The All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial candidate for Benue South, Comrade Daniel Onjeh, has said the district needs development, not politics of ethnicity and religion.
He urged members of his campaign team to engage the electorate with honest and realistic assurances of his aspiration.
Onjeh spoke during the inauguration of the Advisory Council, Directorates and other hierarchies of the Onjeh Campaign Organisation at Otukpo, Benue State.
Onjeh stated that while the Okpokwu-Ogbadibo-Otukpo road remains in a deplorable state all through the tenures of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, it was fixed during the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim.
He said this confirmed the challenge of the district was neither ethnicity nor religion but underdevelopment.
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He advocated for the establishment of a military base in Agatu, which he said would be of twin benefit to the Federal Government as it will protect the Oweto Bridge, a crucial link between the north and the south while protecting Agatu people and enabling them to return home to their primary occupations of fishing and farming.
Describing the roads connecting the Igede people with the rest of Nigeria as deathtraps to motorists/commuters and safe havens for kidnappers, Onjeh noted that the Igedes yearn for a solution to their acute road infrastructural deficits to ease vehicular movement and boost economic activities in Obi and Oju Local Governments.
He added the beautiful topography of Igede Land could serve as tourist attraction to generate revenue for government and residents.
Onjeh advocated legal commercial exploitation of the abundant clay deposits in Otukpo and its environs, adding that Otukpo is long overdue for the localisation of ceramics, tiles and related industries to boost the local economy and create job opportunities for the people.
He also noted that the seemingly inexhaustible coal deposits at Owukpa was being stolen and fritted away due to inefficient and illegal mining practices.
Onjeh said if judiciously mined, the Owukpa coal deposits could sufficiently power electricity production across the country, aside stimulating the economy of the entire Benue South.