Aroh also spoke on grassroots democracy and what is expected of Buhari administration in the South-East.
Coming from the realm of grassroots, how would you assess the impact of democracy at the grassroots level particularly in Anambra State?
Democracy is working well at the grassroots in the Anambra State and if I am not mistaken, I don’t think that there is any other state across the federation where democracy is functioning well at the grassroots level like we have here in Anambra State. The incumbent governor, His Excellency Willie Obiano inherited elected local government administration and sustained it. That is unlike what we see in other states where the new governor will quickly dissolve elected local government administration on assumption of office and put caretaker committee till thy kingdom come. Today, Anambra is among the few states that have elected local government administration which is the key to grassroots democracy. That is one. Number two, the administration of Governor Obiano is closely working with grassroots based institutions like the churches, town unions, traditional rulers and school authorities. These are the avenues which the government uses to reach the people directly and I think there could be no better way to define grassroots than that. Obiano’s government is tarring roads in the rural areas and the schools and the hospitals are well taken care of through the churches. Security has been beefed up in all parts of the state. The issues of kidnappers and armed robbers that terrorized residents and visitors of the state is now a thing of the past. Teachers and other civil servants that work in the rural areas are earning their salary as at when due. In addition, the governor’s programmes on agriculture have a direct impact on the grassroots with job opportunists for the youth. At remote areas of Anaku and Omasi both in Ayamelum Local government Coscharis Farm and Ekcell Farm are building a mega rice farm, cassava and tomato cultivation and processing farm respectively. The projects are wonderful because not only that they will improve on food security but they will also bring development in those areas and provide large quantity of job opportunists for the people. At the moment a new road is being constructed in Anaku for easy evacuation of products from the farm. Number three, the governors’ wife, Her Excellency Mrs Ebere Obinao through her pet project called Caring Family Enhancement (CAFE) Initiative is making waves at the grassroots level with poverty eradication programmes such as empowerment of women, youth, farmers and elderly people with issuance of monthly stipend, distribution of rice, clothes, fertilizer and seeds, provision of accessible soft loan among other things. CAFE is also reaching out to motherless babies’ homes and destitute homes with cash, provisions, food stuff, toiletries and other life enhancement relief materials. So if you ask me. I will tell you that under Obiano regime Anambra occupies a poll position ahead of other states when we talk about grassroots democracy. Here in Anambra, there is no gap between the state government and the people on the rural areas because at that level people are getting their fair shares of dividends of democracy.
The tenure of the present local government administration is about to expire at the end of this year, do you see the possibilities of a consecutive local government election from the state government?
It is our earnest wish to have consecutive local government election. But with the present situation in the country where the economy looks unstable, nobody should complain if the state decides otherwise. Election is a very expensive project. However, the most important thing is that things are working well and we as the good people of the state are not complaining. The governor is desirous of performance and he is achieving good results in that direction. The introduction of agencies like Awka Capital Development Authority, Anambra Investment Promotion and Protection Agency and others are making positive impact on the people. The ban of motorcycle transport popularly known as Okada is also good for us because of the social nuisance caused by Okada operators. We have to commend the governor and permit me to use this opportunity to commend him for his quality service to the good people of Anambra State.
APGA your political party failed to win elections as expected during the 2015 general elections, so how would you predict the future of the party considering the fact that it has only one governor and no senator and all that?
The future of APGA is very bright because in my own observations and calculations following the state of the nation at the moment, the political atmosphere is favourable to the party. Favourable in the sense that the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, disappointed the people as a ruling party and the present ruling party the All Progressive Congress, APC, looks unprepared to do better, so the onus now lies on the people to look for a better platform and in that case APGA has the edge over other political parties we have in this country. For instance, the former Minister of Information Mr Labaran Maku is living example of PDP disappointment. PDP disappointed Maku and he embraced APGA and today he is the national secretary of our party, so he is not regretting it. PDP did not live up to the expectations of Ndigbo in particular and considering the fact that the APC leaders view Ndigbo as opposition there is need for us (Ndigbo) to look at other options and fashion out the way forward. Way forward to put ourselves in a better position to face the Nigeria challenge effectively and get our fair share of the national cake. On this note, I think now is the time for Ndigbo to embrace APGA totally as a platform to champion our political course in Nigeria. It irritates me that as one of the third rated tribes in the country, Ndigbo have continued to suffer lack of federal presence. We have to rise up to the occasion of reorganizing ourselves under a good platform like APGA and articulate what we need before the present administration. This is my own opinion on the future of our party.
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