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The APC 2023 Senatorial Candidate for Benue South, Comrade Daniel Onjeh, has presented a chain of demands for the development of his senatorial district to the presumed next federal administration.

In an open letter to the supposed next President and Commander-in-Chief dated 31st October, 2022, Com. Onjeh re-affirmed his earlier viewpoint that the challenge of Benue South was neither religion nor ethnicity, but underdevelopment.

He further stated that while some politicians may be joggling the minds of the electorate with secondary issues just to gain undue advantage in the next general elections, he wishes to intimate the future President of the real challenges facing his people, so they could be accorded priority attention in the developmental agenda of the next administration.

In the 24-paragraph letter, Com. Onjeh informed the next President that Nigerians could still fondly recall his efforts and sacrifices towards the entrenchment of democracy and good governance in the country, at a time when his contemporaries were frolicking with the military junta.

Com. Onjeh further commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his many laudable initiatives that helped indigent Benue South citizens to cope with the global economic downturn, including the Trader Moni; Survival Fund; Conditional Cash Transfers; the 1000 Jobs per Local Government Initiative; N-Power Project; Food Vendor; Anchor-Borrowers Scheme; COVID-19 Grant etc.

According to Com. Onjeh, the socio-infrastructural needs of the Benue South include access roads to the Igede nation in Obi and Oju Local Governments; establishment of a military base near the Oweto Bridge and the dredging of the Agatu River; beefing-up of security in Ogbadibo and Okpokwu Local Governments; establishment of a standard Teaching Hospital in Benue South and the provision of potable water/rehabilitation of township roads in Otukpo, to mention but a few.

The full text of the open letter is as published below:

OPEN LETTER TO THE NEXT PRESIDENT, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA

31st October, 2022

The Next President and Commander-in-Chief,
Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Sir,

BENUE SOUTH ON THE NEXT DEVELOPMENTAL AGENDA

Like many new Governments that come with great hope and new opportunities, your Administration is bound to be inundated with many requests at the individual, group and community levels. You are therefore assured of a very hectic first tenure; and because I desire that my people of Benue South be fully carried along in the next political dispensation, I want to be the first to table real campaign issues affecting our lives before you.

