Onyewonsa is a journalist with bias for investigative journalism. Sunday Onyewonsa is the Director-General of the Delta Democratic Alliance, DDA, an advocacy group for good governance in the Niger Delta. DDA worked to ensure victory for Governor Arthur Okowa of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Delta State gubernatorial election. In this interview, Onyewonsa says Okowa has started well.
How did the Delta Democratic Alliance, DDA, settle for Senator Okowa for the governorship race amongst the aspirants then in Delta State? DDA is a group with membership drawn from professional groups in Delta State. Ours is a group of brilliant men and women who can hold their own anywhere in the world. We identified Okowa as a man who has passion for the people of Delta; detribalized, intelligent, honest and, above all, God-fearing. Of all the contestants then, Okowa was the best and remains the best. He’s a brand very easy to market. In all of these, his antecedents gave him a strong power of bargaining and, on the vehicle of logic and common sense, DDA unanimously adopted him as it’s candidate. Today, DDA is proud to associate with a team that is fast-tracking prosperity for the people of Delta. What are those things that make you think the governor has started well and also sure that he would end well; could that be a prophesy? The position of DDA is an obvious fact. It’s a fact that Okowa is building, like a football coach, a formidable team; fotifying his political environment for the tasks ahead. A look at the first batch of appointments made by this rare gem speaks volumes of a political colossus poised to lead his people into a world of prosperity. Starting from the appointment of the Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Hon. Festus Ovie Agas, through Festus Ochonogor to the likes of Chief Fidelis Okenmor Tilije, Vincent Uduaghan, Monday Emu et al, you won’t agree less that Okowa is ready to re-write the history of Delta in the positives. With a huge indebtedness of N636bn according to the governor, how do you think he would achieve his desired objectives for the state? The major element here is his zeal, the will, the passion, love…to end decades of poverty and underdevelopment in oil-rich Delta State. He has a team capable of breathing life into a dead economy any day. Okowa parades economic wizards who are respected in their various fields; given free hands to operate, these world renowned professionals would join their expertise with the governor to catapult the state above its peers. The internally generated revenue, IGR, of the state is another area the governor would deploy his wisdom. The IGR base of the state has the propensity to grow if well managed and I suggest the governor appoints an insider who knows the rudiment of the agency to manage it instead of a politician. Leakages should also be blocked. You know as well as I do, that th e governor has began the process of removing idle youths from the streets. He has come up with the Youth Agricultural Entrepreneurship Programme, YAGEP, and Skills Training and Entrepreneurship Programme, STEP. These are two life changing innovations capable of making the state of Delta a model in West Africa. The initial target of the administration is 6,000. Just imagine removing 6,000 idle young men and women from the streets in favourable engagements and possibly another 6,000 in quick succession, who say the this governor won’t end well? The governor would end well because he has started well and that’s the trait of successful men all over the world. As a group, what are your expectations from Okowa’s government ? In the fullness of time, Deltans want to see and live in a prosperous state where the youths are meaningfully engaged rather than building more liabilities who run after self-acclaimed political leaders who turn them to mere thugs and miscreants while their children live in affluence in secured environments all over the world. In Okowa we have found that man whom Deltans had craved for over the years. Deltans hailed him when he told his newly appointed commissioners not to place advert to congratulate him on.his birthday. He is seriously yearning for greater state and people. Don’t you see his opponents at the polls pulling surprises at the tribunal and what would be the position of the DDA then? What surprise? For us in DDA, we do not envisage any surprise at the tribunal because there’s nothing surprising about the frivolities of the so-called opponents of the good people of Delta. To fight Okowa is to fight the people and destiny of Deltans. The people shall resist any attempt at impeding the fortunes knocking at the doors of Deltans as Okowa leads us into prosperity. Who are the people behind DDA? Stronger than the structure of any political party, DDA has men and women of impeccable character behind it. They are big names I won’t want to mention here but we have a tested and trusted Grand Patron in Governor Okowa while others are musketeers whose strength and support for DDA can’t be measured. Vanguard
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