Enone 2023: Philip Agbese officially declares intention to contest the 2023 House of Representatives election (Full text)

With love for our country, Benue State and Enone to be more precise and a fierce commitment to a vision of rapid progress for our more than 1 million brothers and sisters, and following wide-ranging consultations, I offer myself to serve you. I therefore intend to be a candidate in the 2023 House of Representatives election for Ado, Okpokwu and Ogbadibo Federal Constituency. I seek the opportunity to offer our Enone visionary, purposeful, competent leadership to build our future.

Nearly 60 years ago, our Founding Fathers Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sir Ahmadu Bello and Chief Obafemi Awolowo envisioned a great country that would take its pride of place in the world based on the talents of its citizens and a constitutional federation that would ensure justice, equity, and economic productivity.

I am standing here today saying that it is time we shatter the downward spiral to nowhere.

I am here today standing with the 2500 Nigerians, Enonelites experiencing crushing poverty, living on less than 300 naira a day.

I am here today because 700 of our able men and women are unemployed or underemployed, nearly 800 children are out of school, and only 60% of Enonelites are literate.

I am here today because our hospitals are understaffed and mismanaged death traps, and women are still subject to horrific prejudices and devastating early marriages.

I am taking this stand, here and now, because Enone today is divided by hatred and selfishness, made worse by self pocket concentrated leadership. The government has failed in its very first duty of securing our lives as citizens due to the wide range of kidnappings, inter communal clashes. The time has come for us to fix this.

I’m a man of peace. Love, peace and hope dispenser I am. When Bokoharam brutal killings were going out of hand some years ago, Mr. President call upon me and my team, we answered the call and we silence them. And just few months that we went to sleep, they resuscitated. And Mr. President has called upon us again, and this time we’re putting them off in totality. This is to tell you that I am fit for the job. I love my people and I will never allow any kind of pain to come upon them. I love Enone. I love my country. I love my dear state. Much more, I love Enonelites.

Forever will I pay tribute and homage to Chief John Ochoga(Esq), the Akpa-olofu 1 of Agila because he’s the finding father of Benue APC, he’s a political enigma. We are here at his resident today because this place is the customary and traditional ground of APC. On the basis of Chief John Ochoga and Barr. Godwin Onwe, I can stretch forth my hands to become the president of this country because they are men of Noble character and personality. Garnished with the love from you all, I know I can achieve the unachievable.

All we need is unity of purpose. Whatever we do, we do it within the limit of decorum and common sense. With the little I have, nature has caused me to bless many with it. Will I not do more when giving more?
I Gave scholarship to many students during the hardest of time. Distributing books and paying of school fees amongst other. When you want to copy someone, you do it very well. I have set the standard as nature demands.

What is the need of calling a man that cannot solve your problem? I have been solving people’s problems since from childhood. Since when I had nothing. My antecedents will speak for me. People that knows me well will attest to that fact.

At 26 years of age, I got married. This is to tell all that I’ve always wanted to be a responsible man. You cannot love your children and hate another man. At an early stage, I took up the mantle of a responsible man, and it has always been, garnished with love to all and sundry.
Speaking about employment? No!, I won’t, reason being that I’m employment itself. Even the gravels here can attest to that. It’s something I love doing. I’m an employer of labour. Even the trees here will attest to the fact that I’ve involved myself in lots of developmental product to all and sundry. And more will I continue to do as destiny wishes.

We are collectively exhausted by these politicians who continually fall in and out of alliances with each other and care nothing for the ordinary Nigerian. They aggravate our fears in the hope that we will continue to keep them in power even though offer nothing new.

IT IS TIME for a radical change in the political leadership of Enone.

IT IS TIME for a visionary, competent and inclusive leadership that truly cares about our dear Constituency.

IT IS TIME for a leadership equipped with the skills, intellect and competence to wage a decisive war against poverty and unemployment.

IT IS TIME for an Enone in which our youth can fulfill their full potential and our daughters can aspire to any opportunity they desire.

IT IS TIME for a 21st century leader to lead us into a new and different future.

What we need now is a REAL movement of the people, by the people and, most importantly FOR the people of Enone to move our dear Constituency forward and break with our troubled past. I offer myself as part of that movement.

