have vowed to work towards the re-election of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.
This came as the community basks in the euphoria of celebration after surviving 20 years of crisis and legal tussle, which stalled development in the area.
Speaking while addressing a press conference in Enugu on Tuesday, the newly elected President-General (PG) of Ogugu Progressive Union General Assembly (OPUGA), Chief Paulinus Obiora Ofido stated that the community was now poised to recover lost grounds in terms of development projects through partnerships with government and communal efforts.
While commending the leadership drive of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, he said the community would ensure his re-election in 2019.
He said, “the State government brought peace to my community. We are therefore grateful to the Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.
“The governor is also doing extremely well in terms of developmental projects in the state.
“For that reason, we shall remain supportive of this administration and will massively vote Governor Ugwuanyi for second term come 2019.”
Ofido explained that through the intervention of well meaning indigenes of the community as well as the state government through the
Ministry of Rural Development headed by Ozo Gab Onuzurike, all the
court cases numbering nine at a time, were resolved with an election
that produced the new executive headed by him.
He said that with the resolution of the Town Union squabbles that
created two factions before now, the community would now work towards
the election of a new traditional ruler for the community, a dispute
that was also in court.
Ofido, who lamented the impact of the crisis that enveloped the community added: “It is equally undisputable that the finance of the community was wasted on litigations over these crisis.
“The last court case between OPUGA and some Ogugu people lasted for six years and at the end, the court asked us to go home and resolve our problems.
“We, therefore, wasted our money, time and efforts for all those years.
Police, Court workers and lawyers fed fat on Oguge money as a result
of this quagmire.
“Our collective sensibilities were insulted by the court. They used our money to train their children in schools, develop their areas, apart from these financial loses, relationship between brothers, sisters and friends have been severed by those crises.
“In some families, members no longer come together to hold family meetings because they are afraid of each other. Development in the town was stalled and security generally collapsed.
“While other towns around us are moving forward, Ogugu is stagnant as it is engulfed in court cases, which have retarded our development as a town.”
Explaining that it was time for the community to work together again, the Town Union President General listed his priority to include working to ensure full restoration of peace by healing all wounds, instituting quarterly inter-denominational church service to seek God’s face, rehabilitation of existing borehole and reticulation of water to all parts of the community, renovation of the community secondary school, and engagement of youths in useful projects, including floating of a football team to be registered with the state league.
“We shall drive the think-home philosophy for our people to site industries at home to engage our youths; some of my people we consulted both within and outside the shores of Nigeria are already responding.
“Also, we have spoken to our women and the two factions have agreed to come together and we will soon conduct elections to bring them together,” he said.
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