Delta State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Ovie Omo-Agege has condemned the practice of advance fee fraud (otherwise known as 419) among some youth in the state. To arrest the trend, he said that such youths would be discouraged from criminality, and retrained into tech savvy nerds.
At a campaign rally at Owa-Ekei, Ika North East local Government Area, Omo-Agege, who is also the Deputy Senate President, debunked news reports that he had said he would work with yahoo boys, when elected governor of the state.
He explained that no one is happy with the state of unemployment among youth in the state, promising that his government would give priority to youth unemployment and empowerment issues.
“What we said was that we will set up a tech hub in Delta State that will be funded by the state government to harness the creative ingenuity of our youths for entrepreneurship and revenue generation for the state, while creating employment opportunities for those youth”, he said.
Omo-Agege also dismissed the rumour that he would abandon projects in Ika North, that were being executed by Okowa, saying: “We will be fair, equitable and just to all. Whatever is due to the Owa nation, they will get from my administration. So fear not”.
While welcoming the party’s campaign train to the community, the APC Chairman in Ika North East, Hon Samuel Elene Kerri assured Omo-Agege that he would be happy with results from the 14 wards of the local government area at the 2023 elections.
“The crowd that came to welcome you is an indication that APC has come to stay in Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s local government area. We collectively voted for somebody we thought is our brother. They told us that the seat of the governor was like an elephant that could feed everybody satisfactorily. But with Okowa as governor, the worth of the Office of the Governor has been reduced to the value of a cricket.
“Your Excellency, please remember us when you become the governor of Delta State because the man we thought will represent us betrayed us. He did not only betray the South-South and the whole of southern Nigeria, he also betrayed his own people.
“We have found him to be a trickster and betrayer and so we have rejected him. Please, do not use the bad character of our brother, Okowa, to judge us. We have rejected him”.
Kerri adjudged Omo-Agege’s performance as Senator to be satisfactory and impactful on people beyond Delta Central senatorial district.
” For your satisfactory performance we are grateful and will support you. We cannot leave you to support Sheriff Oborevwori, a man whose true identity is yet to be resolved”, he said.
Also speaking, a former chairmanship candidate in Ika North East local council council, Hon Victor Odiase said that “Okowa frustrated me from becoming the local government council Chairman, But today he has brought his own daughter to become member of the House of Assembly.
“Our people are very hungry, the only job they do here is okada (commercial motorcycle) riding. There are no industries. Ika North is a centre of commerce, we have a railway station and we are close to the sea. What stopped our brother, Governor Okowa from opening up Ika? We believe that you will be the next governor, please do not forget to come to our aid”.
Pleading with people of Ika North to be patient until the Omo-Agege administration is ushered in, the Director General of Senator Peter Nwaoboshi campaign organisation, Evangelist Moses Kamaya said that the name of Okowa is synonymous with betrayal, adding that in the whole of Ika North East, the only community that is managing to benefit something is Owa-Alero and hence, sued for patience until Omo-Agege becomes governor.
In his remarks, state party chairman, Elder Omeni Sobotie said that under Okowa, so many government parastatals and institutions in the state had died, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) both in the state and at the national level.
The campaign train also visited Ute-Okpu and Umunede where the people were urged to vote APC candidates in the 2023 general elections.
At Ute-Okpu, Ovie Omo-Agege commissioned two Niger Delta Development Commission projects: the two kilometre Ute-Ukpu Road in Ika North East and the construction of Dunkwu Street and installation of solar lights in Idiegwu, Ute-Ukpu.
In Agbor, the Dein of Agbor kingdom Keagborekuzi I said that Omo-Agege would make an amazing governor if given the chance to serve.
Receiving the APC governorship camapign team at his palace on Friday, the first class traditional ruler described Omo-Agege as a shining light.
The monarch said: “You are a shining light in Delta State and you have been able to shine in Abuja. Governor Okowa and the Speaker, Sheriff Oborevwori are your friends. What we want is the best for the state and the nation, and am sure and know that you will do an amazing job as governor of Delta State”.
Earlier, Omo-Agege had told the Dein that a lot has gone wrong in the state and he was leading a revolution to usher in a new era.
He promised to upgrade the Delta State University to its proper status other than the glorified College of Education it has been reduced to by the Okowa administration.
At the Ika South APC campaign rallies, APC state chairman, Elder Omeni Sobotie said that the wickedness brought on the people of Ika by Okowa for the past seven and half years would come to an end when Omo-Agege is elected governor.
Also, the Ika South APC Chairman, Hon Hillary Fada Igbude lamented that Okowa left only the Faculty of Education in the university, Agbor and took all other faculties to the Owa-Alero campus.
“Eight years of Okowa is eight years of suffering for Ika people. Okowa and PDP have treated us as a conquered people and we are going to pay him back in his own coins”, he said.
