Media handlers of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) have been slammed for criticising Senator representing Anambra North, Stella Oduah’s visit to Okpoko, a town in Anambra State “that has for years, been rendered a forgotten slum by previous APGA governments.”
Gatekeepers News reports that a statement signed by Ezennia Nonso Chukwudebe, Director Media/Publicity for Oduah, commended the new Governor, Charles Soludo for making Okpoko a ‘priority concern’, rather than ‘attacking legislators’.
“It is not the responsibility of lawmakers to develop cities but that of the Executive,” the statement stressed, noting that Okpoko is an area that should “ordinarily receive developmental efforts from previous governments but the pictures coming out from that slum, tell a story of serial neglect and insensitivity on the part of the APGA led governments that have held sway for years.”
Read the full statement below:
Dear APGA media handlers currently dissipating energy lampooning the Distinguished Senator Stella Oduah for visiting Okpoko that has for years, been rendered a forgotten slum by previous APGA governments, you really need to calm down because the more you shout, the more the obviousness of your party’s previous serial misrule stares everyone in the face and infact, the greatest proof of APGA’s insensitivity and neglect of the area can be found in your current rants.
Let me first commend and appreciate our new Governor for making Okpoko a priority concern for it is indeed, a right step in the right direction that is far removed from the Executive insensitivity and neglect witnessed by previous APGA led governments.
Perhaps the public, especially residents of Okpoko, need to understand the issues on ground and I shall proceed to lay them bare
1. Okpoko is an area in Anambra North that should ordinarily recieve developmental efforts from previous governments but the pictures coming out from that slum, tell a story of serial neglect and insensitivity on the part of the APGA led governments that have held sway for years.
2. IT IS NOT the responsibility of lawmakers to develop cities but that of the Executive which APGA has held in its grip for years in Anambra State.
3. With the vastness of Okpoko’s landmass and population, it is heartbreaking that no APGA government has ever deemed it important to come to the plight of the residents and they have consistently witnessed the worst forms of neglect and insensitivity ever meted out on a city and it’s people by an Executive arm whose core responsibility is to assuage their pains.
4. A visit to Okpoko will shock many with its numerous dillapidated roads, poor drainages, zero amenities etc and when one considers that it’s residents not only pay taxes but the area also houses revenue generating markets, the sheer wickedness and insensitivity meted against this area by previous APGA governments is simply mind boggling.
5. Anambrarians and indeed, ndi Anambra North need to understand the marked difference between the Executive arm of government and the Legislative arm and they should know that the responsibility for abating all the ills and deprivation currently being witnessed at Okpoko rests squarely on the doorsteps of the Executive arm which incidentally, has been run by the same APGA political party whose media handlers are currently hurling baseless blame games at the Distinguished Senator who infact, is a Legislator whose primary responsibility is lawmaking.
The fact that she like every other Legislator, steps in to fill the gap left gaping by previous insensitive governments, does not mean that we should take our eyes away from the fact that Okpoko’s neglect is purely as a result of gross Executive neglect.
But we understand why Constituents and indeed, APGA media handlers entertain the erroneous view that Legislators are responsible for this abject neglect because with previous APGA governments repudiating their core responsibility, it is actually the only arm of Government that has consistently given the people a semblance of what Government is supposed to do in the lives of their people.
This explains why in Okpoko and other LGA’S, Senator Stella Oduah has facilitated the construction of roads, provided potable water in various areas, placed street lights in numerous streets, facilitated numerous skill acquisition training programs for it’s teeming youth, given scholarships, facilitated the recently approved and soon to be worked on dredging of the Sakamori area of Okpoko to not only stop water from flooding into residential homes but reclaim land for her proposed low cost housing scheme, and basically rendered assistance to the best of her ability and with the lean resources at her disposal which cannot by any stretch not the sane imagination be equated to the billions of Naira at the disposal of previous APGA governments and when one considers the sheer size of the area, it becomes glaring that it amounts to an impossible task to expect Legislators to perform magic when indeed, the state government that collects taxes and federal allocation in the billions, continues to look the other way.
6. With the dawn of a new era ushered in by the inauguration of a new Governor and with his current hands-on approach to governance which saw him recently visiting Okpoko, it is our fervent hope and prayers that this new government shall right the many wrongs inflicted on Okpoko by previous APGA led governments and we must commend Governor Prof. Charles Soludo for taking this bull by the horns whilst advising APGA media handlers to quit making a mockery of common sense for they should know that if at all blames should be traded, they only need to look the way of previous APGA governments rather than attacking legislators.
Finally, it is our hope and dream that Okpoko finally gets that long overdue attention and we shall be praying for our Governor to match words with deeds for if Okpoko succeeds, we all succeed.
