From Magnus Eze, Enugu
The governorship candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Chief Chris Agu, has vowed to probe previous administrations in the state if he is sworn in as governor of the state.
Agu, who spoke to Daily Sun revealed that the state was owing N165billion debt without commensurate social or physical infrastructure to justify it.
The former Controller Programmes, Radio Nigeria Enugu and human rights activist, expressed confidence in the ability of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a free and fair election in the state.
You’ve been campaigning for months now, how has the campaign been and what have you observed?
The campaign really showed me that our people have been yearning for a positive change. The campaign showed that our people are tired of 419 politicians who have been in government for over 24 years and they have refused to develop the state, instead they ended up inflicting injuries on the state, adding salt to old wounds. People continue to lament in all the places I have visited. I visited all the 17 local governments.
I have visited the 260 wards we have in Enugu State, now we are going from village to village doing our campaign. In fact, I was exposed to the fact that there is no village in Enugu State that has potable water. I was also exposed to the fact that the security system in Enugu State has collapsed.
Old people that worked and retired in Enugu State are in pains because their gratuity and pensions have not been paid and we also have volunteers from these whole people who have decided to follow us in order to enlighten our people not to support those that have destroyed Enugu State but have gone to other political parties. For instance, the governorship candidate of the Labour Party, Chijioke Edeoga has been in government since 1999. He has held many positions. They are the people that destroyed Enugu State. Today, he has gone to the Labour Party but they are the ones that destroyed Enugu State.
In addition, Frank Nweke Jr worked with Chimaroke Nnamani. He rose from Chief of Staff to Minister of Information and there are none of his people who gained employment under him. You also discovered that these people have remained in government and look at the way Enugu State is today. Now, he has abandoned the PDP and ran to APGA. These are part of what we are telling our people. Is it the APC man, Uchenna Nnaji who betrayed the mandate given him by AD when he won the Enugu East senatorial seat in 1999 and he voluntarily relinquished it to a godfather in Enugu State, is that the person we can trust?
They know that the PDP has collapsed in Enugu so they decided to abandon PDP but these are the people that collapsed the party. So, I am happy that our tour has exposed all these people to the grassroots and I want to assure you that by the time we cast our votes on the 11th of March, 2023, results will be in my favour, Chris Agu will be the next Governor of Enugu State.
The Presidential and National Assembly Elections were held on Saturday, February 25 and the results are out; how would you rate INEC’s performance in that process?
Anyway, there have been reports of rigging at the federal level but in Enugu State, the result reflected the people’s wish because people did not vote according to party. They voted according to personality. That is why you see the PDP man won in Enugu West Senatorial District but the party collapsed in other zones and you can see Peter Obi won with large margin in Enugu State. It actually reflected the wishes of the people in Enugu State.
So, whatever transpired at the federal level is a subject of discussion. The president said they should go to court and we are praying that the court should say the truth whenever the matter comes to them. They should tell the truth. That is all. There have been accusations and counter accusations although anytime one is defeated in politics, there must be a reason. When PDP was winning, Buhari would always accuse INEC of rigging, so, now the court should save Nigeria, examine all the cases and deliver a genuine judgement so that God will be happy with them.
The major issue is the failure of INEC to transmit results from the polling unit; are you concerned about this going into the March 11 election?
INEC has promised to make up for that failure. You know we have a country where almost everything does not work. Let us see what will happen but what I am saying is, whether their BVAS is not working or it has fault in my own, if I win this election in Enugu and any idiot tampers with it, they will know that Chris Agu, former Amnesty International, Northern Coordinator, National Leader, Enugu Movement is contesting an election. So, they should put their house in order; I don’t want stories. If there is any story in this victory that I am about to clinch, the monkey will give birth to turkey.
What will you do differently as Governor of Enugu State?
I will probe all the people that destroyed Enugu State from 1999. I will also recover all the wealth of Enugu State that EFCC collected from those that defrauded and ruined the state. The money is for Enugu State and not for the Federal Government, because all the money recovered by the EFCC have not been returned to the coffers of the state. The second thing is that I will set up a panel to probe every administration that has governed Enugu State from 1999 till date. The reason being that none of them has been probed.
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Today, Enugu is owing N195 billion and you don’t see anything on ground to show that anything was done; no good road, no water, pensioners are dying in their numbers, no gratuity, no pension. Teachers’ minimum wage cannot be paid and then, a lot of other infrastructural decay in the state.
Yet, we get IGR, we get federal allocation. So, why are we owing up to such an amount? We are going to probe them and while the probe is going on, we will ensure that we start paying gratuity and pension so that our old ones will live.