By Anayo Okoli

UMUAHIA—Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has told the people of Abia State that his mission in government was to uplift their living standard.

Okezie Ikpeazu

Addressing the people on the occasion to mark the 24thanniversary of the creation of the State, Governor Ikpeazu said he would do this by improving on the quality of governance, driving a new innovation and creating new opportunities for the citizenry through a total overhaul of the public service system.

In a state wide radio broadcast, the governor commended the people for their sacrifice and support in nurturing and growing the state to its current level of development.

Also, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Mr. Martins Azubuike has commended Abia people for their interest in the effort to develop the State, and urged them to remain stead fast.

Azubuike called for support for the administration of Governor Ikpeazu, and expresses hope that he would take the state to a higher height even as he expressed satisfaction with the projects already embarked on by the governor to move to develop the state.

Governor Ikpeazu also commended Abia people for “demonstrating an unflinching faith and belief in the state even in the face of daunting challenges”, saying that the progress recorded by the state in its 24 years of existence would not have been possible without the devotion and commitment of the citizenry towards the vision of the state.

The governor further applauded the founding fathers of the state, both the dead and the living, who fought doggedly for the creation of the state out of the old Imo State in 1991, praying that “history shall remember them for their patriotism and visionary leadership” and described them “as men of good conscience”.

According to Ikpeazu, the founding father envisioned a state that would be guided by the principles of justice and equity as enshrined   in the Abia Charter of Equity, pointing out that “this dream must be kept aflame and the labour of our heroes sustained”.

In his own message to mark the occasion, the Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the April general election in the state, Dr. Alex Otti felicitated with the people and urged them to devote the period of the celebration to pray for the emancipation of the state from the stranglehold of the political slave masters, who, he said, had in the last 16 years, plundered the fortunes of the state, leaving the people more impoverished than they met them.