Mr. Felix Ayanruoh is a chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State. He spoke with SAMSON EZEA on what Great Ogboru’s candidacy represents for the people of Delta.
What should voters look for in Delta in 2019 governorship poll?
We are in a consequential moment in the history of Delta State. These are extraordinary and dangerous times that demand urgent and good leadership. It is axiomatic that if we don’t step up our political will things will get worse. Wherever there is a vacuum in politics, the society suffers. This is the summary of the PDP-led government in Delta State for the past nineteen to twenty years- corruption, poverty, impunity, unemployment, bad roads dearth of infrastructures and others.
Ogboru is widely known. He is the only candidate in the governorship race that can fill that vacuum and rescue the state from its socio-economic problems. To the politicians from the other political divide, for decades they’ve been using poverty as a weapon of social control and subjugation. Ogboru is a bold and courageous leader. He knows the social classes. He has personal experience with poverty and the growing income gap, having fought poverty to become a successful businessman.
Ogboru cares about the people. He is widely known for his selfless service to the society-always flaunt a character that is multi-cultured. He understands commoners’ view, not of his state only, but nationwide. He is honest with the people. After almost 20 years of being lied to by past and the present administration and other politicians of Delta extraction, we deserve a governor who not only tells the truth, but has an outstanding reputation for lifelong honesty.
His unwillingness to cross the line into the dark side of politics has touched a fundamental place in the hearts of many who are eager to believe that the political process is not entirely a cynical joke.
What is your reaction to the allegation by some that Ogboru sees running for governorship election as business?
It is known that Ogboru is a very successful businessman. It is not surprising that some will equate his successes in business to politics. He has shown that his forward-thinking initiatives and proposed policies will be an asset in governing the state. I couldn’t be more pleased with the way he managed his vast business empire, with his ceaseless demonstration of dignity, superior intellect and unparalleled innovation.
This is a man who left home in his mid-twenties to set up one of the largest global fishing conglomerates in Nigeria and the world at large – Fiogret Limited. His large business resulted in the establishment of several successful subsidiaries.
It is quite ironic that those that plundered Delta State’s human and capital resources for decades, running into trillions of Naira are accusing a selfless, determined democrat as seeing politics as business. These are people who see governance as a business venture, because in their political lexicon there is no word as service to humanity.
If consistent fighting for the improvement of the socioeconomic lives of Deltans is equated to business then I am bold to say that Ogboru will wear that toga as a badge of honour. Suffice it to state that segregationists and opponents of civil rights struggles also accused the Late Martin Luther King Jnr of taking the civil rights struggle as business. One of the major accomplishments of that struggle is the election of former United States President Barack Obama – first black president of the United States.
