ACN promises free education, unfolds manifesto in Imo, Jigawa

TUESDAY, 01 MARCH 2011 00:00 FROM JOHN AKUBO (DUTSE) AND CHARLES OGUGBUAJA (OWERRI) NEWS - NATIONAL

Wants INEC to delist Zinox

AHEAD of the April polls, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has promised free and compulsory education at all levels for every Nigerian citizen of school age if voted into power.

Meanwhile, the Imo State chapter of the ACN yesterday in Owerri, unveiled its party’s manifesto with a firm promise to introduce free education in the state if elected into power.

Also, the party in the state has called on the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, to delist ZINOX Technologies because the company’s chief executive, Chief Leo Stan Eke, donated N1 million in last Thursday’s fund raising for presidential and Imo State governorship candidates under the platform of the PDP.

Former Governor of Lagos State, Ahmed Bola Tinubu disclosed this yesterday at the flag off of the Northwest Presidential campaign at the Aminu Kano Triangle in Dutse , Jigawa State capital.

He said education was a necessity because it is the bedrock of civilisation, adding that the party would ensure that security outfits in the country were repositioned through a well planned remuneration package that would discourage them from collecting bribes.

He said it was dangerous to give peanuts to the police because such an action would be counter-productive at the end.

Tinubu stressed that the ACN would not allow the PDP any breathing space to rig the April polls as had been the case since 1999, adding that the party had remained undaunted despite the intimidation unleashed by the ruling party on the opposition.

He said the party had come to Jigawa to sweep away the PDP and bring about the change necessary to give employment to over 20 million unemployed Nigerian youths.

The ACN chieftain pointed out that since Jigawa was an agrarian state, the farmers in the state would benefit from its programme that will give them subsidies and improved implements that will increase their yield and put more money in their pockets.

In his welcome address, the chairman of the party in the state, Dr. Abubakar Hassan Fulata said history was being made in Jigawa with the event that carried along the message of generational change.

The party’s governorship candidate in the state, Senator Ifeanyi Ararume and the immediate past Governor Achike Udenwa, now the party’s Imo West senatorial candidate, promised that the party would adopt the system practised in other Southwest states where the party was in power, urging the people to give the party chance.

Ararume defended the promise to introduce free education, stating that funds would be sourced from various sectors of the economy. According to him, tertiary institutions’ fees would be reduced to the barest minimum.

Ararume said his government, if elected, would fight crime to a standstill, provide necessary basic infrastructure including “real access roads in all nooks and crannies of the state’s 27 councils.’’

The ACN’s governorship candidate promised to channel the present annual N5 billion security vote to meaningful areas of need in the state.

Speaking earlier, the state chairman of the party, Chief Charles Uba disclosed that the issue of unveiling manifesto was upper most, stressing that it would provide the direction of the party.

Briefing journalists in Owerri at the weekend jointly, Uba and the Director General of Senator Ararume campaign organization, Dr. Alex Obi, regretted that by that donation Eke had violated the Company and Allied Matters Act, stating that as an interested party who supplied some of the Direct Data Capture (DDC) machines, he should not identify with a party.

The duo also decried the alleged refusal of the State government to use the Owerri and Orlu Stadia for their public rallies and campaigns, accusing that each time they make applications to the appropriate authorities or ministries, audience will not be given by the relevant officials.

But the Special Adviser to Governor Ikedi Ohakim on Political Affairs, Chief Rex Anunobi, said that the ACN was crying foul, asking the officials of the party to make their impact felt in the state as the PDP was achieving.

Anunobi said it was a well known fact that Eke was a registered member of the PDP, stating that his membership and donation he made had nothing to do with the machines he supplied.

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