A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant for the forthcoming Anambra election, Valentine Ozigbo said lack of unity in the PDP was responsible for the losses suffered in previous elections.
He said he was committed to uniting the party to make it stronger and better positioned to win elections “handsomely”, expressing confidence that he would be the consensus candidate of the Party in the June 26 primaries.
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Ozigbo spoke in Lagos during a town hall meeting with members of Anambra Community in the state.
The governorship hopeful held separate town hall meetings in Lagos Island and Mainland on Saturday and Sunday to intimate the Anambra indigenes of his intention to contest the November 6 governorship election.
He said despite not being the ruling party in the state, PDP remains the party to beat, adding that he would galvanize all party members to win the election.
He said, “PDP may have lost the governorship election in the past. But as you know there are three Senatorial districts in Anambra State, APGA is not in any. That tells you PDP remains a powerful force.
“Today what I’m going to do is unification. We want to bring people together so that we can win elections together.”
The governorship hopeful promised to, if elected, tackle insecurity in the state with a view to growing the economy of the state even as he also advocated for state police to address insecurity in the state.
He added, “What’s fascinating is how security becomes so significant in everything. Not just in the normal movement of people, making sure people and properties are safe but also because everything depends on it.
“We are not able to grow the economy in Nigeria and also in Anambra state without peace and security. We are not able to grow tourism to where it should be because who wants to go to where it is not safe, nobody how much more when you need to spend money, how much more when there are many alternatives.
“We live in a competitive world and security is paramount and it is important, very crucial that we fix it both at the state level, at the regional level and at the national level.
“There is a lot that we can do on our own and there is also a lot that we can do if Nigerians can come together and reason.
“That is why I join hands in calling for state police where every state can actually begin to compete as to which state is safer. But once we have a centralized system, it can be difficult…We need to improve on equipment and tools for security and more importantly intelligence. This is what I know is lacking.”
Ozigbo, who is the immediate Past President and Group CEO of Transcorp Plc, added; “When I decided to go on this quest to serve, I made a promise to the Almighty God that if he favoured me with victory, I would run an all-inclusive government which thinks of the people all the time, listened to the people all the time, and serves the people all the time.
“This is just another step in the journey of engaging the people to make sure that the issues that matter to Ndi Anambra are the front-burner issues for my administration.”
In his remarks, Director of Mobilization, Protocols and Contact, Tim Egboka said the Anambra Community in Lagos state is an integral part of the state’s politics, saying no decision is taken without the inputs of the people in Diaspora especially Lagos State.
He said the people of Anambra have become more politically conscious than before and they are ready to change the status quo ahead of the election.
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