Former Special Aide to Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi on Public Complaints and Ethics, Dr Jim Nwobodo, has emerged as the Accord Party (AP) flag-bearer for 2023 gubernatorial election in Enugu State.
Dr Nwobodo who emerged as a sole candidate of AP during the party’s primary held at Owerri Hall in Enugu on Tuesday, said in his acceptance speech that he was overwhelmed by the implicit trust and the conference reposed in him.
According to him, “This day has been predestined to mark the beginning of a journey that will usher in the Accord Party as the party in power in Enugu State effective 29th May, 2023”
His statement further reads in parts:
“I wish to dedicate this victory to the downtrodden, the poor masses, the peasants, the artisans, the market women and men, the street beggars, the rural people in the fringes and borders of Enugu State, the urban dwellers and indeed to all the people of Enugu State both at home and in Diaspora
“I stand on this ground to declare that salvation has come to Enugu State. Without equivocation, Enugu State is in dire need of transformational leadership. The waiting is over, the opportunity is here
” My motivation to contest the governorship is captured in the question: has anything changed? The answer simply that nothing has changed.
“Should we not do something since nothing has changed? In my write up tagged 1999-2022: 23 years on, has anything seriously changed? I stated thus: ‘We are still where we were 23 years ago. In fact, we were better off in some aspects 23 years ago than we are today
“I am seriously disturbed by the hardship biting our citizens; food prices and consumer good continue to soar higher and beyond the reach of the poor, the cost of transportation has gone up, citizens are burdened by so much bills with about 90 percent of individual’s income being channeled into payment of sundry rates and bills such as house rent, water rate, electricity bills, business premises permit, sanitation and environment levies, security levies and diverse extortion by government constituted traffic authorities.
“There are fallen standards in education, health, civil and public services; morals, values and ethics are completely eroded; our roads are death traps and public infrastructure are dilapidated
“Unemployment is the order of the day with the youths and women being the worst hit. Our civil servants instead of retiring to deserving rest retire to abandonment., neglect and penury due to owed gratuities and pensions.
“Therefore, fighting hardship, hunger, poverty and diseases will be a major focus of an Accord Party’s administration. We represent a change for the total development of the man and society.
“We are going to run a government that is a burden-bearer or burden sharer; a government that will serve as citizens’ shock-absorber. Poverty persists because wealth is concentrated in the hands of few plutocrats. We are coming to redistribute wealth and promote inclusive governance as has never been witnessed before.”