The war-of-words between stakeholders of the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra State over the November 6 governorship election in the state has deepened with Labour and Employment Minister Chris Ngige describing Willie Obiano as an “epicurean and governor-do-nothing.”
He said Obiano’s idleness was the primary reason he takes and posts ”anyhow pictures” on the internet.
Swiftly, APGA’s National Chairman Victor Oye dubbed Ngige a “jealous” minister and one of the ”green-eyed politicians” in the country.
Ngige, at a meeting of APC stakeholders and members of the Registration and Revalidation Committee of the party in Anambra State at the weekend inferred to a picture on the internet in which Obiano posed with a dog. He told the stakeholders and committee members that no busy governor would have such leisure take such picture, except the likes of Obiano.
The minister berated Obiano and APGA for what he called ”abysmal performance in the state” and vowed that “we will use our broom to sweep him and his party out of Government House.”
Alleging that Obiano was about to bequeath the people of the state with a huge debt, Ngige boasted that ”we can’t take it anymore.”
His words:”We want to drive away governor-do-nothing, who’s sitting down there. You can’t be a governor and just cross your legs and be playing music and say you’re a governor.
”No work is going on in this state. The people of the state are tired of APGA. We’re tired of bringing people who don’t know their left from right; people who just want to come and learn how to be a governor.
”He has only 12 months more to stay and for five months, he’ll be a lame dog governor after the election, from November to March . We have nothing to point at what he has done here, practically nothing.
”Yet, they’ve gotten all sorts of money. President Muhammadu Buhari, gave them bailout funds, yet they find it difficult to pay minimum wage and they got budget support yet medical workers, including doctors, went on strike here for nine months.
”What kind of government is this? Teachers are on strike, you can’t recruit new ones. We’re going to start this journey today.
”We’ll start it with the governor sitting here, governor-do-nothing. It’s only three flyovers he has achieved, and one airport with debt of N180 billion, Is that what you people want?
“We’ll sweep them and their footprint out from Anambra soil so they can be forgotten. They’ve blocked our way enough.
”We have good men in APC. We’re going to give you men who know about infrastructure, not only roads. We’re going to give you a governor that will continue from where I stopped.
”APGA’s government has punished the people of the state and people of Igbo land because they’re a stumbling block from getting Anambra to join the national grid of power.
”Some of us have been fighting them, but this fight now is fight-to-finish. They have to clear and leave us to go and join the national grid and take the Igbo to mainstream national politics.”
However, APGA National Chairman said Ngige was just jealous that Obiano had taken the state to an enviable height.
He added: ”This is jealousy limited. What is wrong with a governor creating time out of his busy schedule to cool off after working hard to deliver democracy dividends to his people?
”Is it not said: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy?” Let me ask: Which one is better: taking a photo with your pet dog or sleeping with people’s wives – which is the pastime of some of our loud-mouthed and green-eyed politicians?
”What about those that do terrible things kept out of the public glare. But Willie Obiano is real and altruistic.