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…Gov Okowa Serves as Deputy
The People’s Democratic Party has appointed Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, to lead the party’s national gubernatorial campaign council in Anambra ahead of the November 6 election, reports Jude Atupulazi.
Also the governor of Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, is to serve as the Deputy Chairman of the campaign council whose major task is to deliver the party’s standard bearer in Anambra State, Mr Val Ozigbo.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, August 25, signed by Kola Ologbondiyan, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, the party announced that its National Working Committee (NWC) had approved the appointment of a 145-strong team for the assignment.
A former Aviation Minister, Chief Osita Chidoka, is to serve as the Secretary to the Council.
The PDP named 10 other governors to the Council, among whom are Governor Aminu Tambuwal, the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, who is the governor of Sokoto State; Governors Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom); Bala Mohammed (Bauchi); Diri Duoye (Bayelsa); Samuel Ortom (Benue); Godwin Obaseki (Edo); Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu); Seyi Makinde (Oyo); and Darious Ishaku (Taraba).
‘The November 6, Anambra guber election is expected to be keenly contested, and the PDP, by this move, is laying the grounds for the party to win the election and bring home the trophy,’ Mr Ologbonidiyan said.
He disclosed also that the party would embark on what he described as a robust campaign based on the issues affecting the people of Anambra, noting that it was one more step by the party to demonstrate to Nigerians, especially, Ndi Anambra, that it was focused, ready, and committed to doing what was necessary to ‘rescue them from the atrocious government offered by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), and the All Progressives Congress (APC).’
Other heavyweights named to the Council are the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe; immediate past Governor of Anambra, Peter Obi; PDP BoT member, Senator Ben Ndi Obi; former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu; a former Health Minister, Professor ABC Nwosu; PDP BoT member and a former Women’s Affairs Minister, Senator Josephine Anenih; the Vice Chairman of the PDP (South East), Chief Ali Odefa; a PDP National Executive Committee member, Chief Barrister Okey Muo-Aroh; a former Aviation Minister and former Nigerian Ambassador to Ireland, Dr Kema Chikwe; Minority Leader in the House of Representatives, Hon Ndudi Elumelu; and Hon Boma Goodhead; among others.
Reacting to this development, Mr Valentine Ozigbo described it as a strategic move by the NWC of the Party which had further strengthened his confidence that the party would emerge victorious in the election.
He expressed confidence in the leadership of Governors Ikpeazu and Okowa and their capacity to deliver on the party’s expectations.
Ozigbo, immediate past President and Chief Executive Officer of Transcorp, commended the national leadership of the PDP for putting together what he described as an impressive team to support his campaign, promising to put in his best to make the party and Ndi Anambra proud.
‘I am thrilled at the announcement of the Anambra State National Campaign Council by my party, the PDP,’ Ozigbo told journalists from his Udoka Estate campaign office soon after the list was made public on Wednesday; even as he expressed confidence in the leadership, capacities, and competencies of Governors Ikpeazu of Abia State and Okowa of Delta State, to inspire and empower the team to win the November election.
The PDP also named notable Anambra politicians like Senators Uche Ekwunife, who serves as the Chairperson of the State Campaign Council, and Stella Oduah, to the Council. Members of the House of Representatives from Anambra State, Hon. Chukwuka Onyema; Hon Chris Azubogu; Hon Lynda Ikpeazu; Hon Vincent Ofumelu; Hon Chinedu Onwuaso and Hon Obinna Chidoka, were named to the Council along with the party’s 2021 guber aspirants.