BY CHARLES KUMOLU

A governorship aspirant on the platform of All Progressives Congress, APC, in Delta State, Dr. Iyke Odikpo, in this interview, states why he considers himself the front-runner for the party’s governorship ticket. He also discusses the dynamics that would define the primaries.

Odikpo

What are your prospects of getting the governorship ticket of APC?

The APC governorship race in Delta State is an interesting thing for me because I am a committed party member. Party members requested that I should join the race.   I am the party’s candidate. We built the party from the scratch in Delta. I don’t see how I can lose our primaries in Delta State. I have been with the party from day one.   I have the resources to contest. All our party faithful need to do is to support my aspiration. We have surprised those who doubted our prospects because I am now looking like a front-runner after being perceived as a dark horse.   It has been an exciting project for me.

Can you paint the picture of what your support base looks like in the grassroots?

I am a grassroots person. APC members will tell you that I have a grassroots appeal more than others, who have indicated interest in the race. One of the aspirants, an academic, is a good material but he is not well-rooted in terms of closeness to the grassroots. A former speaker of the state House of Assembly, cannot be said to have the kind of support I have in the party. Another one who led a faction of PDP   and failedwho just joined our party is alien to the APC structure. When all these are put together, it will be obvious that I am the grassroots candidate. APC members know me because we built the party from nothing. I consider myself as one of the warriors of Delta APC because we fought so many battles to make the party what is today.

What is the level of your acceptance across the 25 Local Government Areas, LGAs, in the state?

My campaign organisation is mobilising across the LGAs.   Our support base cuts across all the local governments. Before now, we had presence in some of the proscribed pressure groups in the party. I was the brain behind Mainstream APC and it had coordinators in all the local governments.   I am going to run a six-month campaign for the primaries.

What are the deficits in governance that you want to fix if elected the governor of Delta State?

Delta State has the potentialities of being like Lagos State. It has the financial and human resources, unfortunately, it seems that something is wrong with the people who have governed the state since 1999. If we keep doing the same thing the same way, we will keep getting the same results. Some of us, who have been observing from the sidelines are now worried and have decided to see how we can change the way Delta State is governed. I know that if there is a change of government in Delta State today, the rot of the many years will be unraveled the way it happened at the centre.

If we can curb the mismanagement of the state’s resources, the state will achieve its potentialities. The state has neighboring states like Edo and Anambra that have overcome their leadership challenge. We can emulate those states by rejecting the PDP. In Edo, Oshiomhole became governor and got Edo working. Sen Chris Ngige did it in Anambra and his successor, Mr. Peter Obi did the same thing. I believe that Delta will work if we reject PDP and accept APC. People like us, who are in the private sector, will make sure we use our experience to make Delta State work. If someone like me can manage the resources of a business successfully, there is no doubt that I can successfully manage the resources of Delta for Deltans.

How do you think the ethnic diversity of the state will play out this time in who becomes the APC governorship candidate?

Coming from Delta North Senatorial District is a huge advantage for anybody contesting for governorship in Delta State. It is so because of the rotation between the South, Central and Northern senatorial districts. Any candidate that can win the governorship election in 2019 must hail from Delta North and the person should be ready to serve for one term.

Among those, who are contesting, the people know those, who are accessible and can be trusted. I am not someone, who does not honour an agreement. That is a guarantee that I will abide by the one-term agreement. I am 55 years old and the retirement age in Nigeria is 60. If I am given the opportunity to govern the state, I will be of retirement age in 2023. I don’t need more than one term to give Delta State a direction. Ngige did not spend more than two years before he gave Anambra a direction. My aspiration is to give the state a direction. It is to give those that will come after me a direction.

It is wrong to think that an APC governor of Delta North extraction would usurp the power-sharing arrangement in the state. If I become the governor and spend four years, it would mean that Delta North has completed its two terms. If APC gets someone from the Central zone, the PDP will vote massively for Okowa because if an APC candidate wins the election, it will change the power-sharing formula.

Today, the candidates who are showing interest in APC are from Delta North and Delta Central Senatorial Districts. Ogboru is interested but the equation does not favour him because all the PDP chieftains from his zone will vote massively for Okowa. That has not helped his aspiration. Those of us from Delta North, who can be trusted with the one-term agreement, will get the support of people from other senatorial zones. In APC, we are playing intelligent politics by looking at Delta North as a place where our candidate will emerge.   In as much as there is no zoning in the party, it is generally believed that Delta North is the zone that will produce an APC governor. And I am the best person from the zone to guarantee victory for the party.