Wike vs Dakukus Acceptance Speech. I am deeply humbled and elevated by the electoral success achieved today at this State Congress of our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). It is unique and special that you have found us worthy to be entrusted with the enormous responsibility of flying the flag of the Party by electing me Governorship Candidate in the 2015 elections in Rivers State. I dedicate this victory to God Almighty who made all things. It is a victory for democracy. It is a victory for all of us who toiled day and night as foot soldiers of the PDP in Rivers State. I congratulate especially, all my fellow aspirants as worthy gladiators and hereby publicly invite them to join hands with us in the great tasks ahead; the task of ensuring total victory for the PDP in Rivers State; the task of ensuring the reelection of His Excellency President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in whom we are all well pleased and committed to the cause of his victory at the polls in 2015. On my honour, I offer the olive branch to all combatants in the struggle to recover for the PDP and indeed all Rivers people, the stolen mandate currently in the hands of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Rivers State. We shall and we should work together and very assiduously to recover what is rightly ours... We need to work together to rebuild our once beautiful Rivers State. I urge you all not to weep. I urge you all my brothers and sisters to put on your working clothes and commence immediately, the process of rebuilding our great State. This we shall do first, by recovering it from the grip of its present poor handlers. We must achieve this through the ballot box. The NEW RIVERS VISION 2015 is a programme of action whose central theme is our economic, infrastructural, administrative and human resource reconstruction, regeneration and redevelopment. Everyone has a part to play at the project site. It is a task that must be done!... Rivers State is a land full of institutions and traditions of many years of advancement and time-honoured civilizations, city states, kingdoms and chiefdoms. These institutions enhanced our identity as true Rivers people who have values, norms, customs and mores that are timeless and well honoured. Today, balkanization of traditional institutions has become a weapon of political oppression and reckless intimidation. We shall put a stop to this madness and restore sanity in our land again. We shall seek the path of honour and true reconciliation... I also declared that should I win the contest, you all shall like good sportsmen join me to face the battle ahead and win in all the elections in 2015 for the PDP. After all, this is a race keenly contested and with only one man to embrace the tape of victory. In the course of this contest, a number of people, politicians, elders and opinion moulders amongst others poured some vituperations upon our persons. We consider these comments, criticisms and attacks on us as friendly tackles in the field of play. I hereby declare that I have forgiven them all. In the same vein, I apologize to all those we may have offended directly or indirectly through our comments, speeches and actions in the course of this struggle as we believe that in the process of a complicated surgery, as politics, nerves, arteries and veins may be affected by the surgical knife. However, the recovery and the healing process in the end save lives. In the name of God, please forgive as we have forgiven all those who may have offended us. Such reconciliation must be genuine. We seek to bring back everyone to the sheepfold and rebuild our once strong, virile, united political family. It is going to be a challenging assignment. But we have confidence in the ability of our people to discharge this onerous responsibility of true political reconciliation. It is the basis of our march to victory. We have therefore set up a Reconciliation Committee with the following as Chairman, Secretary and members... On our part, I shall personally lead the way to reach out to all our elders, compatriots in the exercise of achieving electoral success for the PDP. I shall create no boundaries and I shall leave no stone unturned in the process. I shall knock on all the doors of our leaders and offer the peace gesture. No one alone can win this battle, just as no man alone can savour the sweet incense of victory. Let us serve together to salvage Rivers State from the APC. I urge all our people to join this team of devoted party faithful to ensure victory for the PDP. I declare again that our mission is to ensure that no Rivers man or woman, neither ethnic nor any geographical location or enclave for that matter, shall suffer disaffection, discrimination or deliberate exclusion from the common wealth that providence and prodigally bestowed upon Rivers State. We shall, when we win and win, we shall in the name of God Almighty endeavour to recover our looted public resources including the retrun of the sold infrastructures built with public funds and currently pocketed by cronies of the outgoing government. We shall endeavour to build a harmonious Rivers