The commissioner of information in Delta State, Mr. Charles Aniagwu, has told the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), M. Bola Tinubu that the state cannot become another Lagos which he has put in his pocket.
The commissioner was reacting to the condemnation of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s administration by the APC flag bearer during the launch of the party’s campaign for the 2023 elections.
At a rally held at Warri Township Stadium in Warri South Local Government Area at the weekend, Tinubu mounted the rostrum and declared that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government had failed to develop Delta despite the huge federal allocation to it.
He alleged that huge money earned by the state might been taken away by outsiders.
“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.
He accused the government of abandoning infrastructural development in the state and leaving Delta to rot away.
“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,” he said.
Tinubu described the state as his home because his wife, Remi, is of Itshekiri extraction in Delta and 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 benefit from oil drilled from their domains.
“Our 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 fertilizer and petrochemical plants, aluminum 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.
“The NDDC will be improved. Greater cooperation with Communities which have suffered the environmental degradation will be my policy.
“I am saddened by the environmental cost which the oil and gas industry has exacted. Our moral and economic duty calls us to clean the Niger Delta and to create new opportunities for young Deltans to build better lives for themselves,” he added.
He promised to revisit the deep sea port project and the Omadino – Escravos Road project, rehabilitate the Warri, Koko, Sapele and Burutu ports as well as create employment in the state if elected president in 2023.
Responding to the diatribe, Aniagwu said Tinubu would have a dog’s chance to control Delta the way he has done to Lagos.
He also advised the APC presidential candidate to come clean about his identity and academic records.
“Let him first of all go and clear himself; when and where he was born, the schools he attended and other records about him so we can know who we are talking to.
“Somebody whose records are still in doubt cannot be the one talking. Our state cannot be in his pocket the way he did Lagos. Delta is not Lagos and our people cannot be deceived by such a person,” he said.
The commissioner further said Tinubu had failed to read the writing on the wall after he suffered a humiliating defeat in Edo in 2020.
“With the kind of wonderful defeat and disgrace he, the APC and Adams Oshiomhole suffered in the last Edo State governorship election, we thought he would have learnt some lessons. That 2020 defeat in Edo will be a child’s play compared to what they will suffer in Delta State in 2023,” he added.
He added: “Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has been prudent in managing the state economy. We have a lot of infrastructure on ground for all the money that accrued to the state, ranging from roads to bridges, schools and human capital development.
“Their (APC) governorship candidate did not tell him that the road from the airport to the stadium is a federal road the APC-led federal government failed to fix.”
