……….Okowa cannot use me
Former Minister of State for Education and Governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Delta State, Olorogun Barr. Kenneth Gbagi, has said anything short of bringing government to the South for eight years is dead on arrival.
Gbagi, while responding to questions from journalists during a media chat recently at his country home, Oginibo, Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State, stated that the agreement was that the North should do one term of eight years then government should return to the South for eight years.
According to him “I am a Southerner, I support and ask all the southerners, churches, teachers, pensioners and everybody that has any gumption of understanding of life, if you do not support the shift from the North to the South, your children will die slaves, your children children will die as slaves. We must bring government to the South for eight years then take government back to the North for another eight years. That is the most equitable thing I will support as a lawyer and anything to the contrary is dead on arrival.
“We all own this country, we believe in this country I don’t hate any Northerner, some of you who attended my defection to SDP, you saw Emirs and people from the North who are my great friends but we agreed North one term of eight years then government should come back to the South for eight years. Any of you who wants to do anything to thwart that effort to bring governance to the South of Nigeria should have a rethink. Do not be taken for granted and start crying later
“I don’t know how to pretend I will support a presidential candidate from the South. I fought for Jonathan under the Gbagi foundation to be president I fought assiduously hard for Jonathan to be president despite all the hurts and hiccups. So let us not waste time, as we speak today, there are three presidential candidates from the South of Nigeria, Adebayo of SDP, Peter Obi of Labour and Tinubu of APC. If you want this country to go forward vote for any one of them but my choice and if you are my friend, it is to vote for SDP.”
Refuting the rumours making the rounds that the Delta State Government planted him in SDP to divide Urhobo votes, the Former Minister of State for Education said ” Okowa is a brother, he will remain a brother but on principles, Okowa cannot use me to do anything. Nobody in this world can use me to do anything accept God. In fact one of the reasons why Okowa after seven years of agreement decided to do what he is doing now, I am still watching him is that he says that I can not be controlled.
“How can you control me, what am I looking for that you want to control me to do what? In this world nothing can buy my conscience, nothing can change my mind and not of course the likes of Okowa. My father E.K Clarke told me five years ago that Okowa is lying to me but I told him that I believed Okowa, but today
Okowa has proven my father right. I decided to leave the PDP with tears in my eyes because that was a house that I built.
“If I had just agreed that what has happened has happened okay I go and sleep it means I am not a man. But I am a competent man and Okowa can tell all of you that I am a competent man and that is why I want to prove my competency at the ballot next year 2023 under the platform of SDP let me be on the ballot paper and let God decide my fate and I can assure you that I will win the election.”
