Sir Tony Obuh, a frontline aspirant in the contest for the gubernatorial ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Delta State was in Lagos last weekend for an interactive session with the media.
Obuh was heralded to the session by a large routine of supporters led by the director general of his campaign organisation, Barrister Fred Majemite, himself, a onetime political adviser to the incumbent governor of the state Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan.
Obuh, a retired permanent secretary whose humility was hailed by Majemite, subsequently unfolded himself as a policy wonk with his grasp of the strategy, structure and system of government.
ON the needs of Delta
I know the needs of the various segments of Delta State. I know what we can do to enhance the lives of our people, I know the areas that we are lacking, I know where we have the advantages and I know what we can assign to the different sections and segments of our Delta community. I know what we can do to ensure that life is protected and security maintained to ensure that the different parts of this state continue to live side by side. I know that it is possible for the people of the three senatorial districts of Delta State to live side by side and experience growth and development without acrimony.
I know that if the resources of the state are properly managed and employed to serve real purposes that Delta State will continue to grow. I know that our present policy of Delta Beyond Oil holds a growth promise for the people of Delta State and what we require is ability to build on the blocks that have already been laid. I believe that as part of the persons who initiated that policy that I know enough to drive that policy for the greater benefit of the people of Delta State. That is why I feel that I have the experience, I have the competence, I have the knowledge, I have the exposure to run Delta State as the governor if and only if, the people of the state and the Almighty God bless that my ambition.
So, I am standing as a symbol of unity. You may have heard that in Delta State that the political parties are thinking of ceding governorship to a part of the state, that is Delta North. Incidentally, I am from Delta North, but I am not standing as a candidate of Delta North or for Delta North, I am standing as a candidate for the entire Delta State because I believe that I have enough support across the state.
Political affiliation
I am a card carrying member of the PDP and it has been that way since 2011. It has been said in some quarters that I am not a politician and that I will need exemption to be able to run for office. That is not correct, I am properly qualified to run for office without applying for any form of permit or exeat or clearance from anybody just as any of the other contestants who have shown up. I have the qualities and the qualifications to run for the office of governor in Delta State. There is no controversy about that.
My mission here today is to expose myself to you, to let you know that the name you may have seen in print has blood flowing in his body. It is not a fluke, I am not the creation of anybody’s imagination and I am not being coerced to contest for this election. As a full grown man of 57 years, a man that has seen 32 years in public service, I am of age to decide what is good for me and what is good for my people. What is right and what is wrong, what is doable and what is not doable, and what aspirations can be actualised and that is why I am running as a candidate who has full belief that Delta can grow and grow well and grow strong as a united entity to be among the leading states in this federation.
At what point did you make up your mind that you want to be governor of Delta State and what prompted that decision? What are the specific challenges in Delta and what do you think you can do to move the state forward?
Let me first let you know that from 2006 I have been involved in political activities, not directly by way of contesting for election for any political office, but by putting together a support group which had its own philosophy of good governance, accountability and unity. Through that support group we were able to work behind the scene with the present governor and again, I was part of the transition committee that prepared his eventual takeover of office.
If you don’t understand what that problem is, the tendency for you is to begin to do blame game. I know how to identify such problems and because I have been in the system, addressing them will not be a problem.
Understanding the system
And looking at the number of persons who are around, my personal assessment is that they do not have the kind of understanding and exposure that I have and that places me at an advantage.
Even becoming a permanent secretary was not something that I just woke up one morning and said, “God make me a permanent secretary,” I subjected myself to training to understanding the system so that when I have the opportunity I could do well.
So, in the aspiration to become a governor, it was the combination of well thought plans within me on how I think that the defects within governance can be addressed and I believe that I stand in a position to be able to address those defects because I know what are our advantages.
My plans for the new Delta
First is to let you know that I have full faith in the policy of Delta Beyond Oil, that is to say that what we have now as our greatest advantage and resource, that one day, we would no longer enjoy that status. We need to begin to address the various sectors and segments of the lives of the people of Delta State. Our state has a lot of natural resources. Agriculture is one basic area that we consider as a great asset for the people of Delta State.
We still continue to witness waste, loss arising from our inability to utilise our harvest. At harvest time if you visit some of our farming communities you will be sorry for our farmers because what they have used the whole year working for would have been lost just because they have been unable to process them or add value and get greater benefit out of them. That would be a major challenge I intend to confront because for us, we need to grow the lives of our people, the full value chain in agriculture, we intend to explore them and develop them for the benefit of our people.
The different segments and parts of Delta State have economic crops that they can grow to an advantage. We will put every effort that we have to ensure that the farmers are encouraged to produce more and what they have as their excesses at harvest time is mopped up so that they do not regret producing more than enough for domestic consumption.
We are also going to tackle education. Unemployment is a problem that is plaguing the whole world, not just Nigeria, not to talk of Delta State. But for us in Delta State, we see it as a major challenge. And part of this challenge is that our graduates whether from secondary, polytechnic or university level are not properly equipped to be independent. What you see is that everybody graduates, the next day they are asking for employment from government.
We should grow beyond the level of looking for employment from government, people should have the skill that can make them independent, engage themselves and indeed, employ other persons. So, we are going to improve on our educational system and produce people who can be entrepreneurs even as they are coming out of school. We will give them life engaging skills that can make them independent and employable.
Riverine communities
Since the state government started funding DESOPADEC restiveness in our riverine communities, especially in the oil bearing communities has been addressed and if I have the opportunity to be in the driver’s seat by the grace of God, we will ensure that we continue on this same path by ensuring that projects that are aimed at addressing specific problems within these oil bearing communities are given maximum attention. If people have what they require in the rural communities or in the riverine communities, I do not think that they will migrate from there to the cities to look for jobs that are not available. So, what we will do is to ensure that funding of DESOPADEC does not cease. The information we have is that you have been anointed by the powers that be. How do you intend to carry along other stakeholders?
If they say anointed by some political interest groups, support groups, youth, communities and so on and so forth, I think that is ok and I think that is what most politicians seeking public office look up to. Those who see it as a sin, I am sure that they have attempted to get such anointment without success. What maybe you didn’t say specifically is that maybe, they have mentioned some names to say that such names have anointed me.
Let me be more specific, some persons have said that the governor has anointed me, I have never discussed anointment with the governor, he has never declared to me that he has anointed me and even the chairman of the PDP has issued a statement that neither the governor nor himself or the party has anointed anybody. But I am aware that people have been carrying busloads of political leaders to seek anointment from this same source. I have not received that, but I am looking forward to it but if it does happen I will celebrate it.
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