The Commissioner for Information, Abia State, Mr. John Kalu, has tasked the opposition parties in the state to get set for the 2019 general election, saying the ruling Peoples Democratic Party is ready for the impending battle.
Kalu threw the challenge when the Executive Committee members of the Correspondents’ Chapel, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Abia State council, paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Umuahia, the state capital.
He said Governor Okezie Ikpeazu had done so much in his about three years in office that the people could not but “wholeheartedly renew his tenancy at the Government House for him to continue with the stride.”
“My appeal to the people is, before casting their ballot, let them cast their minds back to what the administration has been able to achieve with the resources available to it and then decide on what to do,” he added.
According to him, the administration is not averse to constructive criticisms with verifiable facts and figures, and would welcome them with open hands to move the state in the right and purposeful direction.
The information commissioner said one of the major challenges facing the administration was the ‘under-reporting’ of its achievements by the media and, therefore, solicited the support of the chapel in informing the public about them.
“Not much is being read or heard about the massive road projects, infrastructure development, agricultural revolution, education programmes, and campaign for Made-in-Aba products, among others,” he lamented.
Kalu added that, through foreign interventions, the administration had improved on the health care delivery service of the state and other critical sectors of its economy to add value to the lives of the people.
“For the people and the outside world to be abreast of the achievements, we certainly cannot do without you. Hence, I am using this forum to solicit your cooperation in this regard,” he noted.
The Chairman of the Chapel, Mr. Emmanuel Ugwu, had earlier accused the administration of closing its doors to the press, adding that not much of its programmes were known to the members.
Ugwu said, “We are in an election year. It will not be good for the administration if all it has been recording are not known to the public. What will it campaign with, if they are ignorant of such programmes?”
Similarly, the Vice-Chairman of the chapel, Mr. Kalu Eziyi, assured the commissioner of the members’ unbiased reportage of the administration, saying they
were at the service of both the government and the opposition.