Politics
2023: Omo-Agege Addresses Urhobos In London
Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate and Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress ( APC) in Delta State, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege has said his 2023 aspiration is about the future, to transform Delta into a modern, well-governed and economically stable State that puts ‘People First’.
Omo-Agege who stated this while addressing Urhobos in London, United Kingdom during the 2022 Urhobo day celebration, said: “Our EDGE agenda to Build A New Delta (BAND) is built on four solid pillars of Employment and Empowerment; Development; Good Governance, and Enduring Peace and Security. The vision is a vibrant, equitable and prosperous Delta State.
“While I will continue to work for the progress of Urhobo, the time has come for me to work in concert with all progressive Urhobo sons and daughters, as well as those of other ethnic nationalities in Delta State to build on this solid foundation and extend our success story in Delta Central to Delta North and Delta South Senatorial Districts.
“As you are no doubt aware, Delta State is a land of opportunities. We are blessed with both natural and human capital, but we have lacked visionary leadership that should have harnessed and converted our natural and human resources to commensurate prosperity for the citizens of our dear State. The situation continues to degenerate through the years, as those who brought us to this current state of despondency have remained intransigent and unwilling to change.
“Deltans are yearning for change in leadership of our dear state to inject fresh blood to bring about good governance. We need new political leadership with new ideas to rapidly advance our infrastructure development and transform the State into an industrialised entity that is capable of creating the jobs required by our people.
“So, if given the privilege of the leadership of our dear State, I will be governor for all Deltans. Every part of the State will be developed and together, Delta State will soar to unprecedented heights. Peace and progress shall be our experience because everyone’s needs shall be met in a good and sustainable way”.
“Having served as Secretary to the Delta State government, as Senator, and now as Deputy President of the Senate, I am privileged to have a good all-encompassing view of the issues of governance. It is these experiences that I am bringing to bear on my plans for the development of the State. I am motivated by a desire to re-awaken the legendry Delta Spirit and the hope among Deltans to build a new Delta, where the people’s future is brighter than their past.
“Our priority is to face headlong the challenge of unemployment. Human capital development, agriculture, tourism, infrastructure, housing, and other labour-intensive interventions are at the core of our agenda. We shall establish a Delta State Employment, Entrepreneurship, and Empowerment Programme (DEEP). We shall also facilitate the establishment of cluster industries in each of the 25 LGAs of our State.
“We will deliberately create an enabling environment for industries and manufacturing, establish technology hubs, set up small business loan guarantee schemes, promote skills acquisition, and set up a Career Development Centre.
“We will guarantee the rights of women and capitalise on their unique energy to drive social and economic development. We will also initiate a youth development program that will move the youth away from the hopelessness of today, connect them to creative endeavours and generate energies for honourable work.
“One area we will seriously focus on is the cost of governance. This has been too high and continues to rise in the State. We will take measures to reduce the cost of governance in order to conserve funds for infrastructure development that would impact positively on the lives of the citizens.
“Our mission to build a new Delta is a collective patriotic duty for Deltans at home and in the Diaspora. You all have a role to play in our determined effort to bring a change to our dear State.
“Our people at home deeply respect and count on you in many ways. This is one time your objective and informed thoughts on good governance are required to guide our people in this very important election. Important in the sense that it will determine the future of our state after 24 years of abuse by a ruling party that is more concerned about perpetuating itself in power than rendering service to the people. We need your support and help. I therefore appeal to you all here and our brothers and sisters who are in the Diaspora to join us to shape a better future for all our people”.
Continuing, he said: “The unity of Urhobo people is the pathway to the meaningful and sustainable development of our communities. We need to engage and network with one another to achieve unity and progress for our ethnic nationality.
“We are better and stronger together. Therefore; it behoves every Urhobo son and daughter to embark on a critical, holistic review of our social, political, and economic standing in Delta State and the larger Nigeria, to articulate smart and well-thought-out positions on national issues that will impact positively on our collective and individual interests.
“The destiny of the Urhobo people is in our hands. You and I. We must engage and bond as one, at least substantially, to achieve our collective dream of progress. Urhobo people should deviate from in-fighting, because it has brought us down economically, politically, and culturally.
“I therefore appeal to every Urhobo son and daughter to always eschew disunity and divisive politics, and promote unity and the values of the Urhobo wherever they find themselves. Urhobo sons and daughters, including interest groups must close ranks and come together to move our communities, state and country forward.
