Posted by From Josephine Lohor in Abuja on
Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, yesterday advised governors elected on the party's platform to sit down and attend to development issues for which they were elected.
Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, yesterday advised governors elected on the party's platform to sit down and attend to development issues for which they were elected.
He said the advice became necessary following the rate at which some governors abandoned their current mandate while seeking for higher offices in 2007.
Anenih who spoke at the commissioning of the Enugu State House in Abuja praised Governor Chimaroke Nnamani for being an exception to the trend in which governors junket across the world campaigning to be Vice President in 2007 when nobody knows the presidential candidate such governors want to serve as running mate.
'You, Nnamani, are one of the very few governors who do not go from place to place wanting to be Vice President to a non-existent President. Chimaroke has never been quoted, he has never been misquoted, that he is interested in being Vice President to a non-existent President", he said.
Governors Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia), Peter Odili (Rivers), Adamu Abdullahi (Nasarawa) and Ahmed Makarfi (Kaduna) are believed to be interested in the 2007 Presidential contest.
But Kalu is the only one who has publicly declared his interest in the race with his posters and campaign train moving around the country. He has also taken the campaign to the United States of America where he had visited twice in the past few weeks to mobilise support for his presidential quest.
President Olusegun Obasanjo who was represented at the commissioning by Vice President Atiku Abubakar said the construction of such edifices in the Federal Capital Territory by various State governments was a way of consolidating democracy and creating a sense of belongng amongst the people.
He described the Enugu House as 'one other remarkable achievement of Governor Nnamani, and added that there was indeed 'need to deepen our democracy and open up the political space for more dialogue and contestations".
'That way, we can consolidate our democarcy, create a sense of ownership by our people of our various development policies and forge ahead as one strong and united people", Obasanjo said.
Also the PDP National Chairman, Dr. Ahmadu Ali, who chaired the commissioning, said Nnamani's 'performance is rarely rivalled".
Nnamani said yesterday's event represented 'the unshakable symbol of the Igbo spirit, the trinity of the character of the Igbo - the character of adventure, hardwork and the Igbo man's perpetual optimism".
He recalled that 'we still remember that Nigeria was built on the sweat of those coal miners of the East, on the back of those who built the groundnut pyramid of the North and on the resolve of cocoa farmers of the West".
Dignitaries at the event include, Ministers of Information and National Orientation, Communications, Defence and Culture and Tourism, Frank Nweke, Cornelius Adebayo, Musa Kwankwaso and Frank Ogbuewu respectively.