Augustine Ovie Omo-Agege, the Deputy President of the Senate and a candidate for governor of Delta State for the All Progressives Congress (APC), says that his government will not try to seek revenge on Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) if it wins in 2023.
This was Thursday in Patani, the first of Senator Omo-campaign Agege’s stops in the Delta South Senatorial District.
Other communities in Patani Local Government Area that were visited during the campaign were Agoloma and Uduophori.
He stated that he would not waste time dwelling on the past, although it was obvious that Delta State had done nothing to justify the over N3.5 trillion receipts that had come into the state over the past seven and a half years.
Instead, he said he was going to get on with the job at hand to address the developmental gaps left by the Okowa-led PDP so that the state could progress.
After Raymos Guanah left his mark as council chairman 24 years ago, Senator Omo-Agege bemoaned the continued decline of Patani’s infrastructure.
He said Governor Okowa had misused the large allocations (FAAC, 13% of oil derivation, and 50% of 13% of oil derivation) made to the state for the local governments since 2015.
In response to claims that Governor Okowa has a stake in a newly licenced bank, he told the governor that if the claims were valid, he should hand over the N235 billion recently paid to the state as 13 per cent derivation arrears instead of putting it in the bank.
“My government will not seek vendetta against Governor Okowa and his PDP; we will not be distracted by looking back at their misgovernance but will hit the ground running to develop Delta State.
“He should, however, hand over the balance of N235 billion with him,” he reiterated.
He noted that the ‘prosperity for all’ tagline of Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa was a hoax. However, the riverine villages contribute significantly to the economy of Nigeria and Delta State.
“Look at the Ijaw nation. There is not one tertiary institution, not even when Okowa established three universities in one day without the input of the Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori, who is also a victim of Okowa’s selfishness.
“In continuation of his selfishness and desire to perpetually impoverish citizens of Delta State, Governor Okowa has projected the Speaker, Oborevwori, as his decoy for a third term.
“We are here to urge the Ijaw people to reject Okowa’s third term bid and his surrogate, Sheriff Oborevwori,” he said.
When he ran for governor of Delta State, he promised that women and young people from the Ijaw nation would be freed from poverty and that growth and development would spread to new areas.
Mr Julius Oruma, chairman of the APC in the LGA, said that Senator Omo-Agege is a “God-sent” who will save the people of Patani and all of Ijawland from the poverty and hardship that the PDP has brought upon them. He also said that this is why the people of Patani have decided to vote for the APC “because the PDP government does not care about us.”
Dr Chris Ekiyor, an APC leader in Patani, issued a dire warning to his fellow citizens, saying, “your children will serve their children, but I see a people with the radical capacity to do the needful.” This was in reference to the PDP.
Earlier, Senator Omo-Agege had met the Pere of Kabowei kingdom, HRH, Barr Shedrach Erebulu Aduo 111, who extended blessings for his gubernatorial aspiration and to carry on with his campaign in the kingdom.