Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano on Monday flagged off his second term governorship campaign in Awka with a promise to improve on the good works he already has on ground in his first tenure by turning excellence into habit.

Obiano, who urged the people not to allow the only Igbo party left in their care by the late Biafrain warlord, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu to die, said that the battle they are facing is already won.

Addressing a mammoth crowd of followers that gathered at Dr. Alex Ekwueme Square from morning till evening, the Governor said that for the good works he has on ground to be sustained, the people should be given another chance.

He said that he had in the past three-and-half years worked tirelessly to ensure that the condition which he met on ground in the state and that of its people were improved, and that given another chance, excellence would be a habit as he had already set the pace.

According to him, APGA has for the past 11 years impacted the state positively saying. “APGA was handed over to us by our late leader, Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu but the person it was handed over to by our leader ran away from the party.

“Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu had given us the mandate to keep the light of the party shining but the person jumped ship into an opposition party.

“Today is our own Pentecost day, as you receive the spirit of APGA today, we charge you to go out and propagate the message to the far ends of the state. On the election day, make sure you bring twenty people along to vote for APGA, with that no party will see our back.

“But as an Aguleri warrior, I am exhibiting the Aguleri in me, and am determined to keep APGA alive. We have defeated godfatherism, and we will defeat it again.”

The Governor, who was flanked by the National Chairman of the party, Victor Oye; the campaign DG, his wife, Ebelechukwu Obiano, the speaker of the state House of Assembly, Rita Maduagwu, Bianca Ojukwu, Dame Virgy Etiaba, Prof Charles Soludo, among other party faithful, while reeling out his achievements in the last three years to include security, agriculture, employment and increase of workers’ salaries, observed that if past leaders had adopted the strategy of letting all the communities to choose their project for government to finance it, the state would have been more developed.

Earlier in his speech, the former chairman of APGA and director general of Governor Obiano campaign organisation, Chief Victor Umeh commended the party faithful for turning out enmasse to show support for the governor saying that the large turnout of was a clear testimony of what the people want.

His words: “Any Anambra man who is not here is nowhere. The people have demonstrated in clear terms that Anambra is APGA and APGA is Anambra. It is left for the federal government and Nigeria to respect the wishes of Anambra people.

“We are by this crowd putting other political parties on notice that we are the party to beat. APGA is the peoples’ choice and we won’t allow the torch handed over to us to go off in our hands.

“Anambra State has become a success story because of APGA. Anybody that leaves APGA gets lost. We have by the turn out of crowd today out other political parties on notice.”

On her part, Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu, widow of the late leader of the party, expressed joy that a great number of the people who started the journey with her husband to propagate the APGA dreams were still with the party, but said that only the fake ones who never believed in the party’s slogan of being their neighbours keepers had left.

“When I got to this place today, I felt like shedding tears on seeing the mammoth crowd that gathered here today. It shows that the house that Odumegwu-Ojukwu left behind is still intact with the people that built the house except for a few.

“Anybody who leaves his brothers behind, it will not be good for them. APGA is the only party that keeps the Bible rule of ‘Be Your Brother’s keeper’. We don’t have the attitude of leaving our own behind.”

Meanwhile, former Central Bank Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, who graced the rally adorning APGA dress, reiterated his support for the Governor, saying: “You can’t change a winning team.”

He said Obiano was the only one among the pack of contestants who has a clear map of how to develop the state, and that was why he refused to contest for the election despite pressure on him to do so.

“Others are either contesting for reason of vengeance, vendetta or to play the spoiler game, while others are simply banking on rigging to win the election.”

Update news