State again, where no man is oppressed. We shall strive to maintain a robust relationship with the Federal Government led by our beloved brother, father, son-in-law and the Rivers man in every respect, His Excellency Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR... God bless Nigeria. Blessed be the hands that cast the lot that gave us victory today. I thank you all for your patience. - NYESOM WIKE Let me begin by thanking everyone-delegates, party chieftains, elder statesmen and women, our vibrant young people, colleagues, gentlemen of the press, ladies and gentlemen for being here today. Your presence here makes today historic and significant in the annals of our great party, APC and Rivers State, because today we pass on the baton in our quest to ensure that we consolidate on our dream of a greater Rivers state where everything good is possible. As witnesses to history, you all will agree with me that for the past seven years our State has made tremendous progress under our dynamic Governor and leader, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. Despite the debilitating circumstances, impossible odds, enormous challenges and stormy political climate, our state has continued to march on in the path of prosperity. We have been ‘counting our blessings’ by the grace and mercy of God, and we will continue to depend on our God. Today by your votes and the considered decision of our leaders and elders you have entrusted upon my shoulders the mandate to carry further our shared vision of a greater Rivers State... I am humbled that amongst many qualified sons and daughters this august assembly has chosen me to carry your quest to seek the mandate to serve our people. I am humbled by this confidence you reposed in me, and accepts this mandate with a keen sense of responsibility knowing full well that I will be accountable to God, Rivers people and our great party... My desire to be the Governor of our dear State is a product of deep commitment to serve and a passion to expand economic opportunities for all our people. My aspiration is not about the pomps, pecks and privileges of office, but out of a desire to make Rivers State greater... I have been challenged by this passion and believe that a greater Rivers State is possible if we all join hands. Together I believe we can provide leadership that will accelerate the actualisation of a greater Rivers dream of improved middle class, first class safe environment, equal and more socio-economic opportunities and create a greater sense of community, a Rivers State that will be the pride of Africa. Our party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), is a party of ideas. One that believes in the unity of people to achieve set goals of socio-economic prosperity, functional infrastructure; and building an educated and healthy people. I will pursue the manifesto of our great party with all my youthful vigour, talent, your support and the guidance of our elders. To our youths, I am one of you. I am conscious of the fact that I represent our generation. The world, Rivers people and our elders are watching, how we will utilize our youthful energy, intellect, zeal and exposure in taking our state to the next level. On my honour, I promise I will not disappoint you. Together we cannot afford to disappoint them... I wish to say in the days ahead I will present to the world our ‘Roadmap to Prosperity’ which will be our covenant with Rivers people. In doing this, I want to say it loud and clear that I believe in a united Rivers State and will continue to work for that. In my charter of service, we are going to create opportunity for all. We have got to grow this economy. People will have incentives to make long-term investment in Rivers and reap rewards. We will encourage productivity and discourage rent seeking. We will continue to build on the legacies we have inherited by investing more money in qualitative education and emerging technologies to help keep high-paying jobs here in Rivers State. Security will continue to be our topmost priority. Fortunately, for us our leader, Governor Amaechi has laid an undeniable and irreversible foundation for accelerated growth. Our covenant with God therefore is to serve and to be a blessing to Rivers people unto his glory. Today however, is only the beginning of our journey together. We will be coming round to each of you as we fine tune our agenda... I appeal to everyone here and to all our people to please endure my ‘troubles and harassments’ as we will need to come back to you again and again to ensure that we deliver on this assignment to your complete satisfaction. Am convinced that as the scriptures say ‘in the multitude of counsel, there is safety. I will therefore repeatedly seek your counsel as we work to deliver the Rivers of our dreams... Together, we are committed to a functional participatory democracy; Together, we are building a greater Rivers State; Together, we believe; Together, we make it happen; Greater Together, under God, we flourish... DAKUKU PETERSIDE
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 08:04:53 +0000
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