2. Therefore, while some politicians, many whom were comfortable with the Abiola/Kingibe SDP Presidential Ticket of 1993, may now be joggling the minds of the electorate with secondary issues just to gain undue advantage in the coming elections, I wish to present a clear picture of my constituents’ expectations from you, in the hope that you will accord them priority attention when you come on board May 29th next year.
3. In my opinion, the transformation or advancement of any democratic society is an incremental phenomenon. That is why I am not swayed by presidential candidates that present the solutions to Nigerian’s problems as a marathon. To me, the path to tackling our national plights is a relay race. What Nigeria needs now is a leader that would consolidate on the gains of the current Administration, proffer lasting solutions to our teething problems and lay a firm template for future infrastructural advancement.
4. As the 2023 Senatorial Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Benue South, I long resolved not to belabour myself with issues of religion, ethnicity or other primordial sentiments as subject matters of my campaign, because they are not the problems of my people. My people are quite aware that corrupt individuals usually capitalize on the fault lines of religion and ethnicity to perpetrate their thieving with impunity. However, the core challenge of my people is, and has been, underdevelopment, which is not peculiar to any religion, ethnic group or tribe. So, I would rather discuss solutions to the real developmental issues affecting my people, than broaching the primordial sentiments of religion and ethnicity.
5. Although your choice of Vice Presidential Candidate stirred up controversies in some quarters, with claims that you are a religious bigot, I am not beguiled by such arguments because I was born and raised in the north, so I have a fair idea of the philosophy and modus operandi of bigots. If you were an Islamic bigot, you would have long converted your wife, who is not only a Christian but a Pastor of the Redeem Christian Church of God. I also know that no Islamic fanatic would approve his daughter’s marriage to a Christian man, like you did.
6. In fact, due to your level of religious tolerance, I always almost forget your religious identity until the media reports that you were sighted in a mosque somewhere. Religious bigots are innately impatient. But while you had every opportunity since 2007 to declare for the Presidency, despite nursing the ambition and being equally blessed with the means to pursue and actualize it, you rather took time to build the leadership capacities of young, enterprising men and women, thereby creating unique opportunities for the younger generation of Nigerians.
7. However, if religion and ethnicity were to be the cornerstones of my political persuasions, then for the fact that our incumbent President, His Excellency Muhammadu Buhari, is a Muslim from the North, I would have condemned the decisions of the PDP and NNPP, as well as our party the APC, to field Muslim Presidential Candidates in 2023. In fact, the PDP and NNPP Presidential Candidates are both not only Muslims, but also from the Northern region as President Buhari.
8. Hopefully, your election as President next year would be the watershed in our political history, as it could de-emphasize the highly controversial issue of religion from our national psyche, thereby paving the way for character, competence, pedigree and acceptability to be the key criteria for determining our future leaders.
9. More so, the Federal University of Health Sciences, which was not made possible for us under two Christian Presidents: Obasanjo and Jonathan; became a reality under the leadership of President Buhari. The much-celebrated, hitherto almost abandoned Oweto Bridge, which is now strengthening the economy of Benue South and which proximity to some capital cities like the FCT has eased the movement of our local farm produce to these cities and their satellite towns, was completed by President Buhari, not a Christian President. I am not implying that the Governments of Presidents Obasanjo and Jonathan did not record significant strides in other spheres of national endeavour in their tenures.
10. But we recall that the widows and elderly in Benue South, who were almost neglected by previous Administrations, were remembered by President Muhammadu Buhari via his Administration’s numerous welfare packages including the Trader Moni; Survival Fund; Conditional Cash Transfers; the 1000 Jobs per Local Government Initiative; N-Power Project; Food Vendor; Anchor-Borrowers Scheme; COVID-19 Grant and several other laudable initiatives that helped indigent citizens to cope with the global economic downturn. Therefore, it is clear that the problem of my people is not tribe, ethnicity or religion. Rather, it is the common, deeply entrenched problem of underdevelopment.
11. Firstly, my Igede kins have long been tacitly disconnected from other parts of the country due to poor road infrastructure. Oju Local Government, the Administrative Centre of Igede nation, is just about 66km from Otukpo; 138 km from Makurdi, the state capital, and 47 km from Ogoja in Cross Rivers State. The Igede people are strong, enterprising farmers, but their farm produce are either underpriced or spoilt because their communities are barely accessible by the big markets. Consequently, Nigeria loses considerable revenue annually.
12. Furthermore, the people of Agatu Local Government have suffered series of violent attacks from suspected terrorist herders and other unknown gunmen, with many of them have been forced to flee their ancestral lands. I therefore humbly appeal that you kindly establish a military base near the Oweto Bridge when you come into office next year, to serve the twin purpose of securing the bridge, which is a critical infrastructure that connects the Northern and Southern parts of Nigeria; and providing additional security for the Agatu people, to enable them return home to their social and economic activities including fishing and farming.
