The YPP candidate said, “While addressing Ibori, I urged him to use his contact to ensure a level-playing field for all the governorship candidates.”
By Jeffrey Agbo
Governorship candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) in Delta State, Sunny Ofehe, has said he met with former governor James Ibori, not for endorsement but to acknowledge him as an elder statesman.
Both men met behind closed doors at Ibori’s county home in Oghara.
Disclosing the outcome of the meeting, Ofehe said he visited Ibori because the latter had a major role to play towards who emerged as the next governor of the state in 2023.
The YPP candidate said, “While addressing Ibori, I urged him to use his contact to ensure a level-playing field for all the governorship candidates to showcase themselves and what they have to offer Delta State in the build-up to the March 11 governorship election in the state.
“I told Ibori, our leader, that there is no place in the world where four seaports within a radius of 110km from each other and yet the state is not benefiting from it.
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“We have what it takes to compete with Rotterdam and even become the global hub of maritime activities. We have 165.12km of coastline and we are not dealing with the fish and other marine possibilities that are there yet.
“I was in Gbaramatum Kingdom, we went through a lot of oil wells, flow stations, and manifolds yet the citizens of that place don’t have the basic water yet we are the largest producer of crude oil in this country. Because we are the largest producer of crude oil, Nigeria today is the eighth largest exporter of crude oil.
“Delta State has same typography as Rotterdam which has the highest concentration of tank farms in the world yet does not produce crude oil and with the busiest port in the world. With the right leadership, the four seaports in the state can be revamped and put to proper use through FDI.
“When we were coming, I told my people in the car that the Ethiope River is the deepest single inland waterway in the whole of Africa. It is sad that we are not taking advantage of these commercial opportunities that are open to us in this part of the world.”
He said that when elected as governor, he would harness the commercial opportunities in the Ethiope River, the deepest River in Africa, and turn it into a tourist attraction centre for local and international visitors.
