Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Saturday, slammed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for failing to develop oil-rich Delta State despite the huge resources accruing to the state since 1999.
Tinubu made the observation, amid intermittent chants of ‘Jagaban,’ at the party’s kick-off rally, which took place on Saturday at the Warri Township Stadium in Warri South Local Government Area of the state.
The rally was attended by Senate President, Ahmed Lawan; APC Deputy National, South, Mr Emma Enekwu who represented National Chairman Abdullahi Adamu; the Vice Presidential candidate, Senator Kashim Shettima and his wife, Nana Shettima, and Senator Oluremi Tinubu, wife of the presidential candidate and daughter of Itsekiriland.
Also in attendance were Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma; Governor of Plateau State and Director- General of the campaign, Hon. Simon Lalong; Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, who is also the state’s governorship candidate of the party; Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Idris Wase; members of the APC National Working Committee, Ministers including Youth and Sports, Chief Sunday Dare; and Labour & Employment (State), Festus Keyamo (SAN) and former governor of Edo State and Edo North APC Senatorial Candidate, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
At the Warri City Stadium also were thousands of excited Deltans and APC faithful who gave a rousing welcome to the presidential candidate, the state’s governorship candidate and their entourage on arrival.
Tinubu, while addressing the rally, accused the opposition party of abandoning infrastructural development in the state and leaving the state in decay and penury.
“Delta is among Nigeria’s largest oil and gas producing states. Revenue from oil and gas has historically been the backbone of government revenue and foreign exchange earnings.
“As such, your state and other oil producers have made a one-of-a-kind financial contribution to the building of modern Nigeria. The nation is thankful to you.
“Delta has all it takes to be great and help lead the nation forward. Yet, for the past 23 years, those governing your state have taken you for a hard and long ride by selling you short. They have not done the things they should have and could have done for you.
“The infrastructure in the state was better 30 years ago than it is now. The state has recorded historic debts run up by the incumbent yet the infrastructure and other things still remain lacking because of under-investment and neglect.
“The money is much, but it does not have legs. Where did it go? Not to your welfare. Perhaps, it has found a home with a certain presidential candidate who loves Dubai more than Nigeria.
“But Delta State is not an ATM for migratory politicians. It is a place where good and hardworking people reside and work to create decent and peaceful lives for themselves and their families,” he said.
Speaking on his plans for the state, which he described as another home to him, Tinubu promised to re-activate the gas revolution industrial park while also seeing to the cleaning of the whole Niger-Delta region to ensure that the host communities do not suffer for building the nation’s economy through their oil.
“Out government will further re-activate the Multi-Billion Dollar Gas Revolution Industrial Park Project.
“President Buhari’s administration has made great strides in revisiting this project. We will complete it.
“Gas will become a national priority. I envision fertiliser and petrochemical plants, aluminium smelters, methanol plants, all creating jobs for the unemployed while producing goods that bolster farming, construction and other industries.
“We will step up and clean up the operations of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the Ministry of the Niger Delta.
“I am saddened by the environmental cost which the oil and gas industry has exacted.
“Our moral and economic duty call us to clean the Niger Delta and to create new opportunities for young Deltans to build better lives for themselves,” he added.
On infrastructural development in the state, which he affirmed had been in a sorry state, Tinubu said: “We will help develop the infrastructure of your state. The deep sea port project and the Omadino – Escravos Road project will be revisited.
“We will rehabilitate Warri, Koko, Sapele and Burutu ports, creating yet more jobs in the State.”
He also promised to make the state safe for all, noting that no business can thrive in an unsafe environment.
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“My government will deploy new technologies to protect the safety and security of law-abiding Deltans as well as the critical national infrastructure situated in this state.
“We will also introduce greater funding and reform policies to bring the Nigerian police closer to the communities they serve,” he added.
Addressing the mammoth crowd, the APC Delta State governorship candidate, Omo-Agege, said the state governor, who is also the PDP Vice Presidential Candidate, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, had failed the state and should step down.
He said Delta, under Okowa’s watch, had become poverty and slum capital of the country, urging the people of the state to vote for Tinubu and all APC candidates in the 2023 general elections.
Okowa also came under criticism from former governor of Edo State, Comrade Oshiomhole, who accused him of under-developing the oil-rich state.
He said he was backing Asíwájú Tinubu for the presidency because “anyone who wants higher responsibility, you look at his past record service,” stating that Tinubu, as governor of Lagos State, turned the state around and made it one of the biggest economies in Africa.
Omo-Agege vowed that a vote for the APC candidates will usher in the much needed development in the Delta state.
According to him, “the Warri Port and Koko Ports will be reactivated. When he becomes president, with me as governor, I will go back to him to take a review of the privatisation Delta Steel Company, Aladja and full implementation of the Nigeria Maritime University (NMU), Okerenkoko
“I am also commiting to you that the Export Processing Zone (EPZ), Ogidigben will come back to reality.
“I want to appeal to all Deltans, we have our chance to get free of the tyranny of Delta state.
“Today, we are blessed by an opponent whose credentials are being debated. The current governor wants to market education as a scam.
“We now have a chance to come out , go to our units and vote out the tyranny of PDP.”
Senate President, Lawan, on his part, paid glowing tributes to both Tinubu and Omo-Agege, his deputy, whom, he described, as an eminent son of Delta State.
Senator Oluremi Tinubu, who spoke in her native Itsekiri language, urged the people to vote for APC so they could have one of their own in the corridors of power.
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