Anambra doctors to screen guber aspirants

The Nigerian Medical Association, Anambra State chapter, on Tuesday said it would participate actively in the process that would produce the next governor of the state on November 18.

It said the time when the elite stood aloof and allowed the barely educated to foist leaders on the people of the state had passed.

The Chairman of the NMA in Anambra State, Dr. Jude-Kennedy Emejulu, stated this at a press conference at the association’s secretariat in Awka.

For this reason, the group said it had set up a committee called ‘Governorship Public Square Interaction’, headed by Dr. Jide Onyekwelu, to screen the governorship aspirants in the state.

Emejulu said the NMA was set to increase its socio-political relevance in the state and increase the visibility of the group in governance.

He said the NMA had, in the previous governorship elections, organised a political debate for aspirants but that this time it would go beyond debate.

Speaking, Onyekwelu, who gave an overview of the political development in the state since its creation, said the state had had a chequered history.He said, “The interaction we are putting together is expected to actualise attitudinal change among the leaders and the followers because the major problem of Nigeria in general, Anambra State inclusive, is the failure on the part of the leaders and the followers.”

He said, “Our elections were not won through the ballot but at the court of law. This has brought about voters’ apathy and vote sale. The voters believe their votes do not count and they easily fall to the temptation of selling to politicians.

“The politician, when he ‘wins’, has the preoccupation of recouping his expenses first before considering the welfare of the people. Whether the people vote or not, the court uses one technicality or the other to declare a candidate the winner.”