In Anambra, APGA ticket is halfway to electoral victory – Sir Vin Dike

By Ifeizu Joe

The candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for Nnewi North, Nnewi South, Ekwusigo federal constituency for the House of Representatives, Sir Vin Dike has said that winning the ticket of the party is halfway to victory in the main election.

Dike who was recently declared the winner of the APGA ticket in the area told journalists that the APGA usually fields very highly qualified and popular aspirants, and that emerging as flag bearers of the party keeps them miles ahead in general elections.

In an interview with journalists, Dike who is the president general of Oraifite community and chairman of Anambra State Town Unions Council (ASTUC), a position which makde him the PG of all the PGs on the 179 communities in the state also thanked his supporters for voting for him massively, while praising the party for the whole process which he described as very credible.

Dike said: “The truth is that APGA has established itself in Anambra State and you and I know this. If you have the ticket of the APGA, you will agree with me that you are miles ahead of your opponents.

“That is why I can not worry much about the other political parties because in APGA, we know that the best aspirants are fielded, and when you emerge from their primary election, you will agree with me that the main election is easier. All the other parties know so, and they look up to us, and their candidates envy us who hold APGA tickets. So you will agree with me that APGA is the party to beat. When you’re APGA’s candidate, you know you’re the best and can compete with the best anywhere else.”

He promised to be magnanimous in his victory against those who contested against him for the ticket of the party.

“My message to my co-aspirants is that this is a ticket that is meant for just one person, all of them who contested against me are eminently qualified, but it is one person at a time. I have won today, tomorrow it may be them. So I want to urge them to join us to the main election and let us win together.

“If any of my co-aspirants had defeated me, I would have conceded to them, so I want to urge them to join hands with us in the election. Let us all join hands a pursue a bigger goal. We need to join forces together to achieve the goal that we need.”

Speaking on the government of Prof Chukwuma Soludo and the relationship with the communities, Dike praised the governor for operationalizing the notion of communities being the fourth tier of government in Anambra State, saying that all that needs to be done is just having the State House of Assembly pass it into law and having it gazetted.

He said: “Today, I can tell you that communities play major roles in both security and projects across the state. Communities articulate their needs and have them included in the budget for implementation. Today, President General of communities are seen as Chief Security Officers of their various domains.

“I can tell you that today, there is a kind of stipend that comes from the state government to all eligible communities in the state as security support which strengthens their security. You may argue that the communities are not of same size, so giving them a unilateral N1million is not justified, but nature has balanced out things like this because the communities that are considered large also have a way they fund themselves too. What is more important is that it helps to support the communities to secure themselves.”

Speaking on his aspiration to the National Assembly, the US based consultant who currently reside in his community, Oraifite said he has had a longing to represent his people and had contested for the same seat before without luck.

He stated that his aspiration this time is to form a synergy with the state governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo and also ensure development in the state and the various communities that make up the state.