The fight between Ovie Omo-Agege and the Delta State Government seems to be getting messier as both parties now bicker over ownership of projects in the state.
Omo-Agege, the governorship candidate of the Delta State’s All Progressives Congress (APC), fired the first shot at a press conference marking the flag-off of his 2023 governorship campaign, where he listed a large number of projects executed by him across the state.
The Deputy Senate president who also represents Delta Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly, while claiming to have executed many road projects, accused the state government of under-developing the state.
He claimed to be the brain behind a certain university in Oregon, his community, just as he revealed a number of bills he sponsored as a senator.
He mocked Sheriff Oborevwori, his opponent from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for not attracting developmental projects to Delta Central where the speakers hails from.
According to Omo-Agege, a good leader should start from home. “After all, charity, they say begins at home”, hence, he said Deltans should reject Oborevwori as voting him to govern the state means voting Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s stooge to continue to misrule the state.
The state government however, through Charles Aniagwu, commissioner for information, fired back, accusing the senator of being ignorant of the meaning of development.
Speaking at a separate press briefing, Aniagwu expressed shock that the senator would claim to have executed even the roads built by the state government.
Even the university the senator boasted of, Aniagwu said it was only the signboard mounted along the road that he erected. According to him, there is no such university established through the efforts of Omo-Agege as the senator claimed.
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He wondered why the DSP would be blaming the state government for failed portions of roads, such as the Agbor-Eku-Sapele Road, Ughelli-Asaba Road and Warri Benin Roads whereas all the roads are Federal Government-owned.
“The senator had succeeded in accusing his APC federal-controlled government of failure and ineptitude,” said Aniagwu.
He said that contrary to Omo-Agege’s false accusation of widespread underdevelopment in the riverine areas of the state, the Okowa-led PDP Government had successfully executed projects in the riverine areas of Delta to the amazement of the benefitting communities.
He listed some riverine projects to include, Yokri I and Yokri II tarred road in Ogulagha in Burutu Local Government Area and the tarring of roads Burutu Town.
The commissioner said that roads were similarly tarred in Okerenkoko, Ogidighen in Warri South West and the Ogheye Floating Market in Warri North, which he said was the only such floating market in West Africa and a wonder.
He further said that many other projects had been executed in the upland of the state, adding that he took for granted because many of the journalists seated during the briefing were already aware of the project, such as the Effurun-Otor-Owor Bridge, Agbarho-Ohrerhe Bridge, and the Koka Flyover Interchange.
On the allegation by the deputy Senate president that Delta had received N2.8 trillion in the past seven and half years without anything to show for it, Aniagwu said the allegation was another demonstration of the senator’s lack of understanding, describing it a crass.
He said the senator should have positioned his accusation based on projects executed before saying that nothing was done, asking “where have workers been getting their salaries or payments made for diverse projects and empowerment programmes?”
Aniagwu noted that over the years the state government had made giant strides in the areas of education, where he said educational institutions had not only been increased but upgraded and also sports; saying that the Stephen Keshi Stadium had undergone developmental transformation, and the upgraded Asaba Airport.
The commissioner alleged that the lack of knowledge of the deputy Senate president spoke a lot about his quality of representation at the Senate and wondered if it was responsible why the senator, to date, “has not been able to sponsor any bill in the Senate.”
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