My dear sisters and brothers of the All Progressive Congress in Imo State, I come to you with conviction and a great sense of responsibility.
First, let me commend all my sisters and brothers who have volunteered to represent us in elective offices at the various levels of government – Senate, House of Representatives, and Imo House of Assembly. Apart from positive self assessment, it takes gumption, a sense of sacrifice, resources and energy to run for office.
I congratulate all those who have been screened and found qualified to compete for our party’s tickets. What that means is that each person cleared has met the minimum standard required to run in each position.
In whatever way the primaries are conducted, I want to appeal to our party to look beyond qualifications and credentials. I respectfully ask the APC to reward those who have paid their dues for years in the growth of our party.
Let me share with you some of what is happening. Some of our well healed sisters and brothers have come to understand that our party may not reward a history of hard work and contributions to the party. So they keep their funds and their sanity until the time for primaries. Then they breeze in from oshimiri, deploy their funds and grab tickets.
Ultimately this will not serve our party well in the long run. We have to rethink our reward system and send a message to our members that a long time of commitment and contributions to the party will not be in vain.
I wish all those who have long histories of helping the party grow, all the best in the primaries. May the powers that be – our leaders and/or the members – reward those who have paid their dues!
For those of us from Aboh Mbaise, let it be a new dawn.
Ugorji Okechukwu Ugorji
*Odoziobodo Mbaise*
*Acme Leader, Iheatu Political Action Committee.
