Maduako Igbokwe l Tuesday, November 1, 2022
UMUAHIA, Abia, Nigeria – Jubilations in Aba as the Abia state governorship candidate of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) Prof Gregory Ibe flagged off his operation fill your bus tank for commercial Bus drivers in Aba.
The bus drivers are required to bring in their buses and fill in tanks for free without paying any kobo. Operation fill your bus exercise was designed to assist the poor bus drivers in the state to cushion the effect of high fuel price.
The exercise was greeted with high jubilation and joy among Aba township bus drivers who expressed profound gratitude to Prof Ibe for his generosity in helping the poor and the needy in the society.
According to the beneficiaries, the exercise has brought a new dawn to the suffering bus drivers in the state. The APGA zonal chairman Aba, Chief Lucky Erondu who spoke with newsmen at the f lagg off in Aba said the aim of this exercise was to help the poor bus drivers to cushion the effect occasioned by rising price of fuel in the country.
“This is to show you how the leadership of APGA will be, if you go to Anambra where APGA is ruling, you will see it with your own eyes that APGA has always been a revolutionary party that is always setting pace for development” he stated.
He appealed to the beneficiaries to reduce their charges to passengers as mark of appreciation to the goodwill of Prof Ibe who wants everyone to benefit from his good gesture.
According to him, the exercise is not politically motivated because Prof Ibe has been helping the needy for over five years. He also noted that Prof Ibe in his philanthropic gestures recently flagged off Free Medical Outreach in the 17 local government council of the state .
He also noted that it was the first round in all the 17 local governments, and would continue soon to reach those who missed out. Erondu also said that Prof Ibe has been giving scholarship to indigent and handicapped youths who cannot afford to go to the university.
“He has been doing all manner good to help the citizens of Abia, for instance, during covid’19, he supplied many trailers loads of rice and indomie to Abians to cushion the effect of covid’19. So, we cannot say that he is just doing this because he wants to be governor” he said .
Some of the beneficiaries, at the event commended Prof Ibe for his humanitarian deposition and prayed that God will continue to bless him , at least for the sake of the poor in the society. One of beneficiaries, Mrs Patience Jim who spoke to our reporter expressed her heart felt joy to Prof Ibe for making thing easy by giving them fuel.
“We thank Prof Ibe for giving us fuel today, and we want him to win so that we can experience change in Abia State especially in Aba because we have suffered a lot here,” she said. Another beneficiary Mr Ifeanyi Okonkwo said that he is praying to God for AGPA to win in the State ,because they seriously need change in Abia state.
“I will say to Prof Ibe that he should continue doing good and what he is doing. I want him do continue something that everybody will say at the end of his first tenure, we still need Prof Ibe back. He is Mandela of South Africa of our state” he said.
Another beneficiary, Mr Onyema Oji said he was surprised when his colleague called him and told him that Prof Ibe was giving out free fuel to bus drivers. According to him, he immediately rushed to see things by himself, thinking it was a joke but here we are,” it is real”
He expressed his gratitude to the AGPA gubernatorial candidate and prayed that God will help him to win the governorship election so that Abians can experience fresh breeze of a new government.
Also speaking, Chief Uzoagu a.k.a. Iwuobodo, said that AGPA will make Abia State to look like Anambra, noting that Prof Ibe has a good heart and can be likened to Prof Soludo and Mr. Peter Obi of Anambra State. He commended Prof Ibe for his magnanimity in helping the poor and the needy in the society.
According to Iwuobodo, “We are no longer voting parties, but individual, like for me, I will vote Peter Obi for president and Prof Greg Ibe for Governor . I choose others from even other parties. It doesn’t matter the party the person is, what matters is the capacity of the person in quote.”
Also speaking at the event, the Chairman of Gregnite Mr. Chimaobi Emeruwa said they are here today for commercial mini bus drivers to give them fuel so that the high cost of fuel will not affect them badly.
“We are here for this shuttle drivers, we are helping to give them 10 litres of fuel each, you see our road is not good, they are spending a lot of money to repair their vehicles, so we decided to help them. We can’t give them money, we decided to give them fuel so that they can use it to get money to help themselves and also repair their vehicles. I know my principal has good plans for Abians and I pray that God will give him life and abundant health to fulfill all his heart desires for Ndi Abia” he stated.
