Abia people have been reminded that their destiny lies in the way they cast their votes in the forthcoming governorship and House of Assembly elections urging them to remain calm, peaceful and elect only a candidate that will bring joy to the State in the forthcoming governorship election on Saturday, 18th March, 2023.
This call was made by the Chief Convener, Ihe Abia, a political pressure group and a non-governmental organization based in Southeast, Nigeria, Ichie Dr. Emeka Okpara in a statement issued yesterday, March 14th, 2023. He said that the call had become necessary because of the charged atmosphere occasioned by the campaigns as Parties and their supporters seek to outmatch one another in marketing their candidates, programmes and policies.
According to him, “nerves have frayed, tempers flayed, threats and counter-threats issued while some have gone to the extreme cases of attacking and assaulting opponents. We acquiesce to the rights of people to promote their candidates in an orderly manner, and utterly detest violence and condemn it in totality.”
Dr Okpara remarked that as peace-loving organisation, Ihe Abia enjoins Ndi Abia and Nigerians in general to eschew violence, bitterness, rancour and mudslinging and in its place embrace peace, love, unity, kindness and progress.
“It is obvious that we have come a long way in the past 32 years since the creation of our dear God’s Own State. Our State, like others, remains a work in progress. It will be very uncharitable for us to say that we have not made progress, and even more uncharitable to say that we have done everything right.
“The task and challenge of building and growing our State to become what we want is a collective task and should not be left in the hands of a few. We must all get involved in any way we can and play our parts to ensure that we build the Abia of our dream”, he quipped.
On the candidates jostling for the plum job of governor of Abia State, Dr Okpara observed that each of them ‘has his/her high and low points. We should not be deceived thinking that any candidate is perfect and has all it takes to deliver Abia, nor should we believe that a particular candidate is the best because he belongs to a particular political Party. The task of building Abia is a collective one.
“In this era and dispensation, we should look at the 3Cs of Character, Competence and Capacity which includes lifestyle, antecedents, work history and background in choosing the right person as we march to the polls on Saturday. Let us be mindful of our choice and choose who has the capacity to lead us right. This is the time to use our good spirits of discernment to judge right and not be carried away by sentiments that will become our undoing in the next four years, he concluded.
Source: Drumnewsonline
