An aspirant in the forthcoming Anambra State governorship election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the party’s former National Auditor, Dr George Moghalu, has advocated the use of dialogue and negotiation to restore peace and order to the Southeast region of Nigeria and the country at large.
Dr George Moghalu stated this while briefing journalists after he returned his Expression of Interest and Nomination form to the party secretariat.
Dr Moghalu expressed concerns about the security situation in the Southeast given the forthcoming Anambra governorship election primaries and campaigns.
He said every possible platform of negotiation such as the National Assembly, Traditional structures and Unions have to be explored to restore peace and order to the entire country.
“To be honest with you I feel worried. I feel concerned, like any critical stakeholder in the Nigeria project, I feel worried especially as it concerns my zone in the South-East because these people that are killed are people’s children some of them are people husbands.
“It is a very sad situation if you look at history every disagreement, every quarrel every war has never ended on a battlefield it usually ends on the negotiating table and the question I keep asking why do we have to war first before join doing? Why can’t we jump that aspect of the worrying, that aspect of the fighting, that aspect of disagreements and go straight to the negotiating table and then negotiate our issues?
“There are many platforms that we can take advantage of the national assembly were all elected to represent all the zones. Can’t we use that platform? There are interstate union, local government union, there are town union everywhere. These are the kind of platforms that are used in the past and we can still use them again. The traditional institutions are all available, so there are platforms we can use to talk, there are a lot of issues that create great concern,” Dr Moghalu said.
Dr Moghalu noted that poverty is a contributing factor to insecurity hence the need for the government to create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.
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He added that trade and skills acquisition need to be added to school curricula to make graduates have the skills to start businesses and be employable as well.
Anambra Election
Speaking on the APC Anambra governorship primaries, Dr Moghalu said APC stands a chance of winning if there’s consensus.
“The winning Anambra State Governorship election will require the consensus of the political elites across party lines, so for the party to win the election we have to generate this consensus and we have to do that only with a candidate that is generally acceptable.
“If I must be honest with you I will wish there is consensus and that consensus will be me but the truth about it is that, I know a good number has collected forms and I know a good number has returned their forms but that is not to say that there is still no room for discussion.
“In politics, 24 hours is a long time I’m sure that consultations will still take place. People will look at the possibility of working together but the important thing here is that as I always said every person is qualified to be governor so I respect that belief as we go along,” Moghalu said.
Also speaking on the possibility of APC winning Anambra State which has never happened before, he said the party stands a chance considering its performance in the last governorship election.
“Why won’t they support us? And when people keep saying APC is not popular in Anambra, in 2017 election we came second. We beat PDP in that election. So what happened? Is it demons that voted for us?
“The same Anambra people are there. When you marry two husbands, ask women they will tell you. You will be in a position to compare which one is better. Like I keep saying it. Anambra people have married two husbands. And the third one is waiting which is APC.
“And we are asking them to marry us this time so that they will be in a position to compare the first, second and this husband that is coming. Because we are coming with a commitment, determination to change the narrative,” Moghalu said.
Zainab Sa’id
