By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Chinyere Okunna has turned down the offer, real or imaginary, making her Anambra State Deputy Governor candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the election on November 6.
Okunna, professor of mass communication and former Chief of Staff and Commissioner for Economic Planning & Budget in Anambra, said the rumour tied her with PDP Governorship candidate, Valentine Ozigbo.
She recounted in Awka that she first heard the news through associates and “men and women of goodwill” who called, to her embarrassment, to congratulate her on what they called her “deserving recognition.”
When she enquired about the source of the rumour, they referred her to social media.
“I visited different social media platforms and saw different things that were written on the matter and my first reaction was to wonder how all this had been going on without my knowledge,” Okunna explained in a statement.
She recalled that in 2006, she joined the administration for former Governor Peter Obi, and though her salary was much less than what she earned as a professor, she still looks back “on all those years with nostalgia and a sense of immense fulfilment.”
Okunna said Team Peter Obi worked with a world-class leader to actualise his vision of achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) using his innovative, revolutionary and globally-acclaimed Anambra Integrated Development Strategy (ANIDS).
“It is on record that the Team effectively delivered results which made Anambra Number 1 in the implementation of the MDGs, consequent upon which the United Nations invited [Obi] to New York to share his MDGs experience.
“As the chairman of the state’s MDGs Implementation Committee, it is obvious how proud I felt and still feel about that accomplishment.”
Okunna added: “Immediately after I left government in 2014, I returned to the university and have been extremely busy ever since.
“From again being the head of mass communication from 2014 to 2017, becoming the director of UNIZIK FM from 2014 to date, serving as the dean of the faculty of social sciences from 2016 to 2019, and delivering my inaugural lecture in 2018, in addition to so many other academic and social engagements still stretching ahead of me, it has indeed been a most eventful life and will remain so for quite some time.
“Let me therefore state categorically that I am happy where I am and that I am not interested in becoming the Deputy Governor of Anambra State.”
Okunna disclosed that she is related to the Ubas and expressed reluctance “to be dragged into needless controversy” and direct “confrontation” with them.
She thanked those promoting her candidacy, convinced that it is borne out of goodwill, but apologised and appealed to them not to continue doing so, as she is not enthusiastic about it.
