Delta State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, is taking advantage of old men and women on whom he is now playing pranks. Some days ago, Omo-Agege cajoled some elders and retirees who didn't know why they were being called out from the comfort of their homes and put them in a hall and called the encounter a town hall meeting. When they knew the reason, it turned out that it was not as important as they thought. Many of them walked out of the hall while a few stayed back to hear him.
This has been the pattern for Omo-Agege as he desperately seeks to win the March 11 governorship election in Delta. Omo-Agege and the APC he represents don't mean well for Nigeria as they thrive on misinformation and deceit. What the APC has done to Nigeria since 2015 must not be repeated.
The APC stole power through lies and it is leaving Nigeria in ruins.
Those who have been observing Omo-Agege since he began his campaign will notice the pattern of misinformation and pure deceit that characterize it. It has been full of lies to discredit Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori. When others are talking about their manifesto and vision for Delta State, Omo-Agege is busy uttering what amounts to hate speech simply because his manifesto is empty. What Omo-Agege told the retirees was to, as usual, abuse Okowa and promise to pay them their pension. He said he will clear the pension in six months. We need to ask a question here. Is Delta State actually indebted on pension arrears? Delta State is not indebted in real terms. Pension takes time and process to handle to avoid errors.
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This is the situation with some retirees in Delta. The state is the most pension-friendly state in Nigeria. Of all Omo-Agege's APC states in Nigeria, only two are paying salaries regularly. If most of the states are not paying salaries, how will they pay pension. Yet, Omo-Agege has left the log in his eyes to talk about delayed pension in Delta. Many retirees saw through Omo-Agege's lie and that is why they told him to count them out of his deceit. Local government retirees literally booed him and told him to take his tricks elsewhere. Meanwhile there is controversy over the money for pipeline surveillance and the APC candidate is said to be at the centre of it. For about three months now, Omo-Agege has allegedly seized the money meant to pay Urhobo, Ndokwa and Isoko youths engaged under the pipeline surveillance scheme to stop crude oil theft. The money is meant for struggling youths who have sacrificed so much to protect the nation's commonwealth, but Omo-Agege is allegedly denying the youths the sweat of their labour.
The youths must insist that he should release their money. As Omo-Agege holds more town hall meetings, people will definitely hear more lies and fake promises. But each lie he tells and each fake promise he makes takes him further away from the Government House Asaba. We don't such a man as our governor.
-Ewiwilem is resident in Asaba, Delta State Oborevwori's uncommon agenda
