Delta 2019: ADP Governorship Aspirant Issues Okowa ‘Retirement’ Notice

After spending 19 years in politics, Action Democratic Party, ADP Governorship aspirant in Delta state, Comrade Frank Ufuoma Esanubi says Governor Ifeanyi Okowa deserve to retire from politics and “just go home”.

He said that the governor should bury the thought of going back to the Osadebe House come 2019 because the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of which he had served since 1999 has failed the people of the state.

Esanubi stated this on Friday while appearing at the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ Warri Correspondents’ Chapel “State of the Nation” programme in Warri captured by BigPen Online.

The ADP Governorship aspirant, said that Governor Okowa no longer has anything to offer Deltans in terms of political leadership after serving as Councillor, local government Chairman, Commissioner, SSG, Senator and now as Governor.

“Governor Okowa who started as a councillor, later as chairman, commissioner, SSG, Senator and Governor for almost twenty years, deserves to be retired and we are here to retire him.”

He drew analogy to the fact that Martin Luther King who died at the age of 40 years was not a US President but an activist who crusaded for freedom and got a presidential honour among US Presidents not because he rose to the top echelon of US politics.

According to him, people above sixty years of age and those who have spent thirty five years of service in government ought to play advisory roles at the backgrounds.

According to him, the 2019 general election is for the younger generation and not people who have been in politics with no record of their achievements.

He said that there is gross infrastructural decay in the state, lamenting the exit of major companies including the multinationals which he said were driven away by the PDP government.

“It is obvious that the government that we have today have failed us otherwise we would not be where we are today.

“The movement that we are building today is a movement of credible youths who are supported by credible elders that are coming to say “enough is enough” and we are ready to restore the glory of this state to what it ought to be.

“Okowa as a Governor has done more that 18 years in government, first as commissioner for eight years, he also served as SSG for four years, he served another four years as a senator and now he is serving four years as a Governor. I think after 20 years of service, he deserve to retire and we are here to retire him”, he reiterated.

Esanubi, who said he has been reminded over time that a lot of young people into government has also failed, said he would rather not go into government than go there and fail.

He said that “godfatherism” would not be a factor for him in the 2019 governorship because he has decided to make the people of Delta state his political godfathers.

According to him, he has tactically avoided the ‘gladiators’ for the rural people because governance dwell with the rural people and not the so-called “godfathers”.

Story by Julius Eras-Olabowu