Delta governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress(APC) Senator Ovie Omo-Agege said he has executed more infrastructural projects and touched the lives of more people in the past seven and half years in Delta Central Senatorial District than Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.
Omo-Agege, who was holding a town hall interactive meeting in Warri with the leadership of ECWA Christian block on Sunday, assured the group that if they vote him, he will run an all-inclusive government that the church will surely be part of.
He said as a Senator, he has attracted over 300 projects to the Delta Senatorial district that are critical and life touching.
He reeled out that in spite the over N3 trillion that has come into the state as revenue since 2015, the Governor has done virtually nothing.
The Deputy Senate President expressed more worries over the recent claim by Rivers Governor, Nyesome Wike, that President Buhari has graciously approved the release of outstanding deductions from the 13 percent derivation fund to all the oil-producing Niger Delta Governors, for which Gov. Okowa received a whooping N260 billion but failed to disclose it to Deltans.
He averred that the attitude of Okowa as it relates to the 13% refund, coupled with the fact that he has, over the past few years, took loans totalling over N400 billions with no commensurate development, is an indication of bad governance.
Omo-Agege urged Deltans to vote him so as to save the State from Okowa and Sm adding that he would turn things around by what he would do differently.
“”Okowa and Sheriff may not be bad personally but their priorities are not right. It is a matter of judgment. The judgment which Okowa and Sheriff have executed is a bad judgment.
“And so, we are saying that we want to move Delta State in a different direction. How do we do that? First, we sat down with the best brain we could assemble in Delta State. And we identified four critical areas that are more problematic with Deltans. And we christened those four areas in our manifesto as EDGE Agenda – Employment and Empowerment, Development, Good Governance and Enduring Peace and Securit,” he noted.
Expatiating on employment and empowerment, Omo-Agege pledged to create an enabling environment that will attract companies that has relocated from the state,, adding that “they will begin to create jobs for our people.”
Responding to questions during the interactive session on the moribund Warri, Koko and Burutu ports, Omo-Agege promised to work in synergy with Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as President for the Federal government to dredge the Warri port and bury deeper the oil pipelines under the river to allow bigger vessels to land in the port.
“We have decided that we can approach our in-coming president by the grace of God, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who is of the same party with us, to help bury deeper those pipelines and make the Warri port, the Koko port and Burutu ports functional again to create jobs for our people”, he assured.
Omo-Agege urged the people to vote for him and Tinubu for a better synergy to make the ports become functional once again.
He also explained the Empowerment component of the EDGE Agenda to include the empowerment of women by way of providing government-guaranteed soft bank loans for those who are trained in various skill acquisitions, adding that he will attract investors to invest in youths who are technologically-inclined to convert their ingenuity to positive development.
On security, Omo-Agege promised that if voted for to become the next governor of the state, he would invest heavily in security architecture by way of introducing sophisticated technological devices that can track every where in the State in real time, noting that the system has proved very effective in the few states where it has been deployed.
When asked about the slow pace of work on the Amukpe-Uromi federal highway, Omo-Agege informed that out of the N400 billion hitherto frozen NDDC fund recently approved by President Buhari for release, about N15 billion will be used to mobilize the contractor back to site on that road while about N90 billion has been earmarked for the maintenance of the Warri-Benin highway.
On what will be the position of non-indigenes in his government, Omo-Agege disclosed that if he becomes the governor of the State next year, his administration will not entertain any form of discrimination, adding that he would place priority on the capacity and experience of those whom he would work with irrespective of their tribe and religion.
On what would be his approach to the resuscitation of agriculture, Omo-Agege assured that he will also get the banks involved in loan support for mechanized farming to be guaranteed by the State, adding that the state will also attempt to cushion the losses of farmers and provide enabling environment for agric value chain.
He reiterated his resolve not to probe his predecessors, adding that the votes for him to become the governor was for him to turn the fortune of the State around for good and move it in the right direction, but not to hold personal vendetta against past leaders.
Omo-Agege submitted that for the sake that he has a “legion” of enemies, when he becomes the next governor, he must strive to live above board.
While introducing the APC Governorship Candidate, the Director-General of the Campaign Council, Elder Godsday Orubebe, noted that Omo-Agege was a God-fearing man whose passion for human welfare is unparalleled.
Quoting from the Bible book of Proverbs which says “when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: But when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn”, Orubebe stated that the APC Governorship candidate is going round the State because of the vision he has for the people, adding that he is poised to do things differently and usher in a new Delta State.
High point of the event was the prayers offered by the leaders of the ECWA block for the success of the APC and the Governorship candidate, Ovie Omo-Agege.
