From Victor Nwegede, Abakaliki
Speaking during the event, the YPP Returning Officer, Comrade Egbeola Olawale Martins, announced that Opoke was elected unopposed by the 26 delegates who participated in the primary election through option A4.
Comrade Egbeola, accompanied by one of the national delegates, Hon Mrs Uchenna Okorie said the conduct of the election was in line with the new electoral law and the constitution of the YPP in the country.
He congratulated the party's governorship hopeful and urged all the party members to throw their weight around him to ensure he emerged victorious at the 2023 gubernatorial polls in the state.
In his remark, the State YPP gubernatorial candidate, Opoke appreciated the party's faithful for the trust they reposed in him, saying the whole process went peacefully following their unwavering support and promised to make them proud in the 2023 polls.
Engr Opoke described the YPP as the party to beat in the polls and assured the party members of demonstrating the action which would make them perform victoriously in the 2023 elections in the state.
He expressed his readiness to transform Ebonyi State with his seven-point agenda including gospel revolution, civil service reform, industrialization, technology transfer, human capital and infrastructural development, security, sports and entertainment.
The governorship hopeful also expressed the belief that God would use him to change the ugly narratives foreshadowed by the state through gospel revolution, declaring that the state civil service had collapsed in employment and engagement of service.
He vowed to reform the civil service system by observing the principles of rules of engagement in the state.
"There is something very ugly in this state that from 1996 till date, there has not been genuine employment for the youths.
“When Sam Egwu was there as a governor, he only employed a few people very close to him and put them in few places. When he was going out, he now did massive employment. Elechi came and removed them.
“When Elechi was going out, he did massive employment and left.
“This one now ( Governor David Umahi) when he will be leaving office, he will also do massive employment. It means, they have no plans for the youths. That employment is wicked because it won’t be up to two years and the next governor will come and remove it.
“So, from the day the state was created, there are no plans for the youths, there are no plans for the young people, there are no plans for graduates, there are no plans for anybody. All they do is employ their family members to occupy leadership positions. The narrative must change," Opoke said.
He further assured that if he emerges the governor, "as we are engaging you, we are providing you with the enabling environment to be productive."
He noted that “in Ebonyi State, the greatest assets are the civil servants, because every civil servant has at least a minimum of ten dependent relatives," saying if the government in power happens to make them poor, by implications, their families and the whole nation would become impoverished.
He said his administration would create job centres dwelling on entrepreneurial activities, for skill training, acquisition and development, to enable Ebonyi civil servants and residents to have extra means of making a better livelihood.
He assured of introducing 'a learning or earning program' for the citizens of the state between zero to 40 years in his administration, saying, this would be perfected with his agenda on 'technology transfer.'
"By technology transfer, we believe that when the Western countries have continued to believe in Africans, while we chose to be slaves to other nations. But when I was in England, I learnt something, Western countries create healthy competition in other countries.
"For instance, in England, we have what is called 'Thinking Room,' where graduates will go and start thinking. They will be there to monitor the economy and technology of other nations, when they can't cope, they take Masters's Degree, maybe somebody from France will move to China, and vice versa, just to make sure that technology is monitored for the benefit of his country - that will be applied in our state.
"Our young men will be transferred to other nations of the world. It could be sewing, plumbing, or whatever skills you want to learn. You can go to school, whatsoever, you want to do, we choose the best country that offers it and we transfer you there.
"When we transfer our young men there, for instance, if I say go and learn sewing in Singapore, I'm not saying go and learn ordinary sewing, because we have people sewing in our state. I want you to learn the technology attached to that sewing so that when you come back, and we want to establish an industry of sewing, you bring points, innovations and creativities that will change our own. When we succeed in this technology transfer we will create wealth," he said.
He disclosed that his sole aim to come into governance is to connect God back to his people, and His people back to Himself, and to embark on wealth creation.
Earlier in his speech, the YPP Chairman in Ebonyi, Elder Stanley Oyibe, described the event as a new beginning, saying the party has the desired message to transform the state.
He noted that the YPP is built on the principles of accountability, transparency, equity and fairness, which in his words, necessitated the substitution primary election to present the man God sent to Ebonyians to promote good governance.
He maintained that the outcome of the exercise would demonstrate the serenity of the YPP slogan which says 'service to the people,' and expressed the determination of the party to make the desired history in governance and politics of the state, come 2023.
He said though four persons formed the YPP members on 17th December 2021, now the party records thousands of members in Ebonyi state, and is well represented in the 13 local government areas and 171 wards in the state.
The exercise was witnessed by the officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Security agents, pressmen and party faithful in the state.
