Embrace Peace, Ebegba appeals To Warring Factions In Evwreni

By Eubaldus Enahoro

The Director General and Chief Executive of the National Biosafety Management Agency, Chief Rufus Eseoghene Ebegba has appealed to the people of Evwreni in Ughelli North local government area in Delta State to embrace peace for the social economic development of the community.

Speaking during the inauguration of the Rufus Ebegba Political Initiative at the weekend, in Evwreni Chief Ebegba said, it is time there is peace in the area, noting that if there is no peace there cannot be development.

According to him, “there have been several agitations in the community but we want justice, we want peace and we are going to achieve them in Jesus name. I want to appeal to all of you, if there is no peace in Evwreni I cannot come here. I should be able to come and walk freely in Evwreni without being afraid that anybody will attack me.

“All these crises that have been on, I have tried to remain neutral but there can never be neutrality in the place of injustice. Justice is what we want. I know some people have lost their relations, some have lost their houses, lost so many things and they have been traumatized.

“I want to beg you to make the sacrifice for the sake of our community, for the sake of our children. All this conflicts that are going on if it is not addressed the time is coming that the children from this side will not marry from the other side.

“If they insist to marry from the other side there will be crisis in the place, is that what we want. No, we want a united community. I have not come to replace any leader; I have come to join you to ensure there is peace and justice.

On his political aspiration, he further disclosed that, “if there is no peace here I cannot even come to campaign. I have not come to campaign yet. I have only come to make you know my plans. This is my second or third visit here.

“ I am a Christian, when Jesus Christ was born, the king then was worried and he wanted to kill Him and God gave his parents directives on what to do in a dream and from then Jesus Christ was not heard about anymore. “Then, when he was twelve years old his mother asked him to do a miracle and he more or less told his mother that his time had not come. But he did his first miracle and after that Jesus was not seen, but he was preparing for what his father asked him to come and do.

“Yes, some people are asking, where have you been? Where have I been? I have been in Nigeria, at Abuja since 1990 as a young man working in the federal civil service preparing myself for higher service. I will not waste all the years’ experiences I have built in the civil service before rising to a Director General which is a political office.

“I can leverage on it to serve Nigeria better, to serve the state better. To serve you better. Yes, there have been leaders in the state, governors all over the years. In the University, when you fail, you may be allowed to repeat some courses, but a time also comes that you will need to withdraw.

“We cannot continue to have the same result, because we do things the same way. We must do things differently with different people. Some of you sitting here today have your various political masters. I have not come to ask you to leave them, but I am telling you to make a change so that our parents, our youths, those who are vulnerable will have a better life.

“If I lean on a tree and the tree cannot support me, it means I am stronger than that tree. I may be speaking in parables or in a manner that you may not understand, but I am offering myself to serve. I am not the conventional politician you know, you might be expecting me to come with a flowing agbada and with money.

“But I have come simple like one of you. 2023 will spring surprises. Let me make it abundantly clear, no one has a permanent seat in Osadebe house, Asaba. No one will share the political positions; it is you that will determine who goes there.

“Do not think some people will anoint me. It is God that will anoint me; I refuse to be anointed by men. With all sense of humility I am not a hungry man. My generation will not suffer. I am a product of poverty, I came from a home where we barely fed, I never knew my father so much. But some of you knew my father that he was a strong man when he was around.

“A lion must bear a lion. A lion does not bear a goat. I have come to give you hope, I have come to let you know that your tomorrow will be better than today. As for the youths, you have been used as instruments of violence, instrument of destruction, instrument of evil.

“I have come to appeal to you to lay down your evil ways and embrace peace so that you can live descent lives like your masters who use you to commit crime and evil. It is time to dissociate yourselves from what is evil. If you are not here to fight for them they cannot fight; how many of them do come out to vote on Election Day. I have not come to castigate them. I have come to tell you the truth. That you can make a change so that you can also have a future for yourself and your children, born and unborn.

“I tell you one thing, if care is not taken, you will have five graduates in your house, eating, fighting and quarrelling every day, because none of them is entitled to a decent job. There is no doubt that you need paid employment that is pensionable, so that you can help yourself, help your family, get married and live decent lives.

“The more decent you people are, the more economically powerful you are and the better it is for the society at large. Today in Nigeria we hear of Boko Haram here, insurgency there, kidnappers there, 419, there. Most of you sitting here have now become 419 overnight, you no longer allow women pants to rest. I was talking to someone recently to warn her son to desist from this 419.

“She told somebody that other people children are doing it, they are building houses, using the same method. Our children must leave what is evil and they can become great leaders, model in our society.

“If I say support me today, you will say that man does not know what he is talking about. Others give us money but he is telling us to give him money. Barrack Obama, former President
of United States of America, when he said he wants to be President of the United States people laughed at him and they asked whose son he was. Yes I am a son of nobody, but I am somebody.

“I feel like saying it with all sense of humility, it is you that will redeem yourself, nobody will redeem you. The politicians need you for their political success. We have what is called
political slavery right now. They use you as their political industrial slaves to work in their farms and raise money for them. They want you to remain as political slaves. They never see you after the election until the next election come.

“When President Muhammadu Buhari came, he said if you like vote for me or don’t vote for me. If I tell you the same you will say I am arrogant. Send me on this errand and I will deliver for you. This man sitting here today, I only met him once, Anthony Akpeki, he said he has done a research on me and he said he would follow me.

“When Jesus Christ was passing beside the water, he saw fisher men and he said all day you have been fishing and have caught nothing, he said cast the net again. Some doubted him and those who believed when they did, they brought out excess fishes.

“I have come to tell you follow me, to cast your net. I have not come to give you money, give me the opportunity to empower you so that you can make a decent living. It is a movement that is going on, The Rufus Ebegba movement. This movement is beyond political party, many have not seen me but they said they will follow me. This is my chief and elder brother; I did not meet him when he said he would want to work with me.

“My prayer is that God will bless all of you. We now have a new dawn, a new political dispensation that will make sure you eat three times a day, that will make sure you eat the works of your hands. Not just eating but you will have some in your bank.

“I have come to inspire you. Some people will come and give you money and tell you I cannot win. But if you vote for me and I win. Those who doubted will come to congratulate you not me” he added..