The Social Democratic Party (SDP) frontline governorship candidate, in Delta State, Olorogun Barr. Kenneth Gbagi, FNIM, has said that he is in the race for the leadership of the state to bring hope, succour, and effectual changes that Delta badly desires.
The former Chairman, Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, stated this in several courtesy visits and consultations with Deltans and some political associates.
His mission haven clinched the governorship ticket of the party as flag bearer, is to win the 2023 gubernatorial election to prove that he is not a pretender but a serious contender to drive a most desired paradigm shift.
The SDP leader in the state, and governorship frontrunner, said the State was in dire need of a leader who will unite the people, tackle insecurity and bring about the desired socio-economic development.
Gbagi’s consistent consultation with traditional rulers, union leaders, religious leaders, media, and political leaders across the state, has strategically placed him in pole position for the general elections scheduled for March 11th 2023.
The support and cooperation he has thus far received have been overwhelming. History is indeed replete with empirical evidence of Gbagi’s success stories and accomplishments in his endeavors both in the private and public sectors; he is one unique Deltan who always prioritized performance and competency in leadership.
Apart from his remarkable legacies, he remains a blessing to humanity with a penchant for espousing an esteemed sense of transparency, accountability, integrity, probity, character and also reaching out to the needy.
For his courage, tenacity, strength of character and single-minded devotion to topical state and national issues, he has earned himself respect and honour.
Gbagi is truly a man of vision. Those who have worked with him very closely are really not surprised to see him breaking barriers and raising the bar of performance and success in governance come 2023.
Speaking during his numerous consultations, Gbagi, reminded those that care to know what Delta has been through in the past few years adding that the state had gone from what it used to be.
He noted that the 2023 election presents a much-needed opportunity to rediscover Delta, and move ahead as one people, as one state towards fulfilling its destiny because Delta is the microcosm of Nigeria.
According to him, some things have happened in the state in the last couple of years that no one could have imagined possible.
He pointed out that while there are reasons to be worried about the future of Delta State, it is not the time to surrender and wallow in despair, but for all patriots and citizens of goodwill to show courage, rise above those lines of divisions and ask: “where do we go from here?”
Gbagi said: “I do not have grass to grace story to tell. Some may even consider me privileged.
Recalling his early day, the philanthropist cum Criminologist, said: “But I never take my privileges for granted. I learned as a young boy growing up under the watchful guidance of a disciplinarian father who loved this State so dearly that to whom much is given, much is expected.
“Therefore, I can say that even the privileges of my childhood were easily matched by a dominant culture of giving, created by a father whose politics was defined by a deep commitment to helping and uplifting others.
“I learned from him that life is truly worth living only when it is lived in the service of something that is bigger than yourself. My father was a CAC member and we were trained differently.
“I own by his grace the second tallest building in Yaba and nobody is fighting me. Unless you allow visitors to come to your place and invest and live as though they are part and parcel of you, you are wasting your time, no development will come.
“I have a different policy to look at it because the indigenes of Lagos do not own Lagos. It is we who are Bendel people and who are Igbo people, we are the owners of Lagos.
“Delta must revolutionalize. That backward mental arrangement must stop. The land is becoming more desert than we found it. So, don’t worry yourself, there is going to be policy and enclaves for all non-indigenes and by the grace of God, I will actualize it.
“I need all those Igbo people, I need the Yoruba engineers, Hausa engineers, I need everybody to come here, it is a policy.
“If you recall there is a gentle minister for Petroleum called Rilwanu Lukman, every single Deltan will recall that when Rilwanu came here, he said the College that was related to petroleum should be relocated
“Everybody started crying and fighting, 32 days after I became a minister, I founded FUPRE, check your records. I am the minister who founded the Petroleum University you see today in Ugbomro.
“What Obasanjo did with greatest respect, he is very friendly with Senator Fred Brume, he gave them N1 billion to go and setup a College because they have created the state and they were looking for something. But there were no document. That was why Rilwanu Lukman was making that statement to say they should relocate.
“But thank God, I became and 32 days later I took a memo to council, I got approval for the Petroleum University to be established. Thereafter, I took 12 after 14 days. So that is the 13 Universities I created.
“And records don’t lie. If you check the record that created that university, you will not see Kenneth Gbagi, as the owner or person who founded the University including the other 12. In memo to council, you do not put your full names but what you will see there is KOG, I founded the University.
“After I did that, I founded eight federal government Colleges. The one in Delta, not only did I build it, I Furnish it and it is one of the most furnished computarize schools in Nigeria, today. I did it when I was minister for education.
“By Monday this week, we are Commissioning one of the best community hospitals. Fully furnished with all the gadgets for a community hospital next to the school, I will only more when I become governor.
I any case, this month in my considered opinion, the oldest king in Nigeria, is from this local government, the Owhorode of Olomu, he was a teacher in Sapele, became an headmaster, I was cleaning his shoes as a small boy.
“And in that recollection and reflection, that same hospital we built here, we built one for him which will be commissioned on the 15th of September. That hospital you know, go and look at it, it is more equipped than any hospital in the state. We do things and we make sure they endure” the industrialist added.
