Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State will today mount the podium to receive the Silverbird Man of the Year in Lagos. 

According to the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media, Mr James Eze, the award brings to three the number of respected honours received by the governor from the private sector in one year.

In a statement yesterday, Eze recalled that Obiano was awarded The Sun Governor of the Year by the publishers of The Sun Newspapers about this time last year. “Then, in June last year, he won the Zik Prize for Leadership instituted by the Public Policy Research and Analysis Centre, in the Good Governance category. With the Silverbird Man of Year award, Obiano makes it a clean sweep in a record time. And this is a record on its own,” Eze said.

He added: “However, since we are looking at how Governor Obiano’s effort to change our understanding of responsible leadership in Anambra has drawn approval from the world, it has to be mentioned here that he was also honoured in August last year with a certificate of recognition by the Institute of Housing and Urban Development in the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. This recognition from the Netherlands introduces a global dimension to Obiano’s rising profile. It also validates the saying that if a man makes the best mousetrap, the world would make a beaten path to his door. Vanguard has named him its Man of the Year too. The award will be handed to him in March this year.  The Governor has equally added a few other important awards to his growing list of honours that might not be as glamorous as these ones but no less important.”


…As over 2,000 supporters in Anambra community endorse him for second term

From David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi

More than 2,000 supporters of Governor Willie Obiano’s second term bid, yesterday, trooped out at Tim Okpala Memorial Town Hall, Adazi-Enu in Anocha Local Government Area of Anambra State to express their willingness to return the governor to Government House, Awka, come November 2017 when the governorship election is expected to hold.

The event which was organized by Stakeholders for Governor Obiano’s second tenure with Chief Ekene Enefe as national coordinator currently visiting major communities in the three senatorial zones in Anambra witnessed heavy attendance of ‘Who is Who’ in the council area and beyond including traditional rulers, government officials, artisans, farmers and businessmen like Mr Emeka Okafor, a honey bee farmer, Ichie  Okwuchukwu Oduagu, Benson Ezeike and people from all walks of life.

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Addressing the supporters, Chief Enefe advised them to translate their support for Governor Obiano into votes during the election. He assured them that everything would be put in place to protect their votes, adding that the Anambra people were politically conscious and would not be deceived by those who did not have the interest of Anambra at heart.

“Election this time cannot and will not be written in one room as some people may have planned. There is great political awareness in our state now. We are going to have free and fair election and nobody is going to hijack it. We have things on ground to back up our claims and support for Governor Obiano to complete eight years. And every political observer must agree with us that the best bet for Anambra people is to massively vote for Obiano to execute his laudable projects,” he submitted.

He urged the community members to articulate their needs for onward transmission to the governor. He said that Obiano had been doing all he could within the meagre financial resources to ensure that no community was left out in developmental projects “hence he has made available N20million to each of the 179 communities in Anambra for development as well as fixing other projects.”

Members of Adazi-Enu community gave their assurance that the governor should count on their support come November this year and appealed for more government presence in their community including road network. The event at the community was hosted by Chief Ifeanyi Chukwuka.

Earlier in Okpoko, Ogbaru Council Area, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) State Chairman, Chief Norbert Obi had told the Obiano supporters who came out in large numbers to beware of those he described as political fraudsters who he said would be bent on using money and other gratifications to deceive them.

Traditional ruler of Okpoko, His Royal Majesty, Igwe B.S.C. Muofunanya said there were over 9,000 registered voters in Okpoko community and that they were ready to come out en masse to vote for Governor Obiano.

But the traditional ruler regretted that the community was yet to receive its own N20 million as given to other communities for developmental projects. He also mentioned road network as one of the major amenities lacking in the community, adding that no sons or daughters of the community were appointed in political positions.