Prince Kehinde Taiga, president of the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR) has called on all aggrieved governorship candidates to drop their cases and join hands with Governor Sheriff Oborevwori to build a greater Delta state.
Comrade Taiga made the call while sending congratulatory message to the governor having emerged and sworn in as governor on May 29, 2023. He said his emergence as governor will create a better opportunity for Deltans to enjoy dividends of democracy in Delta state.
Taiga, who is vying for the position of the president of the youth wing of Urhobo Progress Union (UPU), noted that the elections had come and gone, hence all aggrieved individuals both in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other parties should sheath their swords and queue behind Oborevwori for the good of all Deltans.
He told Emerald News that the “election has come and gone, and a winner has emerged. In every election there must be a winner. As it is now, Oborevwori is the winner of the election. The swearing in was done on Monday, May 29, 2023.
“Having said that I want to also call on all Deltans, and all the different political parties that felt aggrieved based on the result of the election that they should not disturb the administration through series of court cases. They should all join their wisdom and leadership charisma to move Delta state forward.”
Taiga disagreed with a section of Deltans who are of the opinion that Governor Oborevwori is a weak man and that he would be a stooge of the former governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa.
According to him: “Nobody is a weak man and no man is born weak. Oborewori has led the state house of assembly for six years as a speaker. So I don’t see anything as a weak man. Once a man is given power, you will see the strength in him.
“He has been elected as governor. He is not going to pilot the affairs of the state government by himself. He will bring people to join his cabinet in the administration. So what he needs now, is to bring competent people not based on political party but competent hands to run the state with him.
“He does not need to allow godfatherism or favoritism to blindfold him but competent people that can join his administration to deliver democracy to Deltans and bring development to the people, that is what we want.”
As part of agenda for the next four years, Comrade Taiga said Governor Oborevwori should focus on reducing unemployment in the state. He said there are a lot of graduates in Delta who have no jobs and have remained unemployed for many years.
He said: “Unemployment is one of the basic problems that have actually pushed youths to restiveness, crime, kidnapping and a lot of other atrocities. He should tackle the issues of unemployment in Delta state and create jobs for our youths.
“We have also been complaining of the issue of payment of salaries to civil servants. There should be increase in the salaries of civil servants so that they can work and deliver whatever duty that is assigned to them.
“He should not compromise the leadership neither should he be responsible to godfathers or favour some people above others, but he should stand as a governor of Delta state not a governor of a political party.
“He has been elected from a political party but he is no longer a political party governor, but a governor of Delta state, hence he is expected to deliver democracy dividends to all Deltans irrespective of political party or ethnic group.”
He charged the governor to work towards uniting Delta state, saying he should collaborate with traditional rulers, religious leaders both Muslims and Christians, youth bodies and all classes with the objective of uniting Deltans and create equal opportunity for all.
Responding to question of undue loyalty to the former governor, Taiga said there’s nothing as undue loyalty, saying he was a speaker for six years and he was elected as governor under the same political party of the outgone governor. So there is no way he will not be loyal to the past governor who worked for his emergence.
“You see for now he might be loyal 100% but from the very moment that the power is bestowed on him as the governor of Delta state, there are certain decisions that he will take as a person. He cannot depend entirely on the former governor for administrative decisions.
Taiga, who is gunning for the presidency of the UPU youth wing, called on Deltans not to dwell on criticism of the administration but to run with the governor for the greater good of all Deltans.
“We should all run with this governor, so that he can deliver. This is to help him create employment and bring development to the state. If we begin this government with discrimination we may be destroying the government unknown to us.
“What we need to do is to give him all the necessary support that he needs to deliver the best to Deltans. He has been elected. We need to rally around him. I want to also advise all political parties that they should go to court and withdraw their litigations because this will destroy the government.
“If they do not withdraw their cases, this man may begin using the money of the state to fund the cases instead of using the money for development purposes. We’re not saying litigation is not good, but continued litigation on the issue of this election will continue to bring underdevelopment to the state. So I call on all parties to rally round this government so that Oborevwori, can deliver the best to Deltans.”
