Wife of Ondo State Governor, Mrs. Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, joined the senatorial race in her Imo home state, seeking to fly the ticket of the All Progressives Congress, APC , to contest the Imo East Senatorial District seat in next year’s election.
She disclosed her intention during an interaction with members of the Correspondents’ Chapel of Nigeria Union of Journalists, Imo Council, on Friday, in Owerri.
Moved by the alleged neglect of the senatorial district by successive administrations and legislators she said that the level of neglect has made the district remote and helpless, despite the rapid urbanisation of other parts of the state.
Decrying the poor refuse disposal system in the area and the high number of preventable deaths, especially among women, occasioned by the lack of standard medical facilities in the senatorial district, she said that she had never lost touch with her biological birthplace in the last 40 years that she had gotten married, as she was conversant with developments at home.
Her words: “I have a deep interest in human capital development and a deep-seated desire to improve the lives of my people from Imo. Leadership is not gender-specific.”
Noting that she had a greater chance to change the narrative in Imo East senatorial district as a daughter of Igbo, with Yoruba in-laws, to lobby for projects that would impact the lives of her people, she said: “I have demonstrated this ability to handle the position with the many development projects I had attracted to my community in the past.
“I have ensured that my development projects, as the wife of a sitting governor, are extended to my state of origin.
“I attracted the construction of a 10.5km road, worth N1.6 billion from Niger Delta Development Commission and it is currently under construction.
“I have also sponsored no fewer than 200 girls, with technological knowledge and a special focus on Information Communication Technology, among others,” she said.
Alleging that there was a lack of direction, compassion, and understanding presently to improve the lives of the people in the constituency, she solicited support to represent the people.
She further expressed her readiness to align with her party’s decision if a consensus candidate for the senatorial district was approved.
Earlier, the Chairman of the chapel, Mr. Chris Njoku, said that the interaction had become imperative, following the various initiatives of the governor’s wife which, he said, had improved the lives of the people.
“We noticed your good work and we pledge to continue the collaboration with you to ensure that your good initiatives, which have begun to materialise, will be expanded, even more, for the overall good of our people,” Njoku said.
Already, she has got the backing of some groups, including the Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL), which is canvassing support for her to realise her ambition.
In a statement in Owerri, the Imo State capital, COSEYL President General Goodluck Ibem said her ambition to represent her people at the Red Chambers “is borne out of her genuine concern and compassion for her people who trained and nurtured her in school before giving her out in marriage”.
He added: “It is only a good daughter of the soil who has the interest of her people at heart that will remember her place of birth. This bold step by our daughter has shown that she is not an efulefu (a child that has lost direction).
“Women of her kind are not easy to come by in a generation. She is a special women sent by God to be a blessing to her people and we are grateful to God for touching her to make herself available to serve humanity.
“As a woman who has the interest of her people at heart, despite being married in Ondo State, she attracted the construction of a 10.5-kilometre road worth N1.6 billion from Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and it is currently under construction. What a woman of good heart and virtue.”
