The governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Barr. Kelechi Anosike, has said that the distinguishing factor between him and other candidates in other political parties is that he is a welfarist who is come to make Abians live fulfilled and enjoyable lives.
Anosike, who said that he has a strong agricultural and industrial vision for Abia State, stressed that his proposed agricultural programme “Operation Feed Abia” (OFA) has the agricultural ideologies of Dr Michael Okpara written all over it.
“A man is substantially what he’s exposed to, which includes his trainings and associations with his heart at the centre of it all. When a good man gets power, power then becomes good. When a wicked man gets power, power becomes wicked. Power is like money, as money always takes the character of the holder.
“So, the difference between me and every other person is that I’m a welfarist. I believe in the welfare of everyone. Nobody around me suffers. I don’t take what belongs to anybody. That’s why I developed a welfarist philosophy. I owe no man what’s due to him,” he said.
Speaking further on transparency, Anosike said, “If you’re a worker and the rule says this is what is due to you, you must get it because that’s what’s due to you. If the rule specified the retirement age of workers, as a welfarist, I cannot retire them before their time. I’m a welfarist, and I will run a government that cares for everyone.”
According to him, “A welfarist will always humanise policies. A welfarist doesn’t just make policies to ban things; he considers available alternatives to whatever he wants to ban so that the effects will not be disastrous. A welfarist thinks of people while making policies.”
He said that as a welfarist, he assesses development through the living standards of the people, adding that in his own view, it is the people first, and then Abia always.
“You cannot please the people at the detriment of Abia, nor can you please Abia as a name at the detriment of the people who own that name. You must marry the two so that no one suffers.”
Anosike said that governance should not be measured by bricks and mortar, stressing that inasmuch as infrastructure is good, the true measurement of governance is the people because “they are the ones you’re building the infrastructure for”.
“They need to be alive to enjoy whatever you’re building. A welfarist believes in the overall and holistic development of the state. You don’t just look at one sector and key in. These are the major differences that caught the attention of my party members, and when the campaign starts, I’ll tell Abians that a welfarist has come to do better.
“I admit that there are some pockets of development, roads here and there, but I’m saying it’s not enough and not commensurate with the amount of money coming to Abia. This state is not poor, but it’s poorly managed.”
Anosike, who described his proposed Operation Feed Abia as a complete ‘back to farm-state policy’ that cannot be toyed with if he is elected governor, said that it is not an accident that his philosophy resonates with what Dr Okpara believed in and did.
The international lawyer said that Okpara’s reputation in agriculture and industries are part of the missions he is coming to accomplish, stressing that if gotten correctly, hunger will be a thing of the past.
Speaking more about the former premier of the Eastern Region, Anosike said, “If you check industries built under him within a short period of time, you’ll discover that some of our governors are joking.”
Speaking further, he said, “The revamping, revitalisation, and retrofitting of all the farm settlements here are in line with his vision. I’m sure that wherever he is, he’ll be happy to see where we’re trying to go and will always ask us to go further into industries because he built many.
“In OFA, everybody in leadership, including the governor and all citizens, will have a farm no matter how small. Under my administration, nobody is permitted to go to bed without food.
“Let the problem be that we’ve flooded the market with so much farm produce that the prices have come so low that the farmers cannot make a profit anymore.
“Then, that’s where we’ll show our skills in management because that’s where the commodity board that’ll be introduced will not come in, buy the produce, store it and wait for the appropriate time to reintroduce it to the market while the farmers make their due profit without regret.
“It’s achievable. As it stands now, most of our farm produce cannot be exported out just as you have in Ghana because of over-chemicalisation. They use too much fertiliser. The farmers assume that the more fertiliser they pour, the more yield. That’s wrong, and they’re doing so because nobody is teaching them.
“Years back, we used to have those that taught the farmers about all these and the best ways of applying them. We’ll bring them back to teach our people the best way to farm. Abia will start exporting food products within the first year. We came prepared, and everything we are saying is documented.”
