Aba NBA guber debate: Lawyers praise PPA’s candidate

The Progressive Peo­ple’s Alliance, (PPA) governorship candi­date in Abia State, Sir Chikwe Udensi has assured that his administration, if elected, would restructure the judiciary as well as pro­vide alternative adjudication centres for expeditious deliv­ery of justice.

He made the pledge in Aba, during a town hall meet­ing boycotted by the People’s Democratic Party, (PDP) can­didate, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu and his All Progressive People’s Alliance, (APGA) counter­part, Dr. Alex Otti, organised by the Nigerian Bar Asso­ciation, (NBA) Aba branch, to enable gubernatorial candi­dates interact with the people of Abia State.

Udensi, who suspected that the other candidates boycot­ted the all-important-meeting to avoid facing another hu­miliation from him after he outclassed them in previous debates, also said that his administration would break away a little from the statutory arrangement whereby the gov­ernor of a state solely appoints the Chief Judge, adding that the appointment will be made on NBA’s recommendation.

He decried the industrial action embarked upon by NBA in Abia State which he blamed on the state govern­ment’s ineptitude, saying that his administration, if elected, will ensure that the judiciary enjoys financial autonomy to enable it function without in­terference from the executive arm of government.

Udensi further assured that under his watch as Abia State Governor, community policing will be established to ensure adequate and effective security in the state.

“Having served the Ni­gerian Police as a security consultant for years now, I understand security and how to properly set the community policing up to maximize the security challenges of the 21st century.

“When community policing is mentioned, people seem to misunderstand the concept, because of how some states have done in the past using outlawed vigilance groups and miscreants.

“But I will set up a commu­nity policing outfit comprising retired judges, officers and other responsible members of the society to sanitise the communities because the peo­ple know where and who the criminals are,” Udensi said.

He said it was shameful that Abia State government whose monthly allocations both from the federation ac­count and Internally Generat­ed Revenue, (IGR) amount to well over N10 billion cannot pay a monthly wage bill that is less than N1 billion promptly.