1.GOV. OBI STARTS FIVE MORE GIANT BUILDINGS AT THE STATE UNIVERSITY Gov. Peter Obi has laid the foundation stone for five more building project at the Igbariam campus of the Anambra State University yesterday. The projects, which will gulp more than 3.6 Billion naira, include the Faculty of Agriculture, Management Sciences, Administrative buildings, Guest House and the perimeter fencing, among others. Performing the function, Governor Obi reinstated total commitment of his administration to make the university a model in Africa and widen the scope of quality education in line with the vision of taking education to greater heights. He explained that the huge investment in all levels of education is targeted at providing brighter future for the children of the State and reverse the trend of gross neglect by previous administration resulting to collapse of basic infrastructure. The Governor expressed satisfaction that with the rebuilding of structures, equipping of schools and provision of infrastructural materials, the State is fast making up the lost of the past. The Governor urged the contractors to ensure the completion of the projects on schedule and building to specifications. The Commissioner for education, Dr. Kay Onyechi thanked Governor Obi for his commitment in transforming the entire education sector after inheriting a totally collapsed sector.  Dr Onyechi said education in the State had become a reference point in the country with enviable commendations. The Chairman of the Governing Council of the University, Professor Elochukwu Amuchiazi said that when the master plan of the University had been completed, the campus wouldl be one of the largest in Africa and a fulfillment of Gov Obi’s promise on assumption of office . He said that the Governor had not only initiated the projects but had also deposited over 3.6 Billion Naira with the University for the execution of the projects, assuring the projects will be completed and functional before the next academic session. The Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Iheanacho Orajaka said it was the first time a university was developed in a strategic manner. He thanked the Governor for the many infrastructure he has provided in the university. 2. OMABALA FORUM [30-Year Old Former ALGA WELFARE MOVEMENT Calling] Crucial Message To All Brothers And Sisters Living Within Omabala River Basin Addressed Especially To Anambra East, West, Oyi and Aghamelum LGA Residents Of  ANAMBRA STATE Vote Against All Forms Of Ongoing (S)ELECTION RIGGING  COMPETITION Those offering money and other Greek Gifts or who possibly stole your Voting Cardsthink you are Fools; Report any Voting Cards in wrong hands at once to the Authorities to neutralize their rotten values; Be worthy of our ancestral Heroes,  our ‘Dimkpas’, our ‘Iyomus’ and our true ‘Okwelikwesieke’ Champions!  Treat all invading fortune hunters As Human Viruses Polluting Nigeria’s Social and Political Values Having Been Misused And Dumped In The Past By Such People WithDisingenuous Dialectical Contradictions  You Must Vote Strictly Accordingly To Your Conscience, Despite Any Greek Gifts Offered Or ReceivedVote as advised by our authorised and better-informed honest fellow brothers and sisters from Omabala River Basin; But in honest service to Almighty God and in the Glorious Name of our truly honourable Forefathers Above all, do not be disloyal to yourselves; be sincere devotees to genuinely honourable causes!! Issued By Ichie EmekeNwaeze, Former MD, Orient Bank Plc, Ichie Gabriel C. Akwaeze, Protem Secretary, Omabala Forum Ovia N’eche Enyi Nando, Former Federal Commissioner [Minister] and Member of FEC (In General Y. Gowon’ s Cabinet) Chairman: 30-year Old Omabala Forum [Former ALGA Welfare Movement]   Sunday, 31st January 2010 MESSAGE FROM THE CATHOLIC BISHOPS OF ANAMBRA STATE ON THE COMING GUBERNITORIAL ELECTION IN THE STATE The coming gubernatorial election in Anambra State on Saturday, 6th February 2010 gives us opportunity as your spiritual and moral leaders to address this message to you, the good people of Anambra State. Through this election, the citizens of Anambra State will have the opportunity of choosing their leaders by means of the ballot box. It is a singular opportunity which God is giving us to exercise our rights under the law to choose our Governor and his Deputy. This right imposes a heavy responsibility on us to choose credible, competent, reliable and upright persons as Governor and Deputy Governor. In the light of the above, we invite you to do all in your power to see that the coming election is free and fair, peaceful and credible. We urge the candidates to show restraint and conduct their campaigns without rancour or acrimony. Each should be positive in his or her campaigns, avoiding destructive, hostile and bitter attacks on other contestants. They are honestly to tell the people their vision, goals and strategies for good governance in Anambra State. Their accommodative and peaceful attitude will remove the impression of desperation and do-or-die approach. Every candidate is to eschew recourse to rigging, bribery, corruption, violence and any form of malpractice. Each voter has the