Our party leaders, members of the state caucus of our party, the Director General of our Campaign Organization, our esteemed party members across the state, fellow Cross Riverians, ladies and gentlemen, I feel very humbled by this rare honor to address you as the governorship flag bearer of our great party in the 2019 elections. It is with profound gratitude and a great sense of humility that I accept this nomination. I do not consider this as my victory; it is rather the victory of every member of the All Progressives Congress in Cross River State. The journey so far has been quite tortuous and the task ahead will be more herculean. However, I believe without any doubt that we can surmount the odds and gain the ultimate victory of taking the reins of governance to change the unwholesome narrative in our state for the good of our people.
Let me express my warmest thanks to the quartet of my co-contestants who journeyed with me on this path. They went the farthest in this contention to be the standard bearers of our party and they are all eminently qualified. They showed admirable resilience and unparalleled maturity in their campaigns. I must commend them. I make bold to say that they are an awesome slate of historic political gladiators. These are great men with patriotic zeal for the development of our state who have inspired me. I want to most respectfully appeal to them to keep faith with our party and join me in the work that lies ahead. From their individual pedigrees, they are men who embody the spirit of service and they are part of the finest crop of statesmen I’ll like to work with to change the current maladministration we have in our dear state.
My fellow compatriots, you would recall that on Wednesday 5th September, 2018, I formally declared to run for the Office of the Governor of our dear state on the platform of our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). In my declaration speech, I stated the numerous self-inflicted but avoidable failure of governance that has gripped our state as a result of the abysmal performance of the present visionless administration. I also promised to launch a well thought-out economic development blueprint tagged; “Social Empowerment and Economic Development Agenda (SEEDA)” that will put the state on a workable path again, restore public trust in governance and usher in the much desired prosperity and progress for the masses of our people.
This blueprint that will form the policy thrust and give clear direction to our administration will be launched few weeks from now. The document will be put in the public domain for scrutiny and it will stand as a covenant with our people. Our development framework shall be erected on a bottom-up structure from an inward looking perspective that would herald an upward trend in the sustainable growth of our local economy to create jobs, improve the wellbeing of our people and close the yawning infrastructural needs in our state.
My declaration was followed by a statewide consultation tour during which I intimated party stalwarts on the determination and vision that propelled my aspiration to run for the Office of the Governor of Cross River State. In the course of these interactions, I saw and felt first hand the deep desire of our people for a positive change in the governance of our dear state. I have never felt so proud of a people buoyed by a high sense of purpose, grit and determination with the genuine craving and legitimate inclination to create a new order in which our transformative capacity will be unfurled for the good of all and sundry.
These statewide interactions further strengthened my resolve and belief that there can be no better time to seek to rescue our dear state than now. The mandate you’ve given to me to fly our party’s flag in the forthcoming governorship election is a marching order to lead the pack and commence the journey of the restoration of the lost glory of our state. Apparently, the profound challenges we face today as a state will test our mettle as a party and task our leadership ingenuity as a people. But it is in times of great crisis that true leaders are made. Therefore, ours cannot be an exception. We shall rise to the occasion and live up to our billing. We shall run a well organized campaign founded on issues while we proffer better alternative, result-oriented and implementable policy choices in the interest of our dear state. We shall simplify governance and deliver the goods to our people without making empty promises. We shall refrain from occupying the front pew of mere presumptuous pontification as we have seen in recent times.
To all Cross Riverians of all creed, to the hardworking and enterprising men and women of our dear state, to the energetic and teeming youths of our state brimming with profound dreams and possibilities, to the indigent and infirm crushed by abject failure of governance in our state, to the farmers who till our fertile lands to eke out a living, to millions of our men and women at the bottom rung of the socioeconomic ladder who dream of a prosperous Cross River State, to all of you, I say: Help Is On the way! Our redemption is on the horizon. Our dear state certainly deserves better and with your support, better days are indeed possible again!
God bless the All Progressives Congress
God bless Cross River State
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria
God bless you.
