Edo Local Government Council Chairmen Reject Direct Primary
Hon. Osunde who is also the Executive Chairman of Oredo Local Government Council remarked that it was "organizationally irresponsible and inhumanity reckless " for any political party to prescribe Direct Primary as the model for its governorship nomination in the period of a vicious pandemic .
The ALGON Chairman remarked that the life-saving strategy of social distancing will be consequentially violated in the process of a Direct Primary which requires huge assembly of party members .
Hon. Osunde's remarks were read on his behalf by the Vice Chairman of ALGON , Hon. John Osi Akhigbe who is also the Chairman of Etsako Central Local Government Area at a press confernce in Benin on Sunday .
Details of Hon. Osunde's remarks below .
ADDRESS BY THE EDO STATE CHAIRMAN OF ASSOCIATION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS OF NIGERIA (ALGON) HON .EVBAREKE JENKINS OSUNDE AT A PRESS CONFERNCE DECLARING THE RESOLUTION AND AFFRIRMATION OF ALL THE 18 APC LOCAL GOVERNMENT CHAIRMEN FOR INDIRECT PRIMARY IN THE 2020 GUBERNATORIAL NOMINATION PROCESS.
EDO STATE ALGON STANDS FOR PEOPLE-INSPIRED DEMOCRACY, WE REJECT’ DICTATORSHIP’!
Our People Across the 18 Local Government Areas Are In Formidable Support of Indirect Primary For the 2020 Edo State APC Governorship Nomination.
Edo State ALGON Hereby Urge the National Leadership of APC to Put the Safety and Good Health of Edo People Far Above Questionable and Narrow Political Interests.
Distinguished Gentlemen of the Press,
It is not too often that the Edo State Chapter of ALGON seeks to jointly address the media.
Our principal focus since our inauguration as representatives of Edo people at the grassroots levels of governance has been the crucial endeavor of the socio-economic empowerment of our people and the galvanization of the hopes and aspirations of the residents in the various communities under our jurisdictions.
For instance, following the leadership of our Governor, His Excellency, Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki , all the local government administration in Edo State have changed the paradigm of what is the priority in terms of payment of salaries for our employees, for teachers and pensioners and all other cadres of workers. Our primary and premier dedication has been the enhancement of the welfare of our people. With the guidance of our economic technocrat, the political pragmatist and a progressive thinker, Governor Obaseki , we have put behind us the shameful days when local government employees and pensioners were engaged in weekly demonstrations consequent on the failed obligations of the state government . I can say without hesitation that our employees and their families as well as large segments of the Edo State communities are more fulfilled today than they were under previous administration.
All across the state, people are applauding the steady harvest of the fruits of progressive Democracy. Lives and commerce are being steadily revived through massive road construction and rehabilitation projects in tandem with other infrastructural as well socio-economic programs spreading from the urban centers to remotest villages of the state. The contemporary story of the remarkable and flourishing giant economic strides in Edo State is a narrative with which ALGON can humbly and proudly say that we have been fortunate to stand as partners with the Governor.
But today we are here to address you on another matter which equally bears consequence on the lives of our people as the issue at stake could have profound impact in our constituencies. As local government chairmen and other elected representatives of the people, we have been working diligently to contain the ravages of the epidemic of the Coronavirus. Along with the Edo State Task Force on the pandemic under the overall leadership of the Governor, we are fully aware of the deleterious health dangers that Coronavirus portends for the people in our communities hence we strive daily in compliance with the various guidance of the NCDC and all the relevant health agencies to minimize the devastation of the Covid-19.
As members of ALGON with intimate knowledge of the health concerns of our communities and the corrosive blight that the virus can inflict on our people if we fail to follow the guidance of health experts, we cannot in good conscience support a political exercise that will further jeopardize the health of our people .We are indeed shocked that anyone or group with genuine concern for the lives of Edo people will at this time be proposing a massive gathering of people where all the local and global best practice prescription of social distancing will be discarded.
To propose a Direct primary governorship nomination process for our political party in the current season of a global pandemic, to create a gathering where thousands of or party members will have to intimately relate with a zero prospect of social distancing, is organizationally irresponsible and inhumanely reckless. How will it be explained to our already anxious citizens that the National Working Committee of our party made a decision supporting direct primary without due consideration for the rapid infectious rate and ravages of Covid-19.
For a party that was founded on the principles of the supremacy of the interest of the people, Edo State ALGON is shocked that the National Working Committee of our party had supposedly opted to conduct a direct primary process of nomination for Edo governorship nomination .We believe that the members of NWC of the party will not want to be chronicled as the political leaders who were willing to sacrifice the lives of their members for the ungodly advantage of securing political gains in an electoral primary contest .
Edo State ALGON hereby make clear our resolution that INDIRECT primary is the safest option, the most humane and healthy alternative for the APC 2020 governorship primary. The lives of our people should not be subjugated and denigrated to secondary consideration in contemplating the mode of the governorship primary. We stand solidly and irrevocably with the position of the state leadership of our party under the chairmanship of, Anslem Ojezua, and the expressed thoughtful concerns of our Governor in this situation. We therefore seek immediate reversal of the decision of the NWC regarding Direct Nomination while forthrightly demanding for the safer alternative of Indirect Primary for the 2020 gubernatorial exercise. Any contrary decision will constitute a violent negation of the overwhelming resolution of our constituents in the 18 Local Government Areas of Edo State.
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