By Bode Olagoke Abuja
Anambra state Governor, Willie Obiano, has said the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), cannot stop the forthcoming governorship election in the state, adding that government would not allow such to happen. Th e governor, who is seeking the ticket of his party- the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), also clarifi ed that the Church killings in Ozubulu village were not done by either the Boko Haram terrorists or people agitating for separation. Obiano, who arrived the party’s national secretariat amidst funfair yesterday, to obtain the governorship forms for his second term, declared that by all standards he had won the forthcoming election.
Speaking on IPOB threat that election would not take place in Anambra, he said, “that is not correct. Th e fellow you mentioned did not say there would not be any election. By the way, yesterday (Monday) you would have heard the war veterans who met with me; these are the people who fought the war, 87 of them. Th ey were at the Lodge to meet me and what they said is that they will support the election and they have endorsed my election on the second term journey. “Th e leader of that group, General Lathucia, most of you should know him, is the brain in IPOB; so that comment that election won’t take place in Anambra, let me begin to dissipate that now.
Th ey didn’t say that, and there would be election in Anambra; of course, nobody can stop election in Anambra when INEC has already mapped out the timetable. We would not even allow anybody to do that, to stop election in Anambra state; we won’t allow that.” On the Ozubulu killings, the governor said: “Let me make this point; Ozobulu killing is not the kind of terrorism you used to know; it’s not by Boko Haram or anybody. Again, it is not by people agitating for separation. It is a feud between two gangsters that live outside Nigeria.
“Th ey killed themselves over there and they decided to come home and both of them are from that village where the church us built. We have picked up some guys are really and very soon, I am very confi dent that we are going to pick up the guy that did the killings dead or alive.” On his chance of winning the election, Obiano said: “I have already won the election. Haven’t you seen my performance? My performance in three years will tell you what I can do in eight years. “By that, I mean by the time I leave offi ce in the next four and half years, Anambra will be like Lagos. It will be self-suffi cient and therefore whatever comes from Abuja will be additional, that is the whole objective. And we are doing that in agriculture, in trade and commerce, in oil and gas, industrialisation and our airport will be up and running in the next three years.
“Security will be critical where people will sleep with their two eyes closed because I will be awake to make sure they sleep well. “Agriculture will be brought to a level of unprecedented. We are going to be number one state agriculture in Nigeria purely base on what we are doing now; you know we have Anambra rice.” On what he would do for Anambra in his second coming, the governor said he would institutionalise the great achievements he had already made in his fi rst term. When asked his intervention as regards the leadership crisis rocking APGA, Obiano said: “What I can assure you is that we have only one National Chairman and that National Chairman is Victor Oye. Whoever is parading himself is not recognised and will fall like a pack of cards in court.”