responsibility to vote according to his or her conscience for the candidate of his or her choice. But the choice must be enlightened and guided by the common good. While personal and group interests are bound to influence one’s choice, the overall good of Anambra State should be overriding. We urge you to use your votes wisely to determine those who will best serve the overall interest and good of the whole of Anambra State. Please do not sell your vote. By doing that, people mortgage their conscience and the resources of this State, thereby encouraging corruption and looting of public funds. We are particularly concerned about the capability, efficiency and willingness of INEC to conduct this election well as a proof of its readiness to turn a new leaf in conducting elections in this country. Anambra State demands probity and efficiency from INEC officials. INEC is expected to be an impartial arbiter, who will win the confidence, respect and acceptance of the candidates, the people of Anambra State and the public in general. We call on INEC to rise up to its responsibility and conduct a free, fair and credible election. On our part, we trust in God to help us in our desire for a free, fair and peaceful election that will produce credible leaders who are the choice of the people. We have been praying in our various dioceses for this intention. In view of the critical nature of this election for the whole of Anambra State, we are ordering a novena of prayers and sacrifices from 27th January to 4th February 2010 in the three Catholic dioceses in Anambra State. Every day in these nine days, there will be solemn assembly in each church for the praying of the rosary, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with special intercessions for the election in Anambra State. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth! May God grant Anambra State the free, fair, peaceful and credible election it needs! May His blessings come down on our State! Given at Onitsha, this 12th day of January 2010 Most Rev. Valerian M. Okeke                                                                                                    Most Rev. Albert K. Obiefuna Archbishop of Onitsha                                                                                                                   Archbishop emeritus of Onitsha   Most Rev. Simon A. Okafor                                                                                                         Most Rev. Hilary Paul O. Okeke Bishop of Awka                                                                                                                                                Bishop of Nnewi Most Rev. Paulinus Ezeokafor Auxillary Bishop of Awka   Anambra’s great debate Viewpoints Feb 1, 2010 By Emeka Egbeigwe THE debate was widely publicised, with some heavy names, including international and donor agencies, mentioned as sponsors. The array of partners that organised the debate would at first prove to even cynics that it was a serious exercise. The three-man panel comprising Dr Reuben Abati, Labran Maku and Okey Ikechukwu added its own fillip to the entire exercise. How do we describe debate in a general term? Debate could be seen as a civilised way of getting one’s point of view across. It is among the credentials of democracy as opposed to the dictatorship of force. The engagement of those that seek public offices in debates is a clear sign that our democracy is indeed growing. Even the theme of the debate: “Deepening Democracy and Good Governance  in Anambra State” reflects the essence of the entire exercise. It is a subtle reminder to us that peace and development go hand in hand with the meeting of minds, exchange of thoughts and flowering of ideas. One will be stating the obvious to say that the debate organised by the Re-birth Group was the best so far in terms of logistics, pattern and its sequential order both in asking of questions and even raising objections. During the debate, there was a minor interruption by some candidates that were excluded from the debate on the reason that they did not qualify to be taken seriously. What they did was condemnable because they chose to be bestial when they could have protested differently without portraying the state and its peoples in bad light. The debate proper was exciting. The experienced moderators did not give room for abuse as they craftily drew the sequence to make accusation of somebody being favoured almost impossible. Standing from left to right during the debate were Dr Chris Ngige (Action Congress), Mr Ralph Nwosu (African Democratic Congress), Governor Peter Obi (All Progressives Grand Alliance), Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu (Hope Democratic Party) and Prof Chukwuma Soludo (PDP). Mrs Uche Ekwunife of Progressive People’s Party was the only invited candidate that did not attend. The first five minutes was reserved for the candidates to introduce themselves and tell the people why they honestly and earnestly seek the governorship. Beyond mere introduction, this session offered us an understanding of the working of the minds of the candidates. This session reminds us of McCain and what history now regards as Quintussian Syndrome. Quintus who wrote a manual of electioneering campaign advised Caesar to go for the character of his opponent and even invent falsehoods against them to raise anti-people’s sentiment. This was exactly what McCain did. Rather than tell the people what he will do for them, he spent his time speaking against Mr Barack Obama. We saw this Quintussian propensity at work in some of the candidates. Let us take their submissions seriatim. Arranged alphabetically, according to the names of the parties, Dr Chris Ngige was the first to speak.  