An aspirant in the forthcoming Anambra gubernatorial election, Mr Godwin Ezeemo, has said that though Nigeria has witnessed 22 years of uninterrupted democratic rule , a lot still needed to be done.
“We are celebrating 22 years of democracy but a lot is still left behind when we talk about the dividends on ground.
“If you look at the level of achievements, you will discover that we have failed to live up to expectations,’’ Ezeemo said in a statement released on Sunday in Awka by his publicist, Mr Emmanuel Chukwuebuka.
While congratulating Nigerians for celebrating 22 years of uninterrupted democracy in the country, Ezeemo said the nation was still confronted by many problems including election irregularities, lack of infrastructure and poor performance on the part of political office holders.
“Most, if not all elections conducted in the country, are still far from being credible, the security situation is bad, the rate of killings continue to gain momentum, the economy is not buoyant, the roads are bad and there is poor electricity supply,’’Ezeemo said in the statement.
To solve the numerous problems, governorship aspirant in the November election, called for credible polls to enable the people to choose their leaders.
While commending some past leaders for deepening democracy in the country, Ezeemo especially thanked former President Goodluck Jonathan and erstwhile governor of Anambra, Mr Peter Obi.
“These are my two top leading heroes of democracy in Nigeria … Jonathan as the national hero and Obi as the outstanding hero in the Southeast where his outstanding performance as governor remains the leadership model,” he said.
He said that Jonathan boosted democracy in the country by conceding defeat to President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 election, a feat that was seen as un-African.
Ezeemo said that Jonathan’s decision to accept defeat, as a sitting President and Commander in Chief, simply thrust him into the rank of the leading heroes of democracy in Africa.
He said Obi’s ability to recover his stolen mandate in court and his outstanding performance as governor for eight years has yet to be matched by any governor in the Southeast geopolitical zone.
“Obi was the first to recover a stolen mandate in court and that paved the way for others to have the courage to go to court to seek redress over stolen mandate,’’ he said.
He commended what he called Obi’s “superlative performance“ within eight years as governor, pointing out that that made him a hero.
He said that there was a need for the immediate implementation of the Electoral Reforms in order to checkmate electoral irregularities and allow the choice of the electorate to prevail.
Chairman of Orient Group of Companies, said to have more than 4,000 employees, Ezeemo promised to deepen democracy through the delivery of democracy dividends the same way Obi did.
He assured the people of Anambra that he has all it takes in terms of experience and exposure to deliver dividends of democracy.
