Ahead of the November 11, 2023 governorship election in Imo State, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Samuel Anyanwu, has declared that he would create 23,000 job opportunities in his first 100 days in office if elected as governor of the state.
This is as he revealed that the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and immediate-past Rivers State governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, influenced his emergence as the PDP national secretary.
Anyanwu spoke on Monday in Port Harcourt during a chat with journalists after meeting with traders of Igbo extraction at the popular Ikoku Spare Parts Market in the Rivers State capital.
He decried the level of insecurity in the entire South-East geopolitical zone and particularly Imo State, saying that over 40 hotels operating in the state have been forced to close down.
The PDP governorship candidate said: “The former governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, is my friend. He was part of the people who enabled my emergence as the National Secretary of the PDP.
“In the next few days, Imo State will wear a new look. Imo State will work. Come to Rivers State, you can see physical developmental infrastructure, Rivers State is an oil producing state just like Imo State, but where are the infrastructure in Imo State from oil derivatives? Imo State gets an allocation of over N5billion every month and there is nothing to show for it.
“Over 2,000 youths have been killed in Imo State, in Orsu LGA, Oru East LGA young men are being killed every day in the name of IPOB and ESN. Every young boy is being killed there and tagged IPOB and ESN.
“From 15th January, when I am sworn in, I will live in Imo State to solve the problem of Imo State. Within six months, I will conduct LGA election, people will be employed.
“I will give amnesty to our brothers in the bush, I will dialogue with them and reinteragte them into the society. That is what Late Yar’adua did in Niger Delta. You don’t use bombings to fight crime, you use dialogue and peace.”
Anyanwu lamented non-conduct LGA election in Imo State for the past eight years, including lack of employment for the people, noting that the last medical doctors in Imo were employed in 2009.
Also speaking, the National President of Ikoku Spare Parts Dealers, Mr Festus Onyekwe, assured that Ikoku Spare Parts Dealers will mobilise enmasse to vote for the PDP candidate next Saturday.
Onyekwe expressed the support of Motor Spare Part dealers and Imo Citizens in Rivers State for the Imo governorship candidate of PDP, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, citing his leadership qualities and transformational agenda.
