general election, was out to distract Emenike “to achieve the agenda of his paymasters in the state government.”
“Ogah has never been a serious contender for the coveted seat. He has always gone back to dine and wine with the powers that be after securing the ticket and to shed crocodile tears after the election,” Ogbonna alleged.
The House of Representatives hopeful, therefore, appealed to the people to be vigilant so as not to fall to the antics of the former Minister, “who has, once again, started playing the script of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in order to scuttle the coming change in Abia.”
Ogbonna reminded Abia people that they would be the primary beneficiaries as “Emenike is coming to power to wipe away the 24 years maladministration in the state, hence the need to be mindful of Ogah’s antics if they want to be free from bondage.”
The Appeal Court, sitting in the Imo State capital, Owerri, had in a unanimous ruling on Tuesday, July 19, 2022 struck out a motion for leave to appeal as an interested party, filed by Ogah to challenge an Abia State High Court judgement, which had affirmed the candidacy of Emenike.