13. I equally wish to advocate for dredging of the Agatu River, along with the establishment of a commercial harbour. Dredging the river would alleviate the perennial challenge of flooding in Agatu land. The Benue South people also crave rail lines for cargo trains that can transport their farm produce to the far North – Maiduguri and Sokoto; and far South – Lagos and Port Harcourt, to boost agricultural activities and reduce their over-dependence on white collar jobs.
14. More so, while I condemn the state of insecurity across Benue South, I wish to specifically mention that insecurity in Ogbadibo Local Government where I hail from ought to constitute a national emergency. The social, cultural and economic activities of my people have been severely disrupted by the activities of bandits and kidnappers. Therefore, we will be eternally grateful if your Administration accords urgent attention to tackling the challenge of insecurity in our local government.
15. On another note, proximity to decent and affordable healthcare is a major challenge to the Benue South people. The several socio-infrastructural deficits they suffer predispose them to adverse medical conditions. The absence of a standard public hospital has compelled our people to travel as far as Makurdi, Enugu or even Abuja in search of decent healthcare. Since we now have a School of Health Sciences in Otukpo, we humbly appeal in the spirit of incremental development that you help to establish a standard Teaching Hospital in Benue South within your first term as President.
16. In addition, you may kindly consider building an airstrip around the Otukpo-Apa-Ohimini axis, to encourage and ease the influx of expatriates for future oil exploration activities, in view of the commercial deposits of crude oil reportedly discovered earlier at Benue South. You may also consider supporting the full-scale mining of the abundant Owukpa coal deposits, which is acclaimed to have the capacity to provide enough electricity to power the entire country. This would create a lot of employment for the locals and fast-track the development of Owukpa town and its environs.
17. Meanwhile, Otukpo, the cultural and socio-economic nerve centre of Idoma land is critically lacking potable water and good inter-township roads. I am sure they wished their roads were as good as Lagos roads. Otukpo is also long overdue for the localization of ceramics, tiles and related industries. The legal commercial exploitation of the abundant clay deposits in Otukpo and its environs would guarantee this, and further boost the local economy of the Senatorial District.
18. Also of great concern to my Benue South people is the need to put safe and legal practices in place for the mining of the copious limestone deposits in Ado Local Government. Ado is capable of becoming the next epicenter for the commercial production of cement in Nigeria, if efforts are made to utilize the large bodies of limestone deposits that God had bequeathed it with.
19. Like several other transformational leaders in history, your economic policies and programmes may initially appear repugnant to many citizens. Transformational leadership is said to be the capacity to inspire people to want to grow, change and be led. So at inception, transformational leaders may be harshly criticized. But all sincere and well-meaning Nigerians will appreciate the necessity to sacrifice some degree of our personal comfort and convenience in order to actualize the change that we seek. Even the great Lee Kuan Yew, famed founding father of Singapore and Prime Minister between 1959 and 1990, was accused in several quarters as being semi-authoritarian.
20. Back home in Nigeria, we also witnessed how the Administration of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai as Minister of FCT, came under heavy criticisms at inception. But many years after his exit, the residents of FCT are now enjoying the dividends of his transformational leadership.
21. It is on the above note that I finally wish to add that Benue South is a notable stronghold of your political party, the APC. Our people are very educated, diligent, competent, committed and loyal. You should therefore kindly consider as many of them as are eligible, for appointments in different capacities under your Administration.
22. Sir, the Benue South people wish to key into your anticipated developmental strides by the aforementioned, amongst others. I am confident that you can address all our requests, because great leaders are defined by their ability to assemble the right human resources that can deliver on set socio-economic goals. You have an unbeatable legacy of fixing round pegs in round holes.
23. I further wish to state that Nigerians have not forgotten the enormous sacrifices you have made towards the entrenchment of democracy and good governance in Nigeria, at a time when your contemporaries were frolicking with the military junta. You literally put your life on the line then, for the democracy that we are all enjoying today. Therefore, we have no iota of doubt that you will still put your life on the line if necessary, to restore the lost glory of our nation. I therefore wish to assure you that the generality of Benue South electorate will vote massively for you in 2023, which you may verify from the final results of the election.
24. The foregoing are elements of my campaign manifesto to the good people of Benue South, in addition to my desire to be part of the critical mass of Senators that will increase the quality of debates on national policies that bother on the lives of ordinary citizens. I am echoing them to you because I strongly believe that you will become the next President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This is far more important to my people than discussing the twin issue of religion and ethnicity. It is my earnest prayer that this letter gets to you in due time, and that you give it all the attention that it deserves.

Please accept the assurances of my esteemed regards and goodwill.

Yours faithfully,

COMRADE DANIEL DONALD ONJEH,
APC 2023 Senatorial Candidate for Benue South