“My dear brothers and sisters, let me use this opportunity to once again thank our people for standing by me in my political journey. It has been a great honour and privilege to represent you at the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Over these seven years, Urhobo Nation was lifted up to its pride of place in Nigeria when your son and brother, my very self became the Deputy President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the fifth highest political office in Nigeria and gave Urhobo a strong voice in the Senate.
“We sponsored the law establishing the Federal University of Petroleum Resources (FUPRE), to give legal backing to this very important university in the heart of Urhoboland. There is also that, establishing a federal polytechnic. We have also facilitated a campus of the Nigerian Law School, and an elite Defence Space School.
“We also enabled massive renovations in schools and hospitals, including modern teaching and learning infrastructure, as well as a wide network of road infrastructure across the entire Delta Central, and some other parts of the State. The same goes for electricity infrastructure of both conventional energy sources and renewable energy to light up towns and villages in Delta Central Senatorial District. These are what we did. I am proud of our achievements.”
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has begun deploying non-sensitive materials to the zones as it prepares for the 2027 general election.
Acting Chairman of the commission, Prof. Rhoda Gumus, disclosed this in Abuja, yesterday at a bench-marking meeting with a delegation of Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
“Right now, all non-sensitive materials are almost ready. In fact, today as we speak here, the non-sensitive materials have been lifted to some zones now,” Gumus said.
She said the commission had completed nine of its scheduled activities and was preparing for the next phase.
“We are preparing for the election next year and we have activities lined up. So far, we have been able to complete nine activities and we are still preparing for the next level of activities,” she said.
Gumus said the commission’s leadership had just concluded a tour of the country’s six zones to assess their level of preparedness.
“The purpose was to go round the zones to see how prepared we are, assess what the zones have put in place, their challenges and what to do. We concluded last week and we can see from our tour that we are really going towards the election proper,” she said.
On Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), the acting chairman said production had been completed and distribution to the states was well advanced.
“As of today, we can say that PVCs have been produced and the first, second batches, most of the states have received them. Their PVC collection is ongoing. All those who are supposed to be the voters are supposed to receive their PVCs, and if they don’t have them, it is also another challenge,” Gumus said.
She added that capacity building was under way for staff at the headquarters and in the states, and that the procurement and deployment of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System BVAS devices were also ongoing.
On diaspora voting, Gumus said the commission could not proceed for now because the law did not provide for it.
“Here, because we go by the law, in our electoral law, it is not included there, so we cannot go on for the diaspora voting for now until we amend the electoral law,” she said.
The acting chairman said the commission had arranged for its directors to hold an interactive session with the Kenyan team and present papers on the work of their departments.
Leading the delegation, the Kenyan High Commissioner to Nigeria, Isaac Parashina, said the IEBC team was in Nigeria to benchmark ahead of Kenya’s general election in August 2027.
He said the team was studying how Nigeria handled its diaspora population and special voting groups, as Kenya sought to widen voting rights for citizens living abroad.
“Currently we have about 12 of them who voted in the last general election, but there is intention to expand to around, I think, 26,” Parashina said, referring to the countries where Kenyans abroad vote.
He said the expansion was a constitutional requirement backed by Kenyan court rulings, and would be enforced progressively.
Parashina said Nigeria’s election, which he noted would come in two rounds, would be closely watched across Africa.
“Everyone is looking at what Nigeria will do because it is the biggest democracy in Africa. The success of Nigeria remains a great success to Kenya and indeed to the continent,” he added.
The High Commissioner thanked INEC for receiving the team despite a tight schedule and wished the commission success.
Governor Douye Diri has set a target of at least one million votes for President Bola Tinubu in Bayelsa State in the 2027 presidential election, while charging the newly inaugurated All Progressives Congress (APC) State Campaign Council to prioritise reconciliation, party unity and collective electoral mobilisation.
Governor Diri gave the charge at the inauguration of the 20-member campaign council at the APC secretariat in Yenagoa, where he warned that internal divisions could undermine the party’s efforts to secure victory for President Tinubu and other candidates at the federal and state levels.
Governor Diri urged party members who were not appointed to the council to support its activities by taking the APC’s message to communities, wards and polling units across the state.
He specifically charged the campaign team to mobilise at least one million votes for President Tinubu, arguing that Bayelsa’s voting strength had increased and should be reflected in the 2027 election results.
“I give you a target that in Bayelsa, we must not bring less than one million votes for Mr President. You are going to campaign, and you have a lot to talk about the President. He has done so much for our people,” the governor said.
He listed the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, the second phase of the Nembe-Brass Road, interventions in the power sector, federal appointments for Bayelsa indigenes and the establishment of the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy among the achievements the campaign should present to voters.
