General Charles Airhiavbere (Rtd), a former executive director of finance and administration for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), declared on Sunday that Edo State has to break with the opposition and join the federal political party in order to advance rapidly.
He announced that he would be running for Edo State governor in 2024 on the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oredo ward 1 of Benin City. He released this data to the public.
General Airhiavbere declared that the state has to be taken back from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and given back to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the upcoming gubernatorial election. He went on to say that the state needs to uphold its image as the nation’s beating heart.
“Therefore, I ran for office in Edo State with the goal of bringing the people of Edo to a place of prosperity, safety, and infrastructure development. For this reason, five days after I retired in 2011, I became a federal member of the party.”
“I couldn’t have simply left the army and gone to Edo State, where I would have to deal with opposition.”
“I ran for office seven months after I retired. I faced off against eight other candidates and won the PDP party ticket. My programming were excellent, and it was communicated to them in a professional manner that these were the plans I had for the Edo people.
“I switched from the PDP to the APC in 2016 since they were the federal administration at the time. Since Edo State is the lifeblood of the country, I have long argued that it should remain within the jurisdiction of the federal government.
“You claim that the heartbeat of the country is in another party, but how can that be the case? That is not how it operates. And for that reason, we found out a few days ago. I had heard that people who came for the PDP function had to travel from Akoko-Edo to Benin for more than six hours.
“This cannot continue like way. We need to put our faith in the federal government and work towards giving this state back to the APC government. This is a necessary responsibility, which is why I have decided to enter the race.
“We have to be ready. I have personally experienced it for an opposition political party. I’ve been in government and opposition on both sides, so I know what it’s like,” Airhiavbere remarked.
In order to fulfil his political dream, Airhiavbere stated that the APC as a party must nominate its best candidate, whom he himself represents, and that he requires the backing of all party members.
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Some argue that zoning ought to exist and others disagree. You can only zone what you have, and you cannot offer your daughter a hand in marriage if you are a single parent.
“APC must present the best, and the best is in front of you since you cannot go and borrow.
“In 2020, we reached an agreement that resulted in the election of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu. For this reason, when I made the decision to come out, I stated that General Charles (GC) should take the lead. In 2016, we ran, and we backed Obaseki as the APC’s flag bearer.
He claimed that having shown himself in the NDDC, he can be trusted in leadership positions.
The nine Niger Delta states, for which the NDDC was established, now have a new direction thanks to changes made to the system during the last eight months of August, during which I served as the organization’s last immediate past executive director of finance and administration for eight months. As far as I’m aware, those eight months amounted to eight years of operations, during which time the policies for which the NDDC was established were reshaped and redesigned. I can confirm that we have done just that.
“I’d want to take this opportunity to offer you a summary of our accomplishments at NDDC. When I arrived, the NDDC had only been in operation for less than five months, and we still lacked approved budgets for 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Since we were leaving in August, the welfare of the staff became our top priority in order to ensure that we had a workforce to implement the new policies. Promotion exams were conducted for two years, letters of promotion were sent out, trainings were conducted to ensure that everyone was prepared, and the platform was fully strengthened to ensure that the policies would continue. “I want to bring that to Edo State, and I can guarantee you today that NDDC is a bride to foreign partners, to investment partners,” Airiavbere declared.
