Deputy President of the Senate and governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta state, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, says with him and Bola Ahmed Tinubu as governor and president in 2023, the APC government will dredge the Escravos bar and grant vessels free access to Delta ports.
He gave the assurance in Koko, Warri North Local Government Area while addressing members and supporters of the APC during the party’s ongoing ward-to-ward campaign.
He asked the Itsekiri people to vote their son-in-law, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as President, and himself as governor of Delta state, “so that, with concerted efforts, between Tinubu and I, we would bring the much-needed development to this land, starting by making Koko, Burutu and Warri ports work again.”
The APC governorship candidate made a strong case for Joel Onowakpo Thomas, the party’s senatorial candidate for Delta South, as well as other candidates of the APC, whom he described as adherents that would give APC the needed support at various levels of government.
Omo-Agege at the event demanded that former Delta governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, apologise to the Itsekiri nation over his neglect of his native Warri North local government area both as secretary to the state government for four years and governor for a further eight years.
He accused Uduaghan of conniving with other Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders such as its Senatorial candidate, Michael Diden, to hoodwink them into supporting Okowa and the PDP governorship candidate, Sheriff Oborevwori, in spite of the obvious sufferings of the Itsekiri people
“This is Delta state, in 2015 and 2019, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa came to this place asking for your votes and promising to bring prosperity to all Deltans. He failed woefully.
“In connivance with Speaker Oborevwori, Okowa has collected over 3.5 trillion naira as FAAC and 13 per cent derivation revenues; and another N270 billion naira as 13 per cent refunds.
“He has borrowed an additional N400 billion, yet there is no development project worth 200 million naira in Koko,” he lamented.
According to him, almost all projects on the ground in the town were influenced by Dr Alex Ideh, a foremost APC leader, when he served as commissioner under former Governor James Onanefe Ibori.
“This is Uduaghan’s local government area. He was SSG for four years and had the power to influence development projects. He was governor for eight years but see his local government.
“He disappointed his own people, and now he wants to join forces with Okowa to further punish them.
“My late grandfather, the Nana of Koko, was, in the words of the curator of the Nana Museum which I influenced to Koko, the governor of Benin River.
“By God’s grace, I am going to be governor of Delta State and I am going to be a good governor. I promise that the Koko/Ugbenu Road that was abandoned by Uduaghan and Okowa will be fixed.
“The Koko stadium project which started in 2008 and was abandoned by Okowa and Uduaghan, your son, will be completed by me, also your son, as governor.
“I commit that I will put a hospital in Warri North that will take care of the health needs of the people. Given the level of contribution to the state economy, I commit to site state-owned tertiary institutions each in Ijaw and Itsekiri lands. It is your right. You were denied by Uduaghan and Okowa, but I will restore them to you,” he pledged.
Omo-Agege admonished the people not to fear on election day. “I, Ovie Omo-Agege, the Deputy President of the Senate, will ensure adequate security to protect you as you come out to cast your votes,” he said.
Earlier, Dr Ideh lamented the level of infrastructure decay in Koko and called for total support of APC candidates during the elections.
In his remarks, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, charged the Itsekiri people to mobilize Deltans to vote for Tinubu and Omo-Agege being their in-law and kinsman, respectively.
According to him, the Itsekiri nation has never had it so good, with the APC presidential candidate, an accomplished politician, as their in-law, and the APC governorship candidate as a grandson of the Nana of Koko.
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