Buni Urges Anambra Governorship Campaign Council to Reconcile Aggrieved Aspirants

• APC is the only health party today, says Uzodinma

By Adedayo Akinwale

In what looks like a last minute effort to ensure the All Progressives Congress (APC) approaches the November 6 Anambra State governorship election with a united front, the Chairman of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee of the party and Governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni, has urged the Anambra Governorship Campaign Council to reconcile aggrieved governorship aspirants.

Buni said this is to ensure that the seeming rancour among members of the party which might have arisen following the governorship primary election are resolved.

One of the governorship aspirants and the Director General of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Dr. George Moghalu, had approached the court to challenge the outcome of the primary election which he argued was never held.

Buni stated this Tuesday while inaugurating the campaign council at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.

He said the members of the committee were carefully selected owing to individual capacities and the belief that they will collectively, as a committee, deliver the state to the party.

According to him, “You are enjoined to work as a team and to carry everyone on board. You are also advised to reconcile seeming differences within members of the party which might have arisen following the governorship primary for us to confront the election with a united front.”

Buni noted that he has no doubt that the committee, under the chairmanship of the Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, would do the party proud and win Anambra State for APC.

He added: “I am glad to say with a sense of satisfaction that the growing fortunes of the party in Anambra State and the South-east geopolitical zone in general has increased our hope for victory. This will no doubt increase our chance of winning the election with a landslide victory.”

The chairman urged the committee to concentrate on issues that would add value to the success of the party and avoid issues that may distract the party from the path of victory.

He noted that the party should remain resolute, committed and law-abiding throughout the assignment and beyond.

Buni said the election provides an opportunity for the people of the state to belong to the national party.

Addressing journalists after the inauguration of the committee, Uzodinma said the members of the committee were carefully selected to talk to the people of Anambra State, market the candidate of the party, make promises and intimate them with the programmes of the party.

He added that the committee would preach to the people of the state for them to understand the need of being a member of a national ruling party and the advantages inherent in such an opportunity.

According to him, “For the aggrieved aspirants, of course, usually the case after each exercise, there will be people who are aggrieved, who will express one form of disappointment or the other but as usual, the party has an internal mechanism for resolving such issues. Going forward, I think we will deploy that mechanism to ensure that everybody is carried along and we will do a very united campaign for the victory we are looking for.”

Asked if he’s confident the party will win, the governor said in Nigeria today, the party to beat is APC, adding that the ruling party has been able to demonstrate amidst global crisis; economic and political crisis that it has the capacity to secure the future of the country.

He stated that the party has done that by coming out strongly to combat the hostility occasioned by the Boko Haram activities.

He said: “The issue of banditry, issue of food insecurity, social interventions. This government has done a lot and that is the party to beat. Look around, is there any political party remaining? The only party that is healthy, united today in Nigeria is APC. So why will you not join a ruling party to be part of the Nigerian projects?”

The party’s governorship candidate, Senator Andy Uba, said the inauguration of the committee marks the restoration of Anambra State.

He noted that the calibre of those that constitute the committee shows the election is for the party to lose.

Uba assured party members that the committee would ensure it appealed to those who contested the party ticket with him and plead with them so that they can work with him to ensure the party’s victory.