10,000 Anambra youths oppose Obiano's second term bid

No fewer than 10,000 youths of Anambra State have resolved to frustrate the second term  bid of Governor Willie Obi­ano.

They said Obiano has failed woefully to create jobs for the teeming youths in the state and was selective in providing infrastructure for the communities.

The youths from Anam­bra North Senatorial Dis­trict, which is Obiano’s con­stituency, said that they would mobilise more youths in the state to ensure that the governor does not remain in the Government House be­yond 2017.

The youths, who gathered under the aegis of Omambala Indigenous Youth Foundation (OIYF), said that they decided to reject Obiano because he did not support their community when they fought against their Kogi State neighbours over the issues surrounding Orient Petroleum site at Enugu Otu Aguleri.

They also accused Obiano of failing to offer them jobs.

Speaking at their gath­ering in Oyi Local Govern­ment Area at the weekend, the Chairman of the Founda­tion, Comrade Simeon Okaf­or, explained that Omambala is made up of 34 communities in four local government are­as in Anambra North Senato­rial Zone.

He named the councils as Anambra East, Anambra West, Ayamelum and Oyi councils, and affirmed that Obiano has not executed any serious project in these com­munities or provided jobs for the youth - except for those of his hometown of Aguleri.

Okafor said that the choice was now left to Governor Obi­ano to continue to refuse them jobs and the provision of in­frastructure in their affected communities.

According to him, each of the 34 communities has qual­ified graduates who can serve in various capacities at the state and local government levels.

Okafor alleged that they went to Governor Obiano to provide them logistics support to visit the Attah Igala at Ode­ke in Ibaji Local Government Area of Kogi State to negotiate peace with the people over the lingering dispute between An­ambra and Kogi over the Ori­ent Petroleum site but he re­fused.

The youth leader said that it was another illustrious son of Omambala who gave them the money for the trip, noting that the crisis surrounding Orient Petroleum site was re­solved because of their visit to the palace of the Attah Igala.

He said: “We took a very big risk to visit Odeke. They nearly killed us but for the quick intervention of the el­ders who noticed that we came for peace and pleaded with their youths to spare our lives. Fortunately, our meet­ing with them yielded tremen­dous results because before that meeting, Odeke people had banned and chased all the Igbo from Odeke but af­ter that meeting they lifted the ban and accepted them back into their fold.”

He said that they regret­ted visiting the governor be­cause he may have thought that they came to beg him for money, pointing out that what they needed were jobs and not money to share.