…Adopt Power Sharing Formula
Traditional, political and religious leaders from Enugu East local government area of Enugu state at the weekend unanimously endorsed Pastor Beloved-Dan Anike as consensus candidate for the forthcoming council poll in the state.
The royal fathers, clergymen and representatives of various political parties and town Unions, also adopted a sharing formula for power rotation among different sections of the local government as well as the formation of Nike Indigenous Peoples Assembly (NIPA) as a special purpose vehicle for the socioeconomic, political and cultural development and unification of Nike Land.
A five man committee headed by a former Secretary to the State Government and also former Chief of Staff, Sir Clement Okwor, which was earlier set up to articulate the power rotation formula and development initiative for the local government, had submitted its report during the meeting, and it was adopted by the leaders.
The leaders who met at the Legislature Chambers of Enugu East Local Government Area headquarters, Nkwo Nike, declared that the endorsement of Pastor Beloved-Dan Anike, was non-partisan as it was purely based on his antecedents as the man best qualified to execute specific assignments in unifying different interests in the council at this point in time.
The leaders prayed for Pastor Anike and charged him to work for all sections of the council as his endorsement cuts across all political parties and cultural interests.
His Royal Highness, Igwe Emmanuel Ugwu, the traditional ruler of Ibagwa Nike kingdom, who also doubles as Chairman of Enugu East Local Government Traditional Rulers Council and the Crown Mayor of Nike, expressed gratitude to God that the ‘New Moon in Nike land’ which he said was symbolized by the new found peace, unity and common purpose to work together, was begining to blossom in the land.
He said that the gathering of the leaders was the first of its kind since the history of Nike land, and signals better things to come.
“Our adoption of Beloved-Dan Anike today is not because of his party, what we did is for him to understand that one, we are apolitical; two, that it is no longer his party that nominated or elected him as their candidate.
“And that prior to the election, he should know that Nike people, the royal fathers, the presidents-general of each communities, and political leaders from various parties agreed because of his pedigree to be the one to carry this flag of unity,” Igwe Ugwu, also the Patron, Peace Land University, Enugu, said.
The royal father made it clear that since no other political party nor candidate had formerly approached them other than Anike, “We decided that since the Governor of Enugu state being the leader of PDP has chosen somebody from his party as the candidate, somebody of pedigree, somebody with good antecedents, somebody that we know very well, somebody that we know will unify all interests in Nike land, we endorsed and prayed for him.”
On the adoption of power rotation formula, HRH Ugwu, who is also the Patron of Wilmington Metropolitan University Malaysia, said, “We had earlier presented our position before the Assembly and the Assembly agreed that as Royal fathers that we should form a Committee to look into what we gave to them and the Committee after deliberations, brought it back, they did not remove or add anything, rather they formated it in a legal method, that’s what they did and we all adopted it today.”
Reacting to his endorsement, Beloved-Dan Anike thanked the people and promised never to disappoint the people and Nike land.
“Nike will be a place to rejoice. I thank those that came together and thought of how to make it better for Nike people.
“This is a serious assignment but you have prayed that God will grant me wisdom, clarity, beautiful ideas and the scripture said that God will make everything beautiful at His own time.
“I believe this is not about Beloved-Dan but about God deciding that Nike will be beautiful and I will be there as the driver. My promise is that we will not disappoint you. It’s not only about party, the party has nominated us but the people have confirmed us. It has not happened this way.
“This is the first time and that’s why I said it’s an assignment but we will be there to set things in order, the star shall shine like star, the moon like moon and the sun like sun. We’ll set things in order and lay a new foundation for Nike that in the next 50 years that Nike will be visible in Enugu, Nigeria and anywhere in the world.”
Anike stated that since the state governor, Dr. Peter Mbah vowed to grow the GDP of the state from $4 billion to $30 billion, he himself would grow the GDP of Enugu East LGA to $3 billion noting that the local government constitutes 10 percent of the state’s population.
“In infrastructural development, we are lucky that we have an innovative governor, Dr Peter Mbah, who is already working the talk and the promises.
“It’s going to be easy, our own is to key and plug in on his Infrastructural agenda and make sure we rise to his tempo. What is happening in Enugu now is that Enugu has been turned to a construction site.”
The meeting was attended by many dignitaries including, HRH Igwe (Barr) Julius Nnaji of Nike Uno; HRM Igwe (Dr.) Titus Okolo of Amorji Nike; HRH Igwe Felix Ugwu, Secretary of the Traditional Rulers Council (Enugu East LGA), representatives of various autonomous communities, Town Union Presidents General, House of Assembly members, former Secretary to the State Government, former House of Assembly members, former Commissioners, former Local Government Chairmen, political leaders and other notable stakeholders. Ends
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