Wife of Governor of Ondo State, Mrs Betty Anyanwu Akeredolu, has declared her intention to contest the Imo East senatorial district (Owerri Zone), election in 2023.
Mrs Akeredolu, who is the founder of the BEMORE Foundation, Ondo Widows Care as well as Taekwondo Foundation, hails from Emeabiam in the Owerri West Council Area of the State.
Betty who is fondly called ‘Ada Owerri’ (Owerri First Daughter), Mrs Akarerdolu made her ambition known at an interactive session with members of the State Correspondent’s Chapel of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), during which she pledged to tackle the worrisome cases of infant and maternal mortality, arising from non-availability of functional health care centres and life-saving equipment.
Relying on experience within and outside the country and exposure to modernity, Mrs Akeredolu noted that provision of all seasoned motorable roads in such areas as Nekede, Iheagwa, and her own community Emeabiam, which play host to such institutions as Federal Polytechnics Nekede, and Federal University of Technology Owerri, should not be compromised with and lamented that successive administrations in the state had continued to neglect these areas acclaimed as centres of tourism
If elected as a senator, she said that as a village girl who has maintained regular contact with her people and had taken a critical appraisal of their challenges, she would embark on “human capital development, provision of basic necessities of life, stop the pollution of the Otamiri river and also ensure regular evacuation of refuse in all nooks and crannies of the zone.”
Additionally, she would take steps to assist rural farmers with modern agricultural implements, promote girl-child education, stem child killer disease, youth unemployment and restiveness.
“There is lack of compassion and understanding of how life can be made meaningful for our people in this century hence the need for a wake-up call, Leadership should not be gender-based but neutral”, she added.
On whether her marriage to a non-indigene of the state would not impede her ambition, the Ondo First Lady argued that being a bonafide indigene of the state who has already endeared herself to the people and has touched many lives, she was emboldened to join the race to enhance their wellbeing.
