I WANT TO PROMOTE A ROBUST CONSTITUENCY REPRESENTATION DRIVEN BY PEOPLE’S WILL, WISHES – DEMI-EJEGI

Engineer Sunday Demi-Ejegi holds a Master’s Degree in Engineering Management and also a grassroots politician who is eyeing the Delta State House of Assembly to represent his people in Warri South Constituency 1. He is a Delta State House of Assembly aspirants under the All Progressives Party (APC). In this interview with Francis Sadhere, he speaks on why he wants to represents his constituency in the state House of Assembly, what is going on in APC and other state and national burning issues. Excerpt:

Please introduce yourself to us sir

My name is Sunday Demi-Ejegi Odunmi. I studied mechanical engineering. I started my educational pursuit from the Petroleum Training Institute, Effurun. I did my ND and HND in PTI before I proceeded to the University of Benin where I had my BSc. in Engineering. I also did my masters in Engineering Management in Benin.

Please tell us why you want to represent your people at the Delta State House of Representative?

In the past years I have seen that the quality and level of representation my constituency have had in the Delta State House of Assembly is less than adequate. It has not met the needs of the people. In a nutshell, there has been no representation. It has just been the representatives representing themselves. The kind of representation that ought to be is a kind of representation whereby you are representing a group of people whose voice and wishes are heard in the house of Assembly. But that is not the case here. What I want to see is a robust and dynamic representation for my people. What I mean by this is that the voice of the people must be heard in the State House of Assembly which will translate to development of the constituency.

What difference are you going to make if you are elected to represent your people?

I will make a lot of difference. First and foremost I will make sure that I create constituency offices in all the communities where there will be feedback on a daily basis from the constituency to me and vise visa. By this the people will know what is happening in the house and I will also be hearing from them. It is what they want me to say there that I will say so that when development comes to their area, it will be what they want and not what will be forced on them. Apart from that I am going to hold quarterly town hall meetings with my people so that we can relate one on one and robe minds.

You are coming out under the umbrella of APC, how confident are you that you are going to win the ticket under this platform?

I am very confident because APC is the new party on ground and it is loved by all the people because PDP has failed the people. If you look at the quality of services that APC governors have given to their people, you will agree with me that APC is loved by Nigerians. They have delivered on their promises and they are still delivering. APC is a party that I know will deliver in Delta State because I have confidence in them. I have confidence in them because the leadership structure is sound, straight forward and there is nothing like Godfatherism. It is a purely democratic party where the voices of the people are heard. In APC you have the opportunity to air your mind without being afraid to hurt somebody.

How will you explain the mass decamping of APC members to other parties?

That is politics for you and it will continue to happen. It is not happening only in APC. PDP have had theirs and they are still having it. So what is happening in APC is a party affair and it will be resolved one way or the other. People are bound to feel dissatisfied and what is happening in the party now cannot tear the party apart, but rather it will unite the party. That is how party politics is played. But at the end we will all come together as one big family and the issues will be resolved.

Now let us come back to your constituency, what do you think is the primary need of your constituency?

One primary need of my constituency is human development. About 50 percent of my constituency is in the riverine areas and a lot of things are not in place in these communities. These people need a means of livelihood because their means of livelihood, which is fishing, has been destroyed by oil explorations. So they need other alternatives. I want to see that my people are empowered; I want to see cottage industries being created in my constituency so that my people will not rely on only one means of livelihood. Oil exploration is killing the ecosystem in these communities. This is why micro industries that will develop the area and make the people satisfied is needed. I am looking at how I am going to collaborate with other groups to set up cottage industries in these communities. We are going to ensure that they have access to micro finances that they will use in setting up small businesses. We are not looking for the big things because the state government will handle that. So I want to empower my people apart from the basic necessities like power, water, schools, etc that they need.

Power is a big problem in this country, how are you going to manage these cottage industries that you are talking about?

With good representation I would able to collaborate with the oil companies in the riverine areas and we will urge them to supply these communities with power. We are not only going to depend on the national grid alone and I know we can achieve this with good legislation. We can also build solar energy and wind energy too. This is possible if we really put our minds to it. We are going to sit down and look around us and find ways to generate power to power these cottage industries we are talking about.

Tell us your mission statement

My mission statement is very simple. I want to develop and promote a robust constituency representation in the Delta State House of Assembly that is driven by the people’s will and their wishes which will lead to a result oriented process that will in turn lead to development in Warri South constituency I.

How do you see Delta State at 23?

First I will say that we thank God for gettin this far, but I think we are not there yet. The ruling party has not done enough with the kind of resources that we are generating from the state. Delta state deserves more but we thank God for where we are and I believe there is room for improvement. This is why we are telling Deltans to vote APC into power so that we can change from what we are used to having.

Do you think APC has what it takes to remove the ruling party from power?

Of course APC has what it takes to rule the state. We have all the material and human resources to defeat PDP. We are set to take over power from the ruling party.

It is barely two months to the local government elections but APC seems to be docile, we are not hearing anything from the party. What is going on?

I will not agree with you that we have not done a lot. We have local government aspirants and councilors in all the local government areas. We are up to the task and by the grace of God we will match PDP man to man. We are ready and we are going to shock PDP.

How are you going to achieve this feat?

What we are doing right now is that we are trying to mobilize the grassroots people and we are telling them that this time around their votes are going to count. It is no longer going to be business as usual. We are encouraging them to come and vote for the candidate of their choice and ensure that their votes count. As I am talking to you right now the people are tired and they are crying for a change.

What is your message to your people?

My message to my people is that they should not give up because we are winning the race and we will get there. We are going to see the change that we are clamouring for. I want to also let them know that if they vote for me, Warri South Constituency 1 will see new ideas. I will give them good representation and with their support their voice will be heard. We have been involved in so many community development projects before now and we are still going to do more before now.

How well do your people know you?

I am a grassroots man and my people know me very well. I started my politicking from the grassroots and I do not have any godfather who I look up to. I am an independent candidate. Let me tell you, the kind of politics that was handed over to us was the politics of godfatherism. But today, what APC is offering us is a kind of politics devoid of godfatherism. So once we are able to unseat them, politics of godfatherism will be a thing of the past. We will no longer be seeing thugs and illiterate people ruling us.

Do you have the financial power to fight the PDP?

The truth is that you cannot remove money from politics. The problem is that people are misusing money in the wrong way. In politicking, you use the money to enlighten the people and let them understand why they should vote for you. You do not use money to buy the conscience of the people. You let them know what their rights are. You should let them know that they should not sell their rights because of money. But we believe that with time all these will be things of the past and there will no longer be money bag politics in our country.