The governor particularly praised President Tinubu for the coastal highway project, arguing that it reflected federal attention to the development needs of coastal communities.
“No president, alive or dead, has remembered the coastal people and coastal states to say let us do this signature project from Lagos to Calabar. The first president to think about it is Bola Tinubu, and those were the demands of the Ijaw people,” he said.
Governor Diri also expressed hope that a second term for President Tinubu would provide an opportunity to advance demands for fiscal federalism, greater resource control and state policing, which he described as longstanding aspirations of the Niger Delta.
He said the President had shown indications of addressing some of the demands of younger Nigerians and argued that re-election would allow the administration to consolidate its reforms.
The governor further cautioned campaigners against personal attacks and abusive exchanges with political opponents, insisting that the APC should focus its campaign on issues, policies and achievements.
The governor’s mobilisation directive comes amid criticism from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which has questioned his commitment to President Tinubu’s re-election campaign, alleging that APC campaign billboards erected across Yenagoa promote other party candidates without featuring the President.
The PDP, through its Publicity Secretary, Mr Ikaebimo Mark, said the billboards showed Governor Diri urging voters to support APC candidates for the National Assembly and State House of Assembly elections without identifying President Tinubu as the party’s presidential candidate.
Mr Mark described the omission as an indication that the governor was not fully aligned with the APC’s national leadership.
“When we said that the governor, Senator Douye Diri, is not supporting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, we knew exactly what we were saying. Now Governor Douye Diri has erected APC campaign billboards across Bayelsa State without Tinubu’s picture. He is even afraid to associate himself with the photograph of the presidential candidate of his own party. How can this governor claim to be supporting President Tinubu?” he said.
The PDP, however, maintained that the governor’s public campaign posture raised questions about his commitment to the President’s re-election bid. Its allegation over the billboards now places the issue of the relationship between the state APC leadership and the party’s national campaign among the political questions likely to feature in Bayelsa’s preparations for 2027.
The PDP’s allegation has introduced a fresh political dimension to the APC’s preparations in Bayelsa, even as Governor Diri publicly called on party leaders and members to close ranks and mobilise support for all its candidates.
“Every person picked as a member of this campaign council was carefully scrutinised. I want to tell you that our campaign team is loaded. We parade the best candidates among all the parties in Bayelsa State, and there is no doubt about that,” he said.
He urged members to remain focused and united, warning that political opponents could exploit any divisions within the party.
“Our unity is very important because they would want to feast on our disunity. We will not give them that opportunity. Please, as you carry out this assignment, do not take your eyes off the target,” Hon. Ogoriba said.
SP Edafe explained that during the meeting, the organisers were briefed on the identified security threats and advised against embarking on an open-road procession.
Instead, the police reportedly recommended that the political activities be conducted at a designated venue where adequate security arrangements could be provided.
However, the Command alleged that the organisers disregarded the security advice and proceeded with the road procession.
Meanwhile, the Delta State Government has condemned the political violence that erupted in Asaba, the state capital, on Saturday, confirming that one person was killed while four others sustained serious injuries.
The government described the incident as unfortunate and unacceptable, warning political parties and their supporters against actions capable of threatening public peace, security and democratic participation in the state.
In a statement issued by the Commissioner for Works (Rural Roads) and Public Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, the government reiterated its zero tolerance for political violence, intimidation and other forms of political misconduct.
Mr Aniagwu said the government had repeatedly cautioned political parties against engaging in activities capable of disrupting the peace, insisting that the incident could have been avoided if the organisers had followed security advice.
According to him, the police had advised the organisers to cancel the proposed street march and instead conduct their political campaign at a designated venue where adequate security arrangements could be provided.
He expressed concern that the advice was allegedly disregarded, resulting in a confrontation that claimed one life and left four other people seriously injured.
The government subsequently called on the police to conduct a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the violence and ensure that anyone found culpable is brought to justice.
Mr Aniagwu further warned that the state government would not tolerate politically motivated attacks against any individual, regardless of political affiliation.
He maintained that Delta State remained safe for residents and visitors, stressing that the government would not allow the actions of individuals or groups to undermine the prevailing peace and security in the state.
The government also urged political parties, their leaders and supporters to conduct their political activities within the confines of the law and demonstrate respect for human life, public order and the rights of other citizens.
The latest development follows an attack on supporters of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) during a political procession in Asaba, which reportedly left several participants injured and campaign vehicles vandalised.
The government’s condemnation comes amid growing concerns over political violence and the safety of opposition supporters as political activities intensify ahead of the 2027 general elections.
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