NATIONAL Vice Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), South-South, Mr Emmanuel Ogidi, said “God’s Will’’ prevailed in the Supreme Court’s judgement that declared PDP winner of the general elections in Zamfara.

He told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja that the Governor-elect, Mr Bello Mutawalle and elected members of federal and state legislatures should, therefore, carry out their duties with the fear of God.

The Supreme Court had, in a judgement on Thursday, declared that all All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates in the elections in Zamfara were ineligible because the party did not conduct any recognised primary election in the state.

Consequently, the court directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare the political party with the next highest votes as winner of the polls in the state.

Ogidi said that the new set of leaders of the state needed the support and prayers of everyone, given the level of insecurity in the state.

He advised the governor-elect to learn from the mistakes of his predecessor and not to make Abuja his home “but stay with the people that voted him in’’.

Ogidi also urged all those who would assume political offices in the emerging governments across the country to lead with the fear of God “and drop personal interests for the good of all Nigerians’’.

He called on the Federal Government to particularly prioritise the issue of insecurity across the country and address it.

According to him, no matter how good the plans for development are, if security of lives and property is not assured, there will be no development.

Ogidi assured that governors in the South-South would improve the standard of living of the people, but could not guarantee total safety as they did not have security forces under their control.

He called for the establishment of State Police, and urged critics of the initiative to concentrate on the envisaged positive impact, not the negative.

He pointed out that states and communities had long been organising and financing vigilantes groups to support the security agencies.

The party chieftain said that quite often resolutions of security meetings in the states were not implemented “if directive from Abuja says otherwise’’.

“Governors buy most of the operational vehicles for the police in their states, but somebody in Abuja dictates how they should be used in the states,’’ he said.

Ogidi prayed God to help Nigeria to remain united, saying that there was brighter future when the country remained a single entity.

He said that agents of the underworld were fighting to divide the country, but that they would not succeed.

On the leadership of the in-coming 9th National Assembly, Ogidi said that involvement of external forces in determining the leadership of the legislature was normal in a democratic system.

He, however, added that “at the end of the day, the legislators will make the final decision when they go into the hallow chambers’’. (NAN)

– May 28, 2019 @ 18:25 GMT |