ABIA GOV LOCKS OUT ACN
National leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has told the people of Abia State to open their doors to progress if they want to reap full dividends of democracy in Nigeria. Tinubu, who acknowledged that Ndigbo are great manufacturers and great economy builders stated that with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government in place, there would not be any hope for the growth of Aba's potentials in the state.
The former Lagos State governor who addressed thousands of party faithful who thronged the Recreation Centre after they were denied the use of the Eyimba Stadium to hear the progressive message from the men and women holding brooms said they were out to sweep away bad governance in the country.
'PDP is a government of the greedy by the greedy and for the greedy. It is a government of liars, by liars and for liars. The umbrella that has not protected you from the sun in the last 12 years is a useless umbrella. The umbrella that has not provided you adequate security is an umbrella of destruction,' he said.
PDP, he said, had failed to put in place proper planning for the education, health and infrastructural development of the nation and promised that ACN would provide good, free education in Abia when voted into office and cited Lagos where he said, 'everything is working' for the benefit of the people.'
Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the presidential candidate of the party told residents of the commercial city that only a Federal Government under the control of ACN would make Aba and indeed Abia State to reap the benefits of its economic and natural resources.
He said the government of PDP had, over the years, made Nigerians to live on empty promises as no attention had been paid to Aba as an industrial hub to stimulate the economy.
In what looked like rhetorical question, he said: 'PDP promised electricity, where is it? Today they came to say they will manufacture aircraft in Aba, let them build hospital first,' alluding to the President Goodluck Jonathan's promise that he would turn Aba to an aircraft building city when he went to Aba two weeks ago.
Ribadu, who was clad in traditional Igbo attire along with his vice-presidential candidate, Fola Adeola, ACN national leader, and all the party leaders, including Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the party's National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, waved their trademark brooms declaring that PDP was on its way out having exhausted its years of deceit.
'Time has come for us to fix our country. Time has come for us to have security; time has come for the right people to take charge of our country,' he said.
Mr. Fola Adeola, vice presidential candidate of the party urged Abia people to fully identify with the party, promising that the government of Nuhu Ribadu would free all the bottlenecks that stifle the growth of commerce in Aba, such as multiple taxation and customs checkpoints.
Earlier, Chief Akande presented the party's flag to the gubernatorial candidate in Abia, Prince Paul Ikonne, who immediately jumped down from the podium and took a lap of honour with the flag like an Olympic gold medalist.
Ikonne said now was the time for change in Abia and if the opportunity 'is missed you will miss it for eternity,' noting that Abians had been deceived for too long by the government of the day.
Prince Ikonne decried attempt by the government to muzzle the ACN. He said he applied through the relevant authorities for permission for his party to use Enyimba Stadium in Aba for their national rally and was turned down.
Ikonne said it was for this reason that he settled for Recreation Club, which was too small to contain the number of his supporters who thronged the venue to show their solidarity to his party.
He spoke to Daily Sun after the rally, alleging that it was unfortunate that the PDP government in the state was doing everything to muzzle the opposition.
But reacting, the Special Adviser to Abia State Governor on Electronics, Mr. Ugochukwu Emezue denied the allegation.
He said the successful rally of ACN in Aba, shown live on television proved that the Abia State Governor, Dr. Theodore Ahamefula Orji was not intimidating any party from functioning in the state. He said it was not true that Ikonne applied from any quaters.
He stated that Prince Paul Ikonne had in recent times been making allegations against the state governor that he had been muzzling oppositions in the state.
'The ACN candidate in the state is being mischievous by making another allegation against the governor. It is unfortunate,' Emezue said.