ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Gubernatorial Candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Ebonyi State, Professor Benard Ifeanyi Odoh, has vowed to liberate the people of the state from what he described as “too much oppression”, if elected.
Odoh stated this at a separate consultative meetings with the leadership of Abakaliki Motor Spare Parts Dealers, National Association of Technicians and Automobile (NATA), Ebonyi State International Market Youth Forum and other Union leaders.
He assured them that as Governor of Ebonyi State, he won’t interfere in the affairs of their unions.
“I won’t come to put chairman for you. I won’t come to force Okada riders, Keke operators or building materials traders to put Chairmen for them. I won’t come to your communities to install town union presidents, it’s not my business at all.
“My work will be to bring investors to the State. There is too much oppression in this State, but when I become your Governor, I will liberate the people, so that our people will have freedom to do what they want to do within the laws,”Odoh assured.
Also, he promised to support businesses to thrive in the state and to ensure that taxes are harmonized in such a way that no one would be overtaxed.
According to him, “If I’m your Governor, we won’t use thugs to harrass you over taxes, we will sit down with you to agree on the amount to pay as taxes and the modality of payment.
Speaking on how he would integrate business owners into his administration, Odoh said: “You’re my own stakeholders and I don’t have Godfather. If you support me to get to that position, I will not let you down. I observed that not even one person is an importer, amongst you, everybody goes to Onitcha to buy market.
“When I met with the building materials traders recently, I told them, let’s write it down: if I become your Governor, we must raise at least 20 importers amongst you. I will not invest money on flyovers that have no direct impacts on our people, I will invest directly on our people.”
He urged them not to be deceiveed by Candidates who would want to use money to buy their votes.
He said: “I won’t need to get permission in Abuja or from anybody to serve our people. Whatever we promised to do, we must do it. One thing we must know is that what kept us in this condition we are today is that politicians come to share N1, 000 or N2, 000 to us to get our votes, but we must do everything possible to resist it in this coming election.”
On the condition of the State’s education and health sectors, the former University Don, said: “The schools in our villages have no teachers. The highest you can get in our schools is one teacher and a Head Teacher. Many of our teachers have retired without replacement.
“When we were growing up in this town, it was not like that, because our people went to farm and there was support to farmers. When I was in government, money was provided for farmers but it didn’t get to them.
“Today, more than 70% of rice being milled in Abakaliki ricemill comes from the North. They bring rice from the North, mill here, and write it, Abakaliki rice; is it not deceit? Who is fooling who? We are not growing anything again. As a State, we are not competing in anything, except in poverty.
He also pledged to recruit atleast 4000 teachers and 50 medical Doctors in his first one year, if elected.