From Mba Nnenna -Abakaliki.
A former Secretary to Ebonyi State Government, (SSG) Professor Odoh Benard has joined the gubernatorial race in the State under the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
Professor Odoh is the only aspirant in the state vying for the governorship seat under APGA ahead of the 2023 general election.
If voted into power come 2023, Professor Odoh promised to make the state viable, create jobs, tackle poverty and insecurity and better the lives of the people.
In an interview Tuesday, he disclosed to 247ureports his other plans and top agenda should he win the Governor of Ebonyi State come 2023.
Que: Concerning the Guber ambition, Is there any other aspirant vying for the seat in the party in Ebonyi State?
I’m the only one running in the party. So whether u call it consensus or unopposed, whatever you call it but I’m the only person who has declared to run for the election in APGA. So the party has a guber candidate, and I’m the person. We have 3 Senatorial aspirants across the zones, we have 6 House of Representatives aspirants across the six Federal Constituencies and we also have 24 aspirants for the House of Assembly. So we have a full team.
Do you think APGA has all it takes to take the mantle away from the ruling APC in Ebonyi State?
All it takes is people like you and myself, to be convinced that there is need for a better governance in Ebonyi. If you go round the streets, people are not looking fresh.
There’s too much poverty and hunger in the land. We must begin to invest in our people, create opportunities for our people in all areas for them to look after themselves, raise their children, see them through school and have a future.
Right now, the future is bleak. I had interviews with teachers across the States (different parts of the States). Our enrollment has dropped by more than 70%.
Parents can no longer pay school fees because of harassment, levies are been imposed on parents to pay. We have lost all our children out of school. We don’t have jobs here. Outside filling stations and hotels, there’s nothing here. There is need to immediately begin to do things that will engender economic prosperity for our people.
That’s what we represent, and therefore our people will support us. It doesn’t require muscle action, it requires only PVC. On the day of election, people will go and vote and with the Biometric Data capturing, there’s no fighting. The ballot box story is ended now. So once the people are convinced with the process, they will vote for us. Their result is captured and they’ll send to INEC in Abuja, and the result is declared. So we are very optimistic that once our people connect to our message, they will vote for us. We have all it takes to transform the state and we are going to make it viable again for all. We will offer the governance that they require.