Dr Ngige spent over four minutes introducing himself. Part of his problem was to have spoken first. He might have thought that enough grace would be given him, but the time keeper, the no nonsense Ike Nwokike rang the bell repeatedly until the speaker stopped. Besides talking about himself and engaging in his pastime of abusing Gov Obi, he said nothing meaningful. Though he said that before he came, there was no governance in Anambra State. Besides roads, he could not say any single thing he did to correct that. He proved to the people that he has a one-point agenda. Speaking after Ngige, Mr Ralph Nwosu fell into the same error of introducing himself. With little time left, he tried to present himself as a freedom fighter who spent all his political life founding parties – PDP, APGA, ADC – in search of ideal party that will redeem Anambra and eventually Nigerians from trouble. The debate got excited with Gov Peter Obi. Known for long and logical thought, he reduced all he said to brevity. Calm, confident and urbane, he used fewer words to introduce himself and went straight to the business of the day. Like Ngige, he reeled out basic and fundamental steps he had to quickly take. Hear him: “On assumption of office, I found out there was no government in the state due to the absence of Governor’s Office, secretariat and other necessities of government. I also looked for the master plans for the state and sectoral policies, behold there were none. As I speak, we now have master plans, erosion policy, industrial policy . . .”. The Governor spoke like a person who understands development. He went beyond the policy plans and used one sector to show example of what he is doing. Again, let him speak in the first person. Using education sector as an example, he said that there was nothing in that sector until he came in. When he said he provided laboratories, built classrooms, set up Microsoft academies, provided internets, water, generators and is about to provide libraries and buses to secondary schools in the state, one needs no Jupiter to pronounce that the Governor was saying the truth. Prince Ukachukwu appealed to the public during his own introductory remarks because he was practical. He said he had achieved much as an industrialist which he wanted to replicate in the state if he becomes Governor. Dr. Andy Uba surprised everybody. Nobody believed he would come as it was thought he has defect of speech, but he came and tried. He like Ukachukwu on introduction avoided his education background, further raising suspicion about the controversy surrounding his education qualification. He was not sure of himself, but he spoke as if he has good intentions, but will depend on his lieutenants. Then enter Prof Charles Soludo; arrogant, brash and full of himself. He spoke in highfalutin language but most of his postulations appear deceptive. Charles said he will pursue security through an informal way, he did not tell us if it will be otumokpo (juju) or use of militiamen. Soludo said he would use generator to power Anambra State. He still repeated turning Anambra into African-Dubai-Taiwan. When the candidates finished their introductory remarks, they were asked to pick randomly from already set questions. Again, Peter Obi and Ukachukwu spoke very well. Obi who was asked what he would do to promote role models in the state explained how the state under him has chosen to celebrate role models. He said that part of the problem the state had was celebrating the wrong people, those who ordinarily should hide in shame. He explained how some names were submitted for national honours and how he protested and got such names as Francis Cardinal Arinze, Chief Chike Offodile and Justice Ononiba  to be honoured instead. The most exciting part of the debate was a session devoted to asking probing questions. Here, all the contestants were touched at the bad/sour parts. Leading the pack, Ngige was asked about his visit and swearing at the Ogwugwu Okija Shrine; he agreed he went there at 2pm. Many people in the hall saw it as having rendered himself unfit for public office. Gov Obi was asked about his relationship with his deputy; he explained himself satisfactorily. Uba was asked about the perception of his being part of the problem of the state via godfatherism; he denied but nobody believed him. Ukachukwu’s question raised suspicion of his being in love with mean things and gangsterism; he rationalised. Ralph Nwosu was chastised for his party prostitution. Soludo tried to prove that all was well when he was the Governor of the Central Bank, even when the