The house of Rep member representing Abakaliki-Izzi Federal Constituency at the National Assembly, Chief Slyvester Ogbaga, has declared his intention to run for the position of Governorship in forthcoming general election in Ebonyi .
Ogbaga said by 2023 Ebonyi will be among his top priority if he wins, adding that peaceful co-existence and industrialisation will be placed among Ebonyi community .
The Ebonyi State governorship aspirant under the mandate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP made this declarations, Friday at his Abakaliki residence while addressing his supporters that welcomed him after purchasing his gubernatorial nomination and interest form.
Ogbaga while appreciating his teeming supporters and loyalists, said he had discovered that Ebonyi people need enabling environment where business and other human engagement would thrive after studying the problem of the state.
In his words: “Ebonyi State is not in envelope, it is an open state where all of us are watching what is happening. I had time to study the problem of Ebonyi State, I thanked God that the outgoing governor was able to build some infrastructure, but it’s not all about infrastructure.
“We need to be alive to enjoy infrastructure. I will bring peace to Ebonyi State, because it’s obvious people die on daily basis in this state and people like us are not comfortable with the situation.
“Since 2015, there is no employment that has been made in Ebonyi State, graduates are coming up on yearly basis, and we need to take care of them.
“To boost our economy, I need to industrialize our state, to create opportunities for people who cannot access government jobs, to be able to establish themselves, to employ them into private sectors. But for us to do these things, we must build enabling environment.”
He further promised to revisit the taxing procedures in Ebonyi, thereby stopping multiple taxation which, he said has contributed to the harsh experience of the traders in the state if given the mandate to be the Chief Servant of the state by the indigenes and the entire residents.
“We must revisit our taxing procedures, because people are suffering and they don’t have to be bothered with multiple taxation upon their sufferings in Ebonyi State.
“Many businesses have closed down in Ebonyi State. We realised that Abakpa Market has closed and traders were sacked from the market, without compensation, it’s not done in any democratic society. That market was taken by individuals, private persons to overriding public interest. So, even if government should take it for any other purpose, it supposed to compensate them.
“The building materials, in the same wise, and even the new place they were taken to, they were not compensated. People were sacked from their homes for the purpose of overriding public interest again, and even if you are taking it for the purpose of overriding interest, apart from the people occupying there as business men, you needed to compensate them.
“Any property taken for the purpose of overriding interest, must remain for the public interest and not for the private use.
“So we need to go into all these things, we need to create enabling environment where business activities shall thrive,” he added.
Ogbaga also observed that “there are many overhead bridges everywhere in Ebonyi State, but the question about them are they all important where they are sited? How many employment opportunity is it giving? Is it taking care of the youths’ agitations?
“Let’s look at our Ministries, Agencies and Departments, MDAs, we need to reorganise them.
“In our university today, we have the ASUU and Divine Mandate Lecturers, ASUU students and their divine mandate counterparts, all these things will not create opportunities for unity of Ebonyi people and our neighbourhoods.
“We have to think about the fate of the young ones in those places and bring them in limelight with what is happening in other states.
“Our boundaries with other states have to be properly defined and demarcated to avoid conflicting issues emanating from boundary demarcation with our neighbour states, among others.”
He promised that “infrastructure must be maintained, because government is in continuity, and we shouldn’t think that what the current government has built will be allowed to get wasted, because it belongs to Ebonyi State. It was done with Ebonyi State money and it must be taken care of.”
Concerning the unity of Ebonyi North people towards their actualisation of z and equity demand on the gubernatorial seat of the state in 2023, Ogbaga said, “of course we are in democracy, I’m contesting and other people are contesting, we will be left open for judgement by the people of Ebonyi State.
“I’m not saying that I must be the governor of Ebonyi in 2023, I can’t say over my dead body, but power is said, belongs to God and people are watching over us and I don’t think we’re too many.
“We have antecedents and what happened in other electoral periods, people contested and still the people chosen, became their leaders and my own shouldn’t be different.
“What we are saying about the state, is on the ground of what transpired from 1999 till date. In Ebonyi State, we believe in zoning, we believe that the governorship position of this state should be taken from where it started.
“The seat had gone to the Ebonyi North, Centre and now in the South, causing demand for fairness, equity and justice. As it stands now, the north is spending sixteen years without being in the government house as the governor, the central is spending eight years without government house and now the south is still sitting there.
“If anybody from south or central start asking to become the governor, it means there is no fairness, equity and justice in Ebonyi State. So, we should look at that, because we the people of Ebonyi North demand that it’s our turn to produce the next governor of this state and I’m here to assure you nothing will stop me pressing up till I climb the seat.”
He equally cleared that the PDP has not done its zoning, from national to the state level.
According to him, “at the national we have zoning committee on the presidential seat, which has not come up with any result.
“In Ebonyi state, the leadership of the PDP has agreed that they will constitute a zoning committee, that will zone the governorship position but what I said it is the turn of Ebonyi North people following the trends, because they have spent sixteen years, the central spent eight years, and the south is still on the seat today.”