Enonelites have smarts, ingenuity, drive, relentlessness, vision, and sheer force of will. We must be able to harness our strengths and make them work for us here at home.

My beloved brothers and sisters, to quote the immortal words of the late US president John F. Kennedy, “politics is too important to be left to the politicians.”

We must ask our government hard questions about the promises they made about our security, about power, about civil aviation, about healthcare, about women’s rights.

We must stop recycling failed politicians and regenerate our leadership ranks with competent and experienced young men or women. Youth who have prepared themselves with the relevant qualifications must take over the mantle of leadership because this struggle is about the future of Enone and our various communities, not its past.

The battle to reorient Enone into a strong, capable constituency requires competence, capacity, and character. And as a citizen who aspires to be a House of Representative member I possess all three.

If it is about competence: my work in tackling the security challenges in our dear country speak for itself.

If it is about capacity, my work in the United Nations reconstructing countries torn by civil war or reforming the internal workings of the world body is there for everyone to see.

If it is about character, well, talk to my colleagues, mentors, friends, and of course my family and listen to what they have to say. Strong, knowledgeable guidance is needed as Nigeria navigates these difficult waters, and I offer myself for service with a solid track record of leadership.

I’m not here to tell you that there are quick, easy solutions to our nation’s problems. Far from it. Decades of economic and leadership mismanagement cannot be undone in a few short weeks or months. This thing will be difficult and painful choices we have to collectively made.

What I am here to tell you is that:

TOGETHER, we can choose a NEW path.

TOGETHER, we can set a BOLD agenda.

TOGETHER, we can deliver for ourselves a DIFFERENT outcome.

Enone will achieve greatness.

Our dear communities will achieve greatness.

It is important that we begin to focus more closely on the individuals seeking elective office in our Constituency, state and country in general and their qualifications in terms of character, competence, capacity, and track record.

THE POLICY AGENDA My vision for our country is set out in my new book BIG (Build, Innovate, Grow). In summary, however, the agenda of a government under my leadership includes the following:

1. Leadership and Governance

> Compose a world-class, “first eleven” team based on merit and inclusive governance to drive government policy. We will be ready on Day One.

> Establish and propagate through the educational system a foundational philosophical worldview around which all Enonelites will unite in a common purpose

2. Community-building

> Lead a consultative political process, in cooperation with the National Assembly, to achieve a constitutional restructuring of Enone and return our Constituency to true federalism for stability and prosperity by 2024.

3. Economy

> Establish an innovation-led economy, with intellectual property and commercialization of local innovation as its bedrock.

> Establish a Venture Capital Fund with a minimum of N200 million as a public-private partnership to invest in the creation of new businesses by presently unemployed youth in Enone, our community; the new businesses created with support from this fund will in turn create new jobs. The fund will be managed by private sector partners while the Federal Government of Nigeria will be a core investor.

> Fundamental reform of Enone’s healthcare system to assure quality healthcare for Enonelites.

> Fundamental reform of Enone’s education system to create skills and human capital that will drive Enone’s industrialization and job creation.

CONCLUSION

I am here today because I want what is best for my dear Constituency (Ado, Okpokwu and Ogbadibo)

I know that, with your support we can bring about real progress in our community and constituency in general. To accomplish this, however, every one of us aged 18 years and above must obtain his or her Permanent Voters Card(PVC) and vote in the 2023 election.

Dear brothers and sisters, this movement of the people, the REAL coalition of everyone and not a selected few, belongs to you. Because it truly belongs to you, it will be accountable to you, the people. For this reason, we need to crowdsource our intellect and resources to move this community forward.

We must refuse to allow the political elite to continue to intimidate us with the idea that no one can displace them. They boast they will outspend us and more.

But we say to them: Enonelites will not be taken for a ride yet again. The time to sit on the fence is past, ladies and gentlemen.

I’d like to end my speech by thanking my family. My lovely and ever supportive wife, Esther Agbese who always challenges me to be the best man I can be. Thank you, dearest. To my two beautiful Princesses, continue to be the amazing, talented people you are. I am so proud of you.

Enone, we can do this. Let’s get to work!

©
APC MEDIA TEAM