By Emma Ogbuehi
Ahead the November 6 governorship election in Anambra, the governor, Willie Obiano has challenged politicians especially of the opposition political parties to focus on issue-based campaigns and not engage in activities aimed at de-marketing the state.
The advice was contained in a statement by the state commissioner for information and public enlightenment, Don Adinuba. The governor acknowledged that there is nothing wrong with political parties, their candidates and supporters criticizing one another, adding however that much as it is desirable for the political gladiators to base their utterances on facts, realities on ground point to the contrary.
He stressed that what is clearly unacceptable is when political parties, their candidates and agents in the forthcoming election set out to manufacture facts about their state with a view to denigrating it in the eyes of rational members of the public, adding that such tendency has grave implications for the development of the state.
Obiano identified the impressive reputation of the state as a major factor that has attracted between four and five billion dollars ($4-5b) in the last seven years, warning that any attempt to destroy this enviable reputation is to attempt to destroy investments in the state.
“Therefore, the penchant of some politicians to resort to the social media to make preposterous allegations of humongous financial abuses against the State Government as part of the disinformation strategy designed to win the November 6 governorship election stands condemnable. The amounts they publish, without any form of evidence, as what the State Government has received in recent years as statutory funds are wild figures. They beggar belief”, the statement added.
It assured that the financial resources of the people of Anambra State are well managed, citing instances of Anambra and Rivers State being the two states in the country with the best fiscal responsibility index, according to BudgIT, a highly respected nongovernment organization (NGO) funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
“The latest unemployment figures by the National Bureau of Statistics show that Anambra State, with 13.1 per cent unemployment rate, has the lowest unemployment rate in the country whereas the average national unemployment rate is 27.1 per cent”, it noted.
The governor remarked that only an exceptionally prudent state like Anambra can build a world-class international airport in less than two years with no bank loan anywhere in the world and without owing the contactors.
“Indeed, the people of Anambra State are eminently proud of the fact that the state Government is about to deliver the largest conference and convention centre in Africa—with 13,000 seating capacity—without any loan. Remarkable also is that the State Government has not borrowed a kobo from any bank to finance the modern stadium it is about to complete in Awka”, the release further stated.
It frowned at the tendency by some indigenes of the state engaging in extreme propaganda against the very state they want to govern.
According to the statement; “Rather than unveil their development programmes for the Anambra people, some parties and candidates as well as their agents and supporters are determined to de-market their state, and cause tremendous confusion and crisis all over the place.
“This is not how to achieve gubernatorial ambitions. In any case, Anambra people are too discerning and sophisticated for certain political manipulations and machinations”.