As victims of this year’s flood disaster grapple with increasing hardship in several IDP camps in Delta State, the APC Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu and the Delta State APC governorship candidate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege have donated cash and relief materials worth hundreds of million naira to alleviate the suffering of the displaced persons in the state.
Omo-Agege who announced the donation during his visit to some Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in the state, apologized for the APC presidential candidate’s inability to arrive the state for the visit, citing the ongoing strike in the Aviation sector as the reason.
The APC governorship candidate who addressed a large crowd of supporters at the Osubi Airport said he was embarking on the trip to present the donation in a double capacity, adding that while he was presenting various categories of relief materials worth N150, the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has mandated him to announce his personal donation of N50 million to the different IDP camps in the State.
“Today, I am here wearing two caps. The first cap I am wearing is the cap of the governorship candidate of APC in the 2023 general election. The second cap is that of the coordinator of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Campaign Organisation in Delta State. The essence of this gathering today is to welcome our incoming president by God’s grace, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
“The reason for the visit is to show solidarity, empathy and sympathy with our people as a result of the devastating flood in most of our communities here in Delta State. And also, to provide leadership in our fight to uproot bad governance imposed in Delta State in the past seven and half years.
“But today as you all know, because of the strike in the aviation industry, he is unable to come here to visit the IDP camps. As you know, to get to the IDP camps today, you cannot get there by road. So we made arrangements to use helicopters to move our president-in-waiting and entourage from here to IDP camps in Kwale in Delta North, Patani in Delta South and Okwagbe in Delta Central.
“But we have received a message that because of the strike in the aviation sector, we are not able to get any of those helicopters to move him from here to those IDP camps. So, we have decided to reschedule this visit. He has promised that he’s coming back. Within the next couple of days, he will let us know; at which time the aviation strike would have been called off and we will have access to the helicopters that will take him to those locations.
“He has also told me to make an announcement on his behalf. Because of the empathy he feels for our people, he said I should announce the donation of N50 million to Deltans who have lost their homes and source of livelihood and who are currently in IDP camps. This will be made available to them through the DG of this campaign, Elder Godsday Orubebe.
“We are going to sit down and work out the modality on how this N50 million will be shared with each of the IDP camps to ameliorate the conditions of our people. We know that no one man can restore the losses suffered by our people. So, this is Tinubu’s own way of showing love to the people of Delta State.
“In addition to that, in my capacity as the governorship candidate of APC in Delta State and as Deputy Senate President and Senator representing Delta Central, I have also made arrangements and we have acquired relief materials worth N150 million.
“We have made all of the procurements, food items, cement, mattresses, rice, roofing sheets and more. And beginning on Friday, we are going to set up a committee that will move from IDP camp to IDP camp to distribute all of these materials to our people who have been displaced as a result of this flood”, Omo-Agege said.
The Senator and his entourage visited Okwagbe IDP camp where he expressed sympathy on behalf of Tinubu and himself, saying that the N200 million donation was a heartfelt contribution by him and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to cushion the plight of the victims of the flood.
He said that the people of Delta were prepared to vote out the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, and asked the Okwagbe people to join the APC winning team
Omo-Agege’s running mate, Rt. Hon. Friday Osanebi led the mission to Kwale IDP camp, while DG of the campaign, Elder Godsday Orubebe led another team to Patani IDP camp.
