I must first of all
express my profound gratitude to God through whom all blessings flow. It is God
who has given me the Grace and the courage to contest the Delta State Governorship nomination on the
platform of the PDP. My whole being is humbled before His Presence and I
prostrate and worship Him in gratitude.
It was Sir Winston Churchill
who uttered these famous words, “The price of greatness is responsibility”.
On Friday, 07 November,
2014 as I, Tony Chucks Obuh stood on that rostrum and surveyed the see of heads
that came to hear me declare my intention to contest for the Governorship
election of Delta State in 2015, I was humbled. I suddenly felt a great sense
of responsibility over each and every person gathered and I thought to myself,
from here on there is no going back with this divine mandate.
This great number of
people did not gather there for a carnival, they were there for me because they
see in me their hope, their dreams, their vision and their collective
destinies, all melted into this one momentous declaration.
Dear friends, your
massive presence had such an impact on me; it hit me that this was a journey of
a lifetime. I felt the weight of history on my shoulders and I am compelled to
remember the famous words of Sir Winston Churchill; on Greatness and Responsibility.
My dear friends, patriots
and fellow supporters, becoming your Governor is a price I am willing to pay
and the great weight of responsibility that comes with it, I am willing to
bear. For your sake my fellow patriots, I am willing to pay that price. Let me
be your price and you be my value; and I make this solemn pledge to you, I
promise to increase your value and my value in the eyes of Nigerians, Africans
and the world.
That is my promise to
you, hold on to it. God has been with me on this great adventure and he will be
with me to the very end. He did not fail me yesterday, He has not failed me
today and He will not fail me tomorrow, He is with me as we trod on towards 2015.
Words fail me as I pen
down my gratitude to all of you on the unprecedented outpouring of support the
world witnessed on that day. Let me thank all who came and stood under the hot
scorching sun to hear me declare my intention. That crowd has been recorded as
one of the biggest crowds the Cenotaph has ever witnessed. A big thank you, to
you all!
It will be impossible
not to mention the engine room that fitted the different component parts of
that great and memorable occasion; the Tony Obuh Campaign Organization and its
over 120 affiliate groups. Going into every ward, every community, every clan
and villages to gather my supporters must have been a most daunting task that
needed weeks of meticulous planning and the evidence was the deluge of people
that poured into the Cenotaph and strained its capacity to breaking point.
Every banner, every t-shirt and all the flyers on the day were produced and
distributed, not to talk of the logistical challenges and the massive vehicular
mobilization across the twenty five local government areas to Asaba.
I will not fail to
mention and thank the political class, both past and present, members of the
State and Federal Legislature, led by the Deputy Speaker, Delta State House of
Assembly, Hon Basil Ganagana, Hon. Mutu and Hon. Evelyn Oboro, members of the
State Executive Council, Student groups, Academia, the business community and
Captains of industries, various political groups outside the State that were
present.
Special thanks go to the
hundreds of political groups inside the State that attended. I thank my fellow
contestants in this great political race who watched the event and commended me
afterwards; friends and family who travelled far and wide to be with me on that
day, various heads of our traditional institutions who were present. Special mention
has to be made of our elders whose presence gave the event the blessing of age,
wisdom and experience.
I am equally grateful to
members of the diaspora and by extension Delta indigenes and Nigerians who
followed the proceedings on live TV. I cannot leave out the security Agencies,
the press, the drivers and the technical crew. Thank you all for your support.
My passion and faith in
humanity and government have compelled my steps in this great political
project. The economic map of the world is changing and the fortunes of our
people will change with it. Delta State at this moment in her history needs a
leader in the mould of the Biblical Joseph, a leader who has a vision of the
economic times ahead, a man who has been prepared for such a time as this, with
the empathy, the expertise and the experience to bring investors and to
revolutionize the agricultural and industrial map of the State.
Let me thank someone
very special, the one who is the first to see me rise every morning and the
last to see me go to bed. To my dear and loving wife Ogo, thank you for standing
by me and coming on this journey with me.
I am aware that there
are some who doubt my intention and my expertise to govern Delta State. I want
to once again, employ this medium to let them hear my patriotic call.
I am that man; I am that
servant leader that will turn our economy around. I give you all, this solemn
promise; that I, Tony Chucks Obuh will not fail you or generations after you.
The future is ours. Come and join me and let us change history together and in
the process let me give you, the good people of Delta State, the government you
truly deserve.
Thank you, May God Bless
You and May God Bless Delta State.
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