Deputy Senate President, and Delta All Progressives Congress, APC, governorships candidate has pledged to restore the glory of Ijaw land when elected governor.
Senator Omo-Agege, and his campaign train, on Tuesday, berthed at the Burutu wharf after a 75 minute boat ride from the Warri Club jetty. He was received by thronging crowds of party supporters and indigenes.
In his address, he expressed sadness that the once bubbling town of Burutu had become a shadow of its former self. He thus did not mince words in assuring the people of a new hope when elected governor of Delta State.
His words:" We are going to bring back the glory days of Burutu. The Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) that used to boost the economy of this town is dead and we have a governor who does not care for the Ijaw people. When Okowa was running for governor he promised prosperity for all Deltans, yet there is no prosperity here. He is a trickster. Burutu's contribution enabled him to collect over 3.5 trillion naira from the federation account in the past seven and a half years. How much would it have cost to sustain the Delta Timber Industry (DTI) that used to provide job opportunities for people across the State here in Burutu. I am as vexed as you are over the wickedness of Okowa to the Ijaw people.
"Okowa's priorities did not favour the Ijaw people. But the good news is that when I become governor, we will bring back DTI and make it functional again. The Ijaw nation under my government will have a State tetiary institution. We will reactivate the Burutu port. I already have the commitment of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, when elected president, to make the NPA in Burutu work again. All those contributing to the economy of the State will be compensated and those not contributing will be taken care of.
"We will make sure the 13 per cent oil derivation funds are well managed for the benefit of Deltans. We are going to make DESOPADEC function as it should. We will attract other companies here to create jobs for our people. After I win, by God's grace, I will return to consult you on other development projects that will make Burutu bubble again."
Youths of Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State said Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, is the first governorship candidate to physically visit Burutu to campaign for votes in 42 years.
Former governor of the defunct Bendel State, late Professor Ambrose Folorunso Alli, was reportedly the first politician to visit Burutu to the campaign, on the platform of the Unity Party of Nigeria ,UPN. That was 43 years ago in 1979.
The Delta State youth leader of the APC, Napoleon Kenerekedi, who made the revelation, added that no Governorship candidate of the PDP which has ruled Delta State since 1999 has physically visited Burutu to campaign for votes.
He dismissed Delta's Governor Ifeanyi Okowa "as a very wicked person," and said the Governor refused to site any project in Ijawland except a School of Marine Engineering in Okerenkoko, "because his deputy, Kingsley Otuaro, hails from there."
"Okowa has been wicked to us and we will "reward" him at the polls next year," Napoleon said.
Ambassador Anthony Ebitonmo, APC candidate for Burutu local government area constituency in the Delta State House of Assembly, said Burutu used to be a major hub in the economy of Delta State "but in Okowa's administration nothing came to us, even the said School of Marine Engineering he has abandoned."
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The campaign rally witnessed decamping of former PDP stalwarts who said they had been working for the PDP over the years.
" The PDP used us to sweep their floors and dumped us. We are tired of being used and dumped and have decided to cross over to the APC. "
Among the defectors were Ambassador A.B. Idolor, Dr Gradeone Clark, Chief Alex Emekeogha, their teeming supporters, as well as hundreds of women who expressed their dissatisfaction with the PDP and decamped to the APC.
Welcoming the decampees, State Chairman of the APC, Elder Omeni Sobotie said, "our banner is the truth and we will continue to preach the truth across the State and nothing can deter us.
"The era of writing results is gone, they can no longer write their fictitious figures. Nobody has ever celebrated their victory here but they will join in celebrating ours," Sobotie declared.
