By David Okpokwasili |Onitsha
… as security men stay off exercise
The stakeholders meeting of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, in Onitsha South Local Government Area which met to recommend three persons each for the consideration and appointment of Governor Chukwuma Soludo as Transition Committee Chairman and Education Secretary was held peacefully, and free and fair to all participants.
The meeting follows the move by Governor Soludo to democratise the appointment of members of the Transition Committees of the 21 Local Government Areas by involving the active participation of all stakeholders.
According to an internal circular earlier issued and signed by the Special Adviser to the Governor on political, Dr Alex Obiogbolu, conveyed the Governor’s intention to involve a wide range of party stakeholders at the grassroots thereby increasing their participation in the choice of who chairs the Transition Committees.
“The three recommendations for TC chairman shall include at least one woman; while the three recommendations for Education Secretary shall be two women and one man”, the circular also said.
It went on to provide the for the qualifications for nominees as follows “persons for the TC Chairman must be persons of good standing, and with demonstrable competence and passion to contribute to the transformation of the LG. Persons for the position of Education Secretary shall have requisite qualifications and a minimum administrative experience of managing a school as a primary school Head Teacher or Principal of a secondary school or other cognate management experience in the education sector. He or she must be a person adjudged to be have the capacity and passion to lead the educational reforms.”
Before the exercise began, The Chairman of APGA in Onitsha South Local Government Area, Hon. Uche Umennakaenyi who also manned the exercise, asked everybody at the local government headquarters, the venue for the exercise, to move outside the gate for accreditation.
This included the security escorts that accompanied some of the stakeholders to the exercise including that of the Commissioner for Special Duties, Hon. Beverly Ikpeazu-Nkemdiche who security intelligence revealed that the sitting TC Chairman, Hon. Emeka Orji had threatened to humiliate and attack her during the exercise.
This is despite the fact that the Commissioner is the most senior government official from the council area.
After everyone had left the premises of the Local Government Headquarters, the gates were closed and the accreditation began with each of the stakeholder called by name and allowed into the council headquarters one by one.
It was then followed by a charge by the Chairman of the party in the Local Government Area, Hon. Umennakaenyi who asked the stakeholders to see the exercise as a brotherly affair that will epitomize the party’s slogan “onye aghana nwa nne ya” and will uphold the Governor’s intention for the exercise.
After that, the exercise went into full blast as the stakeholders began the recommendation process for the education secretary.
The nomination of the candidates for the position of Education Secretary went on smoothly after two female candidates stepped down for the other two while the remaining male candidate was accepted since he was unopposed.
For the position of Transition Committee Chairman, Honourable Emeka Orji, Hon. Onyebuchi Obi and Hon. Barr. Anthonia Tabansi-Okoye were nominated by stakeholders of the party in the Local Government Area after a peaceful exercise.
Their nomination had started with the APGA LGA Chairman asking stakeholders from Odoakpu Constituency 2 of the council area to nominate one person and those from Fegge Constituency one to nominate one.
Hon. Onyebuchi Obi emerged from the Odoakpu Constituency after being voted for massively by the stakeholders while Hon. Emeka Orji emerged from the Fegge Constituency.
The third nominee, Hon. Barrister Tabansi-Okoye was chosen unopposed by the gathering being the only female that indicated interest in the position.
After the exercise, the observer, Hon. Obiekwe, appointed by the state government to monitor the exercise commended the stakeholders for the orderly manner they conducted bereft of any security presence and said it was orderly, free and fair, and has fulfilled the intention of making every stakeholder of the party an active participant in the exercise.
For the Commissioner of Special Duties, Rt Hon. Barrister Ikpeazu-Nkemdiche who also supervised the exercise, the members of the party in the Local government area, once again, showed that APGA is the party with an ideology built on the people, praising Governor Soludo for strengthening the party through the exercise.
She said though there were divergent views before the exercise, the final turn out shows members willingness to submit to the supremacy of the party and leadership of the Solution Governor.
Speaking later to the press, one of the nominees, Hon. Onyebuchi Obi expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the exercise as the voice of the people, promising to expand and integrate the clean, green and sustainable initiatives of the Solution Governor in Onitsha South if appointed.