Nigeria Content Online

With about 48 hours
to the Delta State gubernatorial re-run election, six governorship
aspirants yesterday took the stage to let the electorate know what
their plans are for the state.

The apirants who
participated in the live debate were Onokpite Ogbe, of the Citizens
Popular Party (CPP); Veronica Bamuza-Mutu, of the All Nigerian Peoples’
Party (ANPP); Abel Edijala, of the Labour Party (LP); and Peter
Oghenevwogaga, of the Accord Party (AP).

There was also
Emmanuel Uduaghan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the former
governor whose election was annulled by the Elections Petition Tribunal.

The gubernatorial
aspirant of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), Great Ogboru, sent a
letter to the panel that he would not participate in the debate.

The debate, which
involved questions from journalists and some members of the audience,
centred around the candidates’ manifestoes, infrastructural and
economic development of the state, and the aspirants were given 90
seconds to respond.

Plans for the state

The aspiring governors took two minutes each to reel out what they would deliver to their people if elected into office.

“This is a year we
are going to have tremendous change in the history of our state. What
Labour stands for is welfarism. We need a welfarist, capitalist
government that has the peculiarities of a welfarist state,” said Mr.
Edijala.

In his speech, the
CPP candidate, Onokpite Ogbe, who spoke with an American accent,
maintained that his aspirations would be focused on youth development.

“I’m running the
race because of you guys. My people have been suffering since 1999 and
that’s why I’m running this race. To assist my people. If elected
governor, I’m gonna work hard for the people. I’m gonna focus on
health, schools, and I’m gonna work with local government chairmen,”
Mr. Ogbe said.

On his part, Mr. Uduaghan stated that his development agenda would be two-pronged.

“When you are
talking of infrastructural development, there are two of them – the
ones that will attract investment like ICT, power, and industries.

“Another is social development, like schools and hospitals. The things that people need on a daily basis,” said Mr. Uduaghan.

The LP candidate,
Mr. Edijala, blamed the poor state of infrastructures in the state on
shoddy jobs executed by low rate contractors.

“PDP has been on
infrastructures in the state for 12 years. World certified
professionals have not been engaged and sub standard jobs are being
done all over,” he said.

Power generation

As an oil producing state, some of the aspirants admitted that the state should have no business with epileptic power supply.

Mr. Edajile
questioned the rationale behind the state government’s massive
investment into generating power only to transfer it to the national
grid.

“Recently, we have
spent N29 billion to transfer electricity to the national grid. We have
to fight as a state to ensure that the reforms in the power sector are
holistically reviewed,” he said.

Sourcing for
alternative avenues of power generation, according to Mrs. Bamuza-Mutu,
is the panacea for stable power in the state.

“I’ll look into
other areas that generate power: gas flares, solar plants, and gas
turbine. But first of all, we should state that Delta will generate
power independent of the federal government,” she said.

However, the CPP
candidate maintained that power is a federal affair and he would simply
work the federal government in that regard.

“I can’t say a lot about power right now until when I get into the seat,” said Mr. Ogbe.

Mr. Uduaghan promised to complete the ongoing Delta Power Project.

The debate also touched on other issues such as health, security, and wealth creation.

While the AP, ANPP,
and PDP candidates promised to create agro based economies, the
candidate for the CPP said he would invite his friends from all over
the world to help diversify the state’s economy.

On the issue of security, the LP candidate promised to borrow a leaf from Lagos State by partnering with the police.

“We have to do
identification of Delta citizens. A lot of people come from outside to
commit crimes. We are going to identify every Deltan, and if possible,
tag them. The technology is already there,” he said.

The ANPP candidate said that job creation, especially in rural areas, is the way out of security problems in the state.

While the AP
candidate promised to give the youth “hope”, the CPP candidate said
he’d work with police officers and local government chairmen.

The two-hour debate ended with handshakes and hugs between the gubernatorial candidates.