contrary is the case. All in all, the debate was scintillating, enriching and mature. I do not know why the panellists did not score the contestants. If permitted, I will do that for them in this order – Peter Obi (first), others follow Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu; Prof Charles Soludo; Dr Chris Ngige; Mr Ralph Nwosu and Dr Andy Uba. When certain things happen, one is constrained to believe that our democracy, the culture of engaging one another and wrestling with ideas is blossoming. One of those pointers is the new culture of political debate as we witnessed among political gladiators of Awka at Emmaus House. I left the hall fulfilled and satisfied that I have once again been offered insight into the nature of man, especially when viewed as what Aristotle called socio politicum zoom (social political animal). Emeka Egbeigwe is a legal Practitioner based in Awka   Awka 2nd Feb. 2010 OBI IS NUJ’s MAN OF THE YEAR  For the umpteenth time, Gov Peter Obi has received yet another award. This time, the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Anambra State chapter, has given him the Man of the Year award at an elaborate ceremony yesterday at White View Hotel, Ifite Awka. According to the state chairman of NUJ, Comrade Tochukwu Udoji, the award was in recognition of the great strides recorded by the people’s governor over the past four years which had seen every sector receiving attention through his ANIDS programme. She however urged the governor to help the union in completing its state secretariat on which the governor had earlier donated N1m. The governor had also earlier donated a brand new air-conditioned bus to the union, the first time the union would receive such in the state. Obi’s award by the NUJ is coming on the heels of an award by the Champion newspapers a few days ago as the most trusted governor. He had previously received awards from This DAY AND Sun newspapers for his monumental achievements.   Tuesday, 2nd Feb. 2010 NO DISCRIMINATOIN IN FADAMA – SPC  The Anambra State Fadama Coordinating Office (ASFCO) has assured beneficiaries of the Project that funds disbursement for their subprojects implementation were guided by the spirit and letters of the Development Credit Agreement (DCA) signed between the World bank  and the Federal Government of Nigeria.  The State Project Coordinator (SPC), Mr. Chudi Mojekwu who dropped the hint in a chat with news men in Awka, said that a major clause of the agreement guarantees adequate autonomy for the ASFCO as the implementation agency, of the Project, in the State.  Such autonomy, he went on, shields the Project implementation from any form of political, religious, social or gender interferences and discriminations.  On the allegation that funds disbursement were not moving as fast as expected, Mr. Mojekwu explained that the Project Financial Management procedures were strict and rigorous, based on international best practices for which the World Bank was well known. He maintained that the pace of disbursement in the State is very satisfactory and in congruence with prudence.  The SPC assured that “there is no iota of political interference under the present administration of Governor Peter Obi, despite the fact that it is only in Anambra State that both State and Local Governments have recorded 100% in the payment of Government Cash Counterpart Contribution, to Fadama Project”.  Mr. Mojekwu added that since the official launch of the Project by Governor Obi, last November, disbursement of funds have been strictly based on laid guidelines and even spread, provided that such Fadama Community Associations/Fadama User Groups (FCAs/FUGs) satisfied the criteria for accessing the Project’s matching grants.  He, however, noted that it was not feasible for every group to be funded the same time, noting that the phased funding of community subprojects was in line with the imperatives of economy, efficiency and effectiveness.  The Fadama Coordinator advised all FCAs/FUGs to eschew all forms of rumor mongering and frivolous petitions and urged them to work hard with the community facilitators, in order to meet the criteria for accessing Project grants.  Mr. Mojekwu restated that the State Fadama III is a socially inclusive poverty reduction Project, under the financial assistance and technical supervision of the World Bank. The Project, he noted, is devoid of any form of discrimination and is targeted at the rural and urban poor.   Wednesday, 3rd Feb. 2010 Today NNEWI SOUTH goes agog for Governor Peter Obi. Governor Peter Obi visited Amichi today. The venue was St. Eugenia Primay School. The output in attendance was quite overwhelming. Six traditional rulers were in attendance while the PG Sir Emma Okafor of Amichi Development Union on behalf of the ten towns that makes up Nnewi South gave the welcome address. Governor Peter Obi said construction will commence soonest on Ichida, Azigbo, Osumenyi, Ezinifite road with a spur to Unubi.   7th Feb. 2010 APGA WINS Thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven... Mr. Peter Obi declared the WINNER!!! THE INEC RESULT: APGA-97,843 AC-60,240 PDP-59,355 LP-26,106 HDP-20,777 PPA-9,595 and the rest.