Frank Ufuoma Esanubi, a labour union leader, is trying to carry out a tall task — unseat Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, whose party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has ruled the state for the past eighteen years.
However, Esanubi, said it is possible to sack the PDP in Delta state, come the general elections that will hold across Nigeria in 2019.
The young governorship hopeful, who is vying for Okowa’s seat on the platform of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), shares reasons he intends to knock Okowa out of office and actualise his lofty dreams of a better governed Delta State in an interview with TheNewsGuru.
Esanubi, who is currently, the Deputy President of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria [PENGASSAN], a role that places him in capacity of protecting the interest of over 20,000 Nigerian workers in the oil and gas industry prides himself as a worthy candidate to lead Delta State .
He said the question of whether the PDP dynasty in Delta state for the past 18 years has brought good or evil has been asked time and time again, and according to him, PDP’s administration in the state is nothing to write home about.
“Since the return to democracy in 1999, Delta state has been led by the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), which has been in power, first with Chief James Ibori, and later with Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, and now we have Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa at the helms of affairs. We can ask ourselves: in the last 18 years, how much progress have we made?
“The truth is, the PDP, having been in power for so long, they have the resources, they have the structure; but at the same time, if we recall what happened at the national level in 2015, where the PDP had also been in power for 15 years or so, we had the opposition party defeating them at the general elections. That only happened because people were generally dissatisfied with the way the PDP had led over time.
“It is the people that will decide the direction of the next election. The people are not happy with what they have gotten. Delta state should be one of the richest in Nigeria going by our position as a major oil producing state, with the derivation fund that we also earn.
“Unfortunately, we are not where we should be. The people will naturally react. It is not impossible to defeat the PDP, because it is the people that will make the final decision at the end of the day, he said.
Speaking on the challenge of giving a manifesto, Esanubi said the average man in the street do not believe in manifestos, that his history and pedigree will speak for him.
However, he said there are some basic things that he is going to offer the people of Delta state.
“I have been a worker from when I finished my youth service corps. I have worked in a bank; I have worked in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company, and I have worked in two major international oil companies.
“In fifteen years I have worked, for every month, I got my salary on or before 25th day of the month. It is inhuman for anybody to be in authority and deny workers their due wages.
“One of the first things I will promise is that workers will get their salaries on or before 25th day of the month. That should not be something that is celebrated; it is something that is given under normal clime, but because of the maladministration that we have, it now appears that it is a big item.
“Beyond that, the major issues that we will be tackling are issues of job creation and reducing unemployment for our youths,’ he said.
He further stated that he will prioritize setting up one agro-allied company in each of the 25 local government areas of the state to create employment opportunities for teeming youths of the state.
“We will look at the locality and look at the particular local government and look at what major agricultural products from that local government: is it yam, cassava, palm oil, etc; and when we identify what a local government has competitive advantage of, we are going to site an agricultural company focused on that product within that local government.
“Let us take the issue of refineries today. We are one of the major oil producing states, and there is going to be a new refinery in Nigeria, but it is being sited in Lagos. What that means is that oil would be produced in Delta and shipped by pipelines to Lagos for refining, and after the oil is refined, it would be brought back to Delta and we would pay.
“What value have we given to the people of Delta state? Absolutely nothing! We need to rework that, and at a minimum, we should have one refinery for each of the senatorial district, he said.
He also revealed that there are many other programmes he will roll out and that with time Deltans will get to see the many programmes he has in store.
Talking on his leadership cum political experience, Esanubi said his life experiences and experiences gained as chairman of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) in Chevron and Deputy President of PENGASSAN as well as serving in the boards of companies have exposed him to issues of governance.
“I will say in terms of preparation, we need to realize that other countries today are tolling the path of having vibrant young people taking over the leadership of their countries. It is at the youthful age that one can make much impact, and that is what we are bringing to the table.
“We do not need to get to 60 years or 70 years before we want to take responsibilities. We need to rise up to responsibilities and do what we are supposed to do as young people in this country,” he said.
Esanubi does not believe ethnicity should have negative impact on the political ambition of anyone.
“You see, I like Nigeria’s old national anthem compared to the new one. If you listen to the old national anthem, it says “though tribe and tongue may differ, in brotherhood we stand”. It is telling us about the strength we have in our diversity.
“Our tribe, our ethnicity, our religion should not actually be something that should differentiate us or that pull us apart. They should be tools that bind us together, and working more strongly.
“Today we are happy to celebrate, for instance, that a Nigerian, Toni Iwobi, have been elected to the Senate of Italy. The question to ask is how do we react assuming we have a Yoruba man, a Hausa man or an Igbo man come to Delta state to become a member of the Delta State House of Assembly. We celebrate the Nigerian that is getting a political position in Italy, but when it comes to a Nigerian in Nigeria, we say no you are not from our state,” he stated.
The governorship aspirant said part of the problems of the country Nigeria is the issue of power rotation or zoning, stressing that what power rotation or zoning ends up giving the masses is mediocre leaders, adding: “I am an advocate of having the best lead us at every point in time”.
