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The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Reparation and Repatriation and Senator representing Delta North in the National Assembly, Ned Nwoko, says he defected from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) because “I have been assured of Anioma State creation by the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC).”
The philanthropist also said he is more popular than Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State saying beyond that he is not known.
According to him, he was leaving PDP because for the past few years, the Delta State government has been bereft of how to manage resources, despite the over N50 billion monthly allocation from the Federal Government.
“Sheriff Oborevwori doesn’t have the capacity to be a Governor where we are. He has not delivered to my expectations. Sheriff is not a match for me anywhere. And so he became a governor by default (because of Ifeanyi Okowa.) And suddenly, he doesn’t respect me anymore. He doesn’t think that we can agree on what to do for the people.
“That is not what I’m begging for. We know, I know Sheriff, he knows me. Beyond being a Governor, beyond being a Senator, you know Ned Nwoko. Or don’t you? If Sheriff didn’t become a Governor, do you know him? No! Even as a Governor, just tell me how many people identify him in the streets of Abuja”, he said.
Nwoko who spoke with journalists in Abuja after a meeting with the national chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Ganduje, said he did not leave PDP because of election but to use the remaining few years to work for his people.
He said he would not contest the 2027 governorship election in either Delta or Anioma States.
Nwoko said, “Henceforth, going forward, APC will take over Delta State. There is nothing that will stop that. I believe in the people and we have the people. Whatever my former party did to make us to continue to win elections in 1999, I know. I know what it is that we do. Do you understand me? So whatever it is that was done in the past, we will still do it now for APC.
“So it’s a new dawn for me because I’m looking for a place where we can have a Governor who is answerable and accountable to the people and where the Senators and all the elected people are also answerable and accountable to the people.
“I am just going to give you an instance. In the past two years or thereabouts, we have had a government in Delta that is bereft of how to manage resources. We have resources.
We have money in Delta. More than any other state in Nigeria. Maybe you don’t know that.
“We receive less, give or take, about N52 billion every month. We receive, for financial account and for 30 per cent derivation payment, no other state in Nigeria, not even Lagos or Rivers, gets anything near to it. But there is nothing to show for it.
“At the last caucus meeting, when I was asked to move a motion for a vote of confidence for the Governor before former Governors, and the leadership of the House of Assembly, I refused to do it. I told him I couldn’t do it because I have no confidence in him. He was looking at me as if I was speaking Latin. I said No. I told him I couldn’t do it. But look, Nigerians suffer greatly because of bad governance. That’s why people are poor.
“Nigeria is not a poor country. But when you have Local Government chairman, you have governors who are not equipped to govern, and who are making it as if it’s only the President who should be held accountable.
“Why this? Why that? But at the various levels of state and Local Government, nothing is happening other than sharing money. And I just can’t continue to be part of that. It’s not possible.
“I wasn’t elected just to answer a Senator. I was elected because I felt I could make a difference. And I wasn’t allowed to make that difference in Delta. I have a President who is willing to work with me, listen to what I want to say and knows my pedigree. He knows who I am. He knows where I’ve come from.
“So what am I doing in PDP, if you tell me? Wasting my time and watch somebody who was imposed by Okowa? You are not sure that you are the Lord.
You can’t be the Lord beyond the next two years. I am the peacemaker. I’ve come into APC to bring everybody together, especially those who want to be brought together.
“I have no interest in contesting for Governorship of Delta State. So even if Anioma State is created, which I’m fighting for and which is another reason why I am in APC today, I won’t contest. There will be New Delta and then Anioma State. Isn’t it? Yes. And I have no interest in being a Governor either in Anioma State or in Delta State.”
English (US)