Igbo Youth Movement (IYM) has tasked Anambra voters on peaceful conduct of election on saturday.
Leader of the group, Elliot Ugochukwu-Uko, who stated this in a statement yesterday drummed supprt for the APGA candidate, Prof. Charles Soludo as best man for the job.
“After a careful consideration of the leading candidates, and placing the inevitable reshaping of the destiny of Ndigbo at this auspicious moment in history, as guide, it is clear that Charles Chukwuma Soludo, towers heads and shoulders above other candidates. He has the knowledge and experience, and total grasp of the issues, especially as concerns the Igbo question. He should be allowed and enabled to come in and correct the poor leadership currently tainting Anambra state.
“Moreover, I have every reason to believe that he thoroughly understands the urgency, importance and imperative of restructuring Nigeria and has advocated that publicly.
I hereby ask ndi Anambra to vote for and elect Prof Soludo on Saturday, If Anambra gets it right, Alaigbo will get it right.”
He said 48 hours to the Anambra gubernatorial election, it was necessary to remind Anambrarians that there were the leading light in the country and must endeavour to get their acts together in order to inspire a new social and political order.
“Everything should be done to, manage properly, the quite avoidable and unfortunate untidy sociopolitical environment, created unconsciously by political hubris and leadership errors.”
“This unpleasant political climate of uncertainty, buck passing, name calling, finger pointing and muddled up cocktail of meaningless recriminations, cannot actually be divorced from the poor handling of agitation closely tied to the painful unwillingness by those in power, and for for a very long time, to genuinely address and fairly but firmly resolve the lingering Igbo question within the Nigerian project.
“Consistently shying away from the inevitable truth, simply deepened the melee. Applying the wrong strategy, only worsened the mess. That is the unpalatable truth.
“Pushing the truth under the carpet and consistently postponing the evil day, brought us to this impasse.”
Absolving one’s self or group, while engaging in recriminations, wouldn’t help the situation now. Mistakes were made by all sides.
Meanwhile, Ndigbo Royal Heritage Worldwide, (NIROH), pioneered by the late Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu and currently led by Dr. Paul Okoye, has called on eligible voters in the state to ignore calls to shun the elections, as that would spell doom for the state. Calling it a ‘shot on one’s foot’, NIROH, through its President General, Dr. Paul Okoye, posits that Anambra people have more to lose by shunning the opportunity to elect their governor, considering the strategic position Anambra State occupies in Igbo land.
In a statement signed by the President General, he enjoined Ndi Anambra that the change they desire and deserve can only come when they participate fully, because shunning the polls, will allow the enemies of Igbo land to manipulate the process in order to impose a stooge on them.
The statement reads in part: “Ndi Anambra are enlightened people and must understand that whether they come out to vote or not, a new governor must emerge come November 6 and the best they can do for themselves and the future generation of the state is to make sure that the wrong person does not emerge as the governor. Ndi Anambra should know that all the rumblings are part of the ploy to foist a stooge on them. They must come out and resist that evil ploy. It will amount to a shot on the leg, if the people decide not to participate in determining who would govern them for four or eight year as the case may be. Anambra is important to Igbo land; it cannot at this point allow such a calamity to befall it. While we continue to seek ways of repositioning Igbo land to return to the enviable heights, it is known for, the citizens must do their part by coming out to elect the right person. Nobody in his right frame of mind would allow calamity to befall his motherland. That is the duty everyone in Anambra owes the future generation in Igbo land.”
NIROH, a socio-cultural mandate with strong presence in Europe, Asia, America, Africa and of course the major cities of Nigeria, was instituted to build a new and united Igbo nation rooted in virtues like honour and integrity as practiced by the fore bearers. It aims to serve as the driving force in stimulating selfless service, innovativeness, spirit of oneness, and qualitative leadership to Igbo people with the emergence of a new ‘Igbo Nation’.
While firmly believing in repositioning Igbo nation through cerebral intercourse, NIROH’s core mandate includes: unification of the Igbo nation at home and in the Diaspora; re-orientation and reprogramming of the upward social mobility of the Igbo people and its ascension; improving the infrastructural development in the Igbo nation; identification with core Igbo groups both at home and in the Diaspora who have an infinite pride in and commitment to the fatherland and promotion of Igbo cultural essence and correctness among others.