Fides Media Living the Faith
By Mmaduabuchi Onwumelu
The Catholic Bishop of Awka Diocese, His Lordship Most Reverend Paulinus Ezeokafor, has joined well-meaning Ndi Anambra to congratulate Gov Chukwuma Soludo as he marked 100 years in office.
Bishop Ezeokafor who gave his congratulatory message at St. Patrick’s Catholic Cathedral, Awka, said that the Governor needed their support and prayers to succeed as the state’s helmsman.
The charismatic and influential prelate stated that political leaders deserved to be prayed for at all times, noting that with collective support and prayers the present administration would achieve its set objectives.
According to the chief shepherd of the Catholic Diocese of Awka, 100 days were not enough yardstick to evaluate or determine a successful and working government.
The cleric expressed the hope that things would turn out well for Ndi Anambra, even as he called for concerted efforts towards addressing the security challenges currently ravaging the state, acknowledging that Soludo had done well in keeping the criminals and their sponsors in check. He urged him not to relent in the task of ridding the state of hoodlums and criminal elements.
‘On behalf of the entire priests, religious and lay faithful of the Catholic Diocese of Awka, I congratulate the Governor on his 100 Days in office as the number one citizen of the state. We will continue to pray for him. We want him to succeed,’ Bishop Ezeokafor said.
Congratulating the governor, the Speaker, Anambra State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Uche Okafor, said that the first one hundred days in office of Governor Chukwuma Soludo had been eventful.
‘I laud his courage towards achieving meaningful development,’ he said, noting that Gov Soludo had demonstrated in practical terms, genuine desire to provide Ndi Anambra with good governance in all sectors of the state’s economy, evident in the massive environmental sanitation, employment, road infrastructure, especially the ongoing Awka-Amansea-Ugwuoba road construction, as well as his promise to complete by December this year, one of the most strategic roads in the state: the Ufuma-Awa-Ndiukwuenu-Amansea Road; the Ayamelum access road through Awka North, in addition to increasing the Community Choose-Your-Project Fund from twenty million Naira to twenty-five million Naira, among others.
‘I extol the cordial working relationship existing between the state lawmakers and the governor, which, he attests, to has been helpful in uplifting the living condition of the citizenry and the overall development of the state.
‘I call on Ndi Anambra, especially, politicians to desist from acts capable of retarding the pace of development in the state but to join hands with Governor Soludo in moving the state to greater heights.
‘May God continue to give Governor Soludo the wisdom, strength and the grace to be able to accomplish his lofty agenda for the total transformation of the state and well-being of the citizenry. May Anambra continue to succeed,’ he prayed.