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Mrs Chidi Onyemelukwe, a female aspirant in the Nov. 6 governorship election in Anambra state has urged electorates to guard against monetary gains determining their voting choices.
Onyemelukwe who is contesting for the ticket of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said this in Awka on Monday.
She said voting for the right candidate without inducement would make them demand the full dividends of democracy from the people they had voted into power.
She said she was not intimidated by the number of aspirants and money bags in the race, explaining that she had what it took to win the race and put Anambra on the part of economic prosperity and higher welfare for the citizens.
She, however, decried the lack of adherence to provisions of Electoral Act which specified the maximum amount that should be spent on electioneering for various elective posts adding that violators risked disqualification.
“Campaign financing laws took care of that, no candidate can justifiably exceed the N200 million spelled out by the Electoral Act for vying for governorship.
“Doing so is sufficient grounds for disqualification, wealth is just one attribute of the race, they say Anambra has the highest concentration of millionaires and billionaires so it’s only natural that some of them aspire to govern the state,” she said.
Onyemelukwe who is the daughter of late Dr Alex Ekwueme, former Vice President of Nigeria (1979-1983) said Anambra needed restoration because people had experienced leadership, trust, fiscal, economic and infrastructure deficits.
She said if elected, she would get Anambra infrastructure working again, sustain and protect existing public infrastructure and public property as well as complete viable abandoned projects.
The aspirant said she would remove opacity in government finances and procurement processes by entrenching due process premised on accountability and transparency.
“We shall offer opportunities for our people to get affordable healthcare, good education, gainful employment and dividends of democracy and engage in gender mainstreaming at all levels,” she said.
Onyemelukwe who was the deputy governorship candidate of PDP in 2017 election, said Anambra was a PDP state and had what it took to coast home to victory on Nov.6.
According to her, PDP is in the race to win. I am in the race to win.
“The outcome of the Nov. 6 election barring anything untoward, will be in the hands of Anambra electorate and of course, in the hands of God,” she said.