According to Ofehe, the administration of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state and that of President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the federal government are “insensitive to the plights of Deltans and Nigerians”.
The governorship candidate of the Young Progressive Party (YPP) for the 2023 election in Delta State, Sunny Ofehe, has described the government in power as a “monumental failure”.
According to Ofehe, the administration of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state and that of President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the federal government are “insensitive to the plights of Deltans and Nigerians”.
Addressing members of YPP, other candidates of the party and his supporters over the weekend at his home town, Iyede, in the Isoko Local Government Area of the state, during a grand reception to welcome him back from Europe to Nigeria, Ofehe noted that elected officials who have held political office either through appointment or election and do not have any commendable project attached to their name should not be trusted with a higher office.
According to the Netherlands-based environmental rights activist, the APC has performed abysmally at the national level, given the state of the country's infrastructure, particularly roads.
He also slammed Buhari's administration over its poor handling of the ecological crisis that Nigeria is presently experiencing, adding that while the PDP has failed at the state level, the APC has failed at the national level.
"The PDP and APC, the two major political parties in the nation, don't deserve to have any of their governorship candidates elected to office in 2023 because the political parties have failed the nation and its people woefully.
“Look at Delta's debt burden and financial responsibility issues. In terms of the state's resources and revenue, is Delta really doing well? Our internally generated resources are hidden, and our debt load is increasing exponentially daily. We cannot continue to deal with the ongoing problems that have driven our people deeper and deeper into a cycle of poverty and impoverishment and still rank among the top producers of natural gas and crude oil.
"I frequently ponder why we are being so wicked to ourselves whenever I see the infrastructure that our current leaders tout for a prosperous state like Delta. Those who couldn't use their federal power to advocate for the improvement of the East-West Road, particularly the Warri-Sapele-Benin expressway, should be paid back with zero votes in 2023. Whether they refer to it as a federal road or not, the Warri-Sapele-Benin expressway’s appalling condition is a vote of no confidence in the Okowa-led administration and the federal government.
"What should I be doing in Government House if as a governor I can't muster the political will and resources to handle that road and improve life for my people? If I am elected governor of Delta state, we will assemble the top construction firms to construct and repair our roads, and if it is a federal road, I will fix it so that it alleviates the suffering and distress our people experience along the route.
“If I am stopped, I'll sue the federal government, win the case in court, and then file a new lawsuit against them once the project is finished to get our money back. We must reclaim our state.
"You cannot continue to fly and don't want to see the suffering people passing these routes endure every day just because one federal agency says it is a federal road and allows your people to suffer because of this. Take a look at the ecological crisis that Nigeria is presently experiencing; the current flooding is a man-made crisis.”
“The federal government was aware of what needed to be done and what went wrong, leading to the flooding of the entire nation, but they were either adamant or unsure of what to do or better yet, they simply wanted to be cruel to the populace. It is high time for us to start holding our leaders and government responsible for their mistakes and shortcomings," Ofehe added.