By Jude Opara, Abuja
A leading senatorial aspirant in the upcoming Senatorial bye-election in Anambra State has lauded Governor Chukwuma Soludo for his efforts in tackling the enormous security challenges in the state.
Speaking to newsmen over the weekend in Abuja, Hon. Barrister Nnamdi Ezike, who aspires to contest the Anambra South Senatorial election on the platform of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) appreciated the successes of Agu-nechemba, the state security outfit.
However, he advised that it should not be used to harass and intimidate political opponents as the state prepares for senatorial bye-election and governorship elections this year.
Ezike further cautioned that it would be a very disturbing development should the Anambra government allow Agu-nechemba to deviate from its primary objective of protecting the people by converting or using the group for political goals.
The aspirant added that tackling the growing spate of insecurity in the state, especially in Anambra South, would be his major focus as Senator, reemphasizing that Agunechemba security outfit should not be drafted or deployed for political duties or to intimidate opponents of the state government during the election season.
Hon. Ezike commended the governor for taking the bold step of setting up the security group stating that the initiative and the recent successes of the agency will drastically check insecurity if the operatives remain focused and sustain the tempo of their operations which, he observed, has yielded tremendous results already.
“Recently, the state government took the bold step to tackle the security issues and when I get to the Senate; my number one priority would be security, security and security because without security, no development can come to the state.
“I only hope that the state government will ensure the security outfit remains focused especially during this election season. If the agency remains a pure security outfit and properly focused on their mandate of securing the state, we would have no quarrel with the group. I have sent a letter to the governor commending him for the initiative and expressing our worry about the misuse of the group. We just hope that the security outfit will not be mismanaged.”
Ezike who hopes to replace late Senator Ifeanyi Ubah as the Senator representing Anambra South in the Senate, recalled that the late Ubah won the ticket to go to the Senate on the platform of the YPP for two terms, insisting that the YPP is on ground in the District.
The aspirant also condemned the high scale monetization of the electoral process in Nigeria declaring that the attitude must change because it has not produced tangible results.
He said the monetization of the electoral process often leads politicians into borrowing more money than necessary or using godfathers, a situation which, he said, has led to high expectations on the part of the electorate, who expect financial inducement for their votes.
