By James Eze ([email protected])
It was a heroic home coming for the APGA gubernatorial candidate in the coming Anambra poll, Governor Willie Obiano as his re-election campaign train swept through his home base of Anambra East and West on Tuesday, drawing large ecstatic crowds that assured him of their support in the November 18, election.
The Governor’s arrival in Otuocha, his home ground ignited a carnival-like atmosphere with thousands of people thronging the venue to cheer one of their own in a scene that is reminiscent of Thomas Hardy’s ‘The Return of the Native.’
Speeches after speeches highlighted up what Obiano has achieved in three and a half years and the pride he inspired in the heart of the Omabala geopolitical zone as a whole and the reason why Obiano’s own kinsfolk must stand with him in the coming election.
But Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu, former Nigerian Ambassador to Spain and widow of the late Ikemba Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu carried the day with her stunning oratory and profound invocation of history and contemporary emotions of the people.
Addressing the crowd at the Otuocha Mini Stadium, she made a remarkable effort to elevate the conversation beyond the usual back-slapping by party faithful and worked the crowd to frenzy when she thanked Ndi Anambra East for the gift of Obiano.
“Your son is the best governor in Nigeria today,” Ojukwu declared. “He is the first among equals. First in rural electrification. First in security. First in agriculture. Thanks to the people of Anambra East for giving us your son. Your son has made miracles in Anambra State. Your son has transformed a once sleepy capital into an enviable cosmopolitan city with three iconic flyovers never seen before in Nigeria. We thank you for giving us your son,” she echoed.
Building slowly into a crescendo, she said: “your son has inspired a new generation of Anambrarians with a state anthem that has never been heard before. A new generation imbued with pride for being Ndi Anambra and school children who will grow up filled with pride will know that this is a great state of great people,” she declared.
Then, racing to a magnificent crescendo, Ojukwu said “I thank you for giving us a son who has done something that no Igbo governor has done since the end of the civil war; which is burying our courageous war dead; the people who gave their lives to fight for our survival as a people. No other Igbo governor has been courageous and bold enough to give our fallen heroes a befitting burial and a resting place.
This was the wish of my husband, Dim Chuwkuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. And if he were alive he would have said one thing – What is history if not a movement, a statement, an act by certain individuals who have found the ability to make time stand still.”
Ojukwu’s oratory stands out as a watershed in the heated race to the Anambra government house in a campaign that has been largely marred by claims and counter claims and accusations and counter accusations by feuding contestants.
Speaking earlier at Umueze Anam in Anambra West Local Government, Obiano had assured the people that he would deliver a completed Mmiata Anam-Nzam Road within the next six months and further promised that his government would construct a modern bridge on the Innoma – Igbedon road leading to Olumbanasaa communities.
The governor explained that the road projects would help the evacuation of farm produce from the agrarian communities and assured that palliative work would soon commence on the Federal Highway leading through Anambra West Council to Kogi while the electrification project which his government had drawn to Mmiata would be extended to Innoma and Nzam.
Obiano also assured the people that his government would not fail on the promises it made to them, urging them to support his second term bid.
Earlier in his remarks, the former National Chairman of APGA and DG of Willie Obiano Campaign Organization, Chief Victor Umeh had advised the people to be wise in their political choice; reminding them that their neighbours across the boundary were suffering tremendous hardships because of bad leadership.
He advised them to vote for APGA because of all the parties contesting the coming election, APGA remains the best because it usually delivers on its promises.
Also speaking, the lawmaker representing Ayamelum and Oyi Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, Mr Gabriel Onyenwife and the legislator representing Anambra West in the state House of Assembly, Mr Victor Okoye acknowledged that Obiano came with a plan to develop the state and that was why he was able to achieve so much within a short period of time, stressing that there was no need for change in the executive leadership of the state.