A female aspirant in the Nov. 6 governorship election in Anambra, Mrs Chidi Onyemelukwe, has urged the electorate to guard against monetary inducement in making their choice of candidates.
Onyemelukwe who is aspiring for the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the race, made the call at a news conference in Awka on Monday.
She said voting for the right candidate without inducement would make them demand the full dividends of democracy from the people they had voted into power and hold them accountable.
According to her, she is not intimidated by the number of aspirants and “money bags” in the race.
The aspirant said that she had what it took to get the PDP ticket, win the election and put Anambra on the part of economic prosperity and ensure higher degree of welfare for the citizens.
Onyemelukwe, however, decried the lack of adherence to the provisions of the Electoral Act by political office seekers in the state.
She noted that there was a specified maximum amount that should be spent on electioneering for various elective posts, adding that violators risked disqualification.
“Campaign financing laws took care of that. No candidate can justifiably exceed the N200 million spelt out by the electoral act for vying for governorship.
“Doing so is a sufficient ground for disqualification. Wealth is just one attribute of the race.
“They say Anambra has the highest concentration of millionaires and billionaires; so it’s only natural that some of them aspire to govern the state,” she said.
The daughter of late Dr Alex Ekwueme, former Vice President of Nigeria (1979-1983), said Anambra needed restoration because the people had experienced leadership, trust, fiscal, economic and infrastructure deficits.
Onyemelukwe who was the deputy governorship candidate of PDP in 2017 election, said Anambra was a PDP state and had what it took to coast home to victory on Nov.6.
According to her, PDP is in the party to win and she is in the race to win.
“The outcome of the Nov. 6 election barring anything untoward, will be in the hands of the Anambra electorate and of course, in the hands of God,” she said.
The aspirant said if she won the ticket of the party and was elected, she would get infrastructure in the state working again.
She said she would sustain and protect existing public infrastructure and public property as well as complete viable abandoned projects.
The aspirant said she would remove opacity in government finances and procurement processes by entrenching due process, premised on accountability and transparency.
“We shall offer opportunities for our people to get affordable healthcare, good education, gainful employment and dividends of democracy as well as engage in gender mainstreaming at all levels,” she said. (NAN)
