A 35-year-old medical practitioner and Information and Technology expert based in California, USA, Ugochukwu Ede, has won the Enugu State governorship primary of the Young Progressives Party ahead of the 2023 general election.
Ede emerged the winner of the governorship primary held at Exclusive Serene Hotel, New Haven, on Saturday after polling a total of 17 votes.
The Chairman of YPP Enugu State Governorship Primary Election Committee, Dr Frank Nweke, while announcing the result of the election, said that 17 delegates one each from the 17 local government areas of the state participated in the election.
He said, “The party adopted option A4 in the conduct of the primary. We have one aspirant who contested for the governorship ticket of our party. The delegates queued behind the aspirant and after counting, he polled a total of 17 votes to emerge the winner of the primary.
“By the power conferred on me I, Dr Frank Nweke, Chairman of YPP Enugu State governorship primary election held today, Saturday, June 4, 2022, hereby declare Mr Ugochukwu Bethel Ede as the governorship candidate of YPP, having scored the highest votes in the primary election and hereby returned elected.”
In his acceptance speech, the YPP guber candidate thanked the delegates for entrusting the party’s gubernatorial mandate to him and promised not to disappoint them.
Edeh said that his administration would focus on the education sector, with a view to restoring the confidence of the young people, which he admitted is declining to an abysmal level.
He attributed that development to the lack of job opportunities for the graduates, who strived to train themselves in education, noting that education would be his administration’s priority.
The US-trained medical practitioner hinted that the vision of turning Enugu State into a technological state would remain a mirage, if the young population of the state are uneducated, adding that he intends to make Enugu state a technology hub in the South-East zone.
According to him, making the state a technology hub would make it possible 1 the citizens to come up with various innovations that would make the state to compete with other technology hubs in the world.
On industrialisation, Edeh stated that his government would work towards industrialising the state, by ensuring that industry is established in all the 17 Local Government Areas, with a view of creating jobs for the teeming unemployed population.