Posted by By Vincent Ujumadu on
UMUAHIA - ABIA State government reacted yesterday to the allegation that some serving governors interested in contesting next year's presidential election are.....
UMUAHIA - ABIA State government reacted yesterday to the allegation that some serving governors interested in contesting next year's presidential election are dipping hands into the coffers of their states for their campaigns.
Special adviser to Governor Orji Uzor Kalu on media affairs, Mr. Iyke Ekeoma told newsmen in Umuahia that the Abia State governor who ha declared his intention to contest the election cannot be linked with such allegation because he has enough resources to see his presidential campaign through.
According to Ekeoma, friends of Governor Kalu have made available huge sums of money for the presidential campaign, including his trips abroad which have to do with his presidential ambition.
The media adviser said that the governor is in the race to win, describing as a great insult to Kalu the insinuation in some quarters that he might end up being the vice president.
'The governor is not standing in for anybody. He is campaigning to be president and by the grace of God, he will contest and win. The fact that he has been holding meetings with other notable politicians like General Ibrahim Babangida and General Muhammadu Buhari cannot mean that they are going to run on one ticket. It may even be possible that the two former military heads of state are working out how to ensure that Governor Kalu win the presidential election next year."
On the allegation that the governor has not done enough in Abia State to justify his wanting to rule Nigeria, Ekeoma said that some people find it difficult to criticize others, adding that the governor has judiciously run the state based on the available resources.
He said that there are enough infrastructural development in the state to justify governance of the state, citing a number of rural and urban roads constructed by the state government, as well as strides in the health sector, water supply, electricity supply and free education being embarked upon by the administration to drive home his point.
Besides, he observed that the governor has changed the face of Nigerian politics by really making it a game, adding that that is why there has not been any political killing in the state since the inception of the present administration.
'He interacts with everybody to remove animosity among politicians and that is what is required to rule this country smoothly.July 18, 2006