“If you take note of what happens in soccer, for instance, the Super Eagles will be playing in the World Cup in June; assuming we are to do rotation, probably we say it is the turn of the North to produce the players in the Super Eagles. And when the North had produced the players of the Super Eagles, we go to the South, and when the South has produced, we go to the West, and so on and so forth. If we follow this order, we are never going to have the best 11 representing us in tournaments.
“Government is not different. In government, we should have our best hands coming forward to lead us. But, immediately we bring this issue of zoning, this issue of rotation, what we do to ourselves is depriving ourselves of the best hands that should lead us. So, as a person, I do not believe that zoning is the best thing we need for this country; neither is it the best thing we need for Delta state.
“I am offering myself to the entire people of the state, and I believe I will be judged on merit to know if I am the best man for the job or somebody else. The people will make a very objective choice in the process.
“The constitution actually provides that for the position of the President and the Governor, an incumbent has constitutional right to contest for second tenure, and nobody can take that away from an incumbent. In that context, Okowa has the right to contest for second term. Nobody is depriving him.
“The constitution also expects that other political parties feed candidates, and it did not envisage that if somebody has done one term, the person must be allowed to go unopposed.
“The final decision is left for the people of the state to determine if the incumbent has done well enough to earn a second term in office or if there is need to look for more vibrant, more progressive, and better person to lead the state going forward,” Esanubi stated.
He had praises for the incumbent Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, saying the incumbent governor has done to the best of his abilities.
“But, the question we should ask ourselves is: is Okowa best good enough? Is Delta state supposed to be a state that should be owing workers’ salaries? The answer will be no.
“You see the development going on in Lagos state and some other progressive states; is that the type of development we are seeing in Delta state? The answer is no.
“Can you juxtapose the resources that have poured into Delta state vis-à-vis programmes and development we are seeing in the state? There is a major and monumental mismatch.
“In these contexts, it is difficult to give Okowa a pass mark. He has tried his best, but a point comes in the life of a football player that he has to retire, no matter how well you intend to continue playing.
“We have had good players in the Super Eagles. J. J. Okocha was a good player. Nwankwo Kanu was a good player. But, if they think that up to this point in time they want to compete with the likes of Victor Moses, Ahmed Musa, Mikel Obi, then, they are just not being fair to themselves.
“With due respect to the incumbent governor, he has been within the leadership of the state in the last 18 years, he has contributed his best to the state, but it is time for the state to move forward, and moving forward means that young people have to step up and take over responsibilities.
“Whatever they have done, we appreciate them for their efforts, but definitely we expect more and that is why we are coming to give more to the people of the state.
“My desire to govern Delta state is to put the state back on track. I am a worker like every other worker. I go to work on Mondays through Fridays. I receive salaries at the end of every month, which is something that every average Delta person goes through; those who are even lucky to have a job at the first place.
“I am relying on the people of the state to fund this ambition. I did not keep one big money somewhere. I have never held public office in government where I will say I accumulated money or I went to steal money that I kept aside for this ambition.
“But I will tell that when I contested as the Deputy President of PENGASSAN, the total amount that was expended in that election was about N13 million plus. And the N13 million, what I contributed as a person was N200,000.00. The N13 million plus was contributed by over 150 people who believe that I have something to offer PENGASSAN as an association. That is the courage I have in terms of funding my governorship campaign. People of Delta state who are tired of the type of government we have currently will rise up and provide the fund that we will use to prosecute this election.
“On the issue of whether I believe in godfatherism; the reality is that godfatherism only thrives when people do not come out to vote. Over time, especially in Delta state, there is this high level of voters’ apathy that whether we vote or not, these people are going to win the election, and that makes these so called godfathers to feel very important. But the challenge for us as the 2015 elections have shown, if as a people we come together, and we say this is what we want for our state, this is what we want for our country, we have that capacity to make it happen. In that context, I will tell you that the godfathers I believe in are the people of Delta state. They are my godfathers.
“The major driver for me in this election first and foremost is the battle within myself whether I should give up on this country or whether I should still try to salvage the situation. For those of us who have had the advantage to travel to see other countries and then we come back; the people of those countries spend time to make their countries attractive. That is why you see people struggling, risking their lives to pass through Libya despite all the hazards. That is why you see the middle to upper class save their resources and see that they want to relocate from Nigeria to either to the U.S., to Canada or to some other European countries.
“The Delta state of my dream is a Delta where people are proud to stay. A Delta where people are no longer under compulsion to say there are no prospects, we are dying, there is no hope. Let me just go and look for greener pastures somewhere else. People should be able to see that Delta is a place where there is actually milk and honey, and that the pasture is actually green in the state.
“The major challenge is enlightenment of the people. We need to get this message across to the people of the state because it is like somebody who is in bondage. You feel helpless. You feel that there is nothing more you can do about your situation. You are in the hands of your captor, and whatever you see, you just take it. We need to get this message across to the people that all hope is not lost.
“We can get our state back on track. We can get our public institutions to begin to work. We can begin to create real jobs for our people. We can begin to make our children attend conducive schools all over the state. We can provide qualitative healthcare for our people, especially the pregnant and elderly ones.
“Once people begin to buy into this message; it will not be too difficult a challenge to surmount. The major challenge is getting the message across to the people,” he further stated.