PDP will reclaim Edo – Chieftain

Auchi (Edo) – The Vice Chairman of the Edo chapter of the PDP, Mr Johnson Abolagba, says the party is set to reclaim the state, having conducted a very successful governorship primary election.

Abolagba made the remark in Auchi.

The PDP Chieftain, who is also a former member of the House of Representatives, said the PDP would emerge victorious in the state’s governorship election scheduled for July 14.

He said the party’s governorship candidate, retired Maj.-Gen. Charles Airhiavbere, was a man whose antecedents would help in securing a landslide victory for the party.

“With Gen. Airiavbere, PDP will win the governorship election if we work hard and put our house in other.

“Edo remains a PDP state and there is nothing stopping us from winning it because all what Oshiomhole has succeeded in doing is cosmetic beautification of roads in the state,” he said.

Speaking on the primaries conducted in Benin, Abolagba called on the defeated aspirants to work with the party’s flagbearer to ensure victory for the party in the election.

He advised them to take solace in the fact that Airiavbere’s victory was not for himself alone, but for the party as a whole.

“We should all be happy and join hands with the victor because the primaries remain one of the best things to have happened to the party in recent times,” he said.

Airiavbere defeated four other aspirants including the state’s former governor, Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, Mr Mathew Uduoiyekhemwen and Mr Kenneth Imasuagbon to emerge victorious. (NAN)

Imo declares work-free day as mark of respect for Ojukwu

Owerri - Imo State will observe a work-free day on Monday as a mark of respect for the late Biafran leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu and there will also be a service of tributes for the late leader at the Hero’s Square, Owerri, on the same day.

The Speaker of the Imo House of Assembly, Mr Benjamin Uwajumogu, who is the Chairman of the Imo chapter of the organising committee for Ojukwu’s burial, disclosed this in Owerri on Tuesday at a news conference.

He listed some of the activities which will hold in Imo between Feb. 22 and Feb. 28 for the deceased before his final burial on March 2 in Nnewi, Anambra.

According to the programme, there will be an inauguration of the board of Dim Ikemba Ojukwu’s Centre by Gov. Rochas Okorocha on Feb. 22.

Okorocha will also inaugurate the Ikemba Ojukwu Centre on Feb. 24, where the remains of the late leader would be laid on its arrival in Imo on Feb. 27.

The committee also scheduled an inaugural lecture on the ‘Effective Leadership in the 21st Century’ by Prof. Boniface Nwoke, the Vice-Chancellor of the Imo State University on Feb. 25.

Imo youths are scheduled to observe all-night wake at the Dan Anyiam Stadium on Feb. 26 where all Imo youths are expected to pay their last respects to the late Biafran leader.

The chairman gave assurance that the committee would ensure