President Muhammadu Buhari has pledged to provide additional infrastructure in the Southeast zone to give further impetus to industry, hard work and competitiveness for which the Igbo are known.“They deserve more and more infrastructure to further excel,” the President said in Aba, Abia State.
Buhari, who started his two-day state campaign tour of Abia and Imo states yesterday, received endorsement for his second term bid from Chairman of Aba Traditional Council, Dr. Isaac Ikonne, who urged the people to vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate.He said the Igbo would remain loyal and committed to President Buhari for the payment of pensions to ex-Biafran soldiers and his administration’s policy on ease of doing business, which he said, had benefited the Igbo more than any other ethnic group.
Also, Secretary General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Uche Okwukwu, endorsed Buhari as the group’s candidate, saying he will be formally recognised as such at an up coming event in Aso Rock Villa.Governor Okezie Ikpeazu welcomed the existing synergy between the Federal Government and the state, saying the partnership comes with enormous gains that the government and people cherish.
However, the President advised Imo people to vote candidates of their choice across all political parties in the forthcoming elections. Buhari, who stated this in his address at APC Presidential rally in Owerri, also enjoined party members not to allow the internal leadership crisis to affect their participation in the polls.
His words: “I want you to please maintain balance in your senses. Don’t allow intra or inter party crisis to remove your sense of responsibility. Your vote is your power. Chose whoever you like across party, ethnicity and religious lines.”
Responding, APC gubernatorial candidate in the state, Hope Uzondinma, reassured the people of his commitment to transform the state for good if elected.He, however, disassociated the state from a statement credited to Ohanaeze Ndigbo, in which it reportedly endorsed Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubarkar for the polls.
Meanwhile, the President also commissioned the Aba Ariaria Market Independent Power Project (IPP) to provide reliable power to the 37,000 shops in the market and its environs, insisting that electricity has no political colour.
Minister of Woks, Power and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, who applauded Buhari for approving the project in 2016, added that the project would facilitate doing business, noting that over 6000 generators were being used at the market.
