Given the state of affairs in the country, the Urhobo people have vowed to keep a date with history in 2023 by casting their votes for candidates particularly, a presidential candidate who is committed to true democracy, accountable and transparent.
President-Union, Urhobo Progress Union, (UPU) Chief Joe Omene made this known in a press statement he signed with the title:
THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE URHOBOS WILL VOTE FOR IN 2023
The statement reads in part: “UPU is calling on all sons and daughters of Urhobo nation to vote in 2023, a Governorship and presidential candidate that commits publicly to further reform of the electoral system and enthrone a culture of credible election where votes count. Urhobo people do not want a president who gets to power with their votes to be begged and cajoled to sign future bills from parliament to improve the quality of elections in our country but will only sign when he or she is not on the ballot. Politicians who have proven records of frustrating free and fair elections at Local government, state or federal elections, who have affiliations with election riggers, distortion of results at collation centres, bribing of pliant judges, and sponsorship of ballot box snatchers or thugs would be avoided and shall not get the votes of the Urhobo people in the 2023 election.
“Urhobo voters are urged to examine and scrutinize the history of all persons aspiring for public offices to ensure that they have no public record of association with treasury looting, carting away of public funds where they are sorely needed for collective development to horde in developed Western nations for their personal and family use only. They are to avoid such candidates like the plague they are and the harbingers of social plagues that they can be.
“Respect for diversity and multiculturalism. Urhobo voters are urged to scrutinize the actions and historical records of election candidates to see if they abide by agreements, and practices which foster respect for federal character and multiculturalism as enshrined in the federal character clauses of the Nigerian constitution and the normative understandings in the national conferences that have been entered into by Nigerian nationalities but deliberately frustrated by such persons and forces within their political leverage.
“Record and Capacity to create dignified employment for youth. All over the country, Urhobo hard working youths, many of whom have obtained very decent education are now Political aides to politicians and others “Okada” and “Keke NAPEP” riders. And many others denied opportunities for employment they are qualified for at the Central Government because of where they come from as minorities. There is no enabling environment to create employment for themselves and others. For our hard working youths the political firmament of the country has become a brood that consumes its eggs, this leadership trend must not be allowed to continue. That is why Urhobos and indeed Nigerian voters in 2023 will only vote for candidates with capacity and track record of creating an environment that will usher in abundant job opportunities.
“Security with community participation: At no time in the history of this country have the Urhobo people felt so unsecured and abandoned particularly with respect to their security. The Federal system has become one in which State Government have become Chief Security officers only in nomenclature and at best logistics providers to a security arrangement controlled from Abuja. Quite a number of Urhobo people have been killed by Herdsmen armed with AK47 rifle in Abraka, Uwheru in Ughelli north and several other communities in Urhobo land where our women raped. Our farmers and fishermen have become sitting ducks for foreign invaders and yet the security system renders everyone helpless. Urhobo votes shall be for a presidential candidate that will commit publicly to and willingly to tweak the security architecture, reform of the security sector and governance to include levels of policing in the different layers and tiers of governance namely Federal, state and community.
“Demonstrate Capacity to preserve the commonwealth for general benefits. Urhobo people shall reserve their votes only for a presidential candidate with proven records of competence, capacity, credibility and commitment.
“Urhobos will vote such a candidate that is willing and have traceable public records of capacity to commit to zero tolerance for corruption; ready and prepared to courageously block leakages and cut the cost of governance, and not be a source of leakages to the public fiscus by himself and through associates, a candidate that will not arrogate privileges and benefits to his family and ethnic group, who will create touts who levy and obstruct public enterprise. Urhobos will vote for that presidential candidate who will be at the forefront of re-establishing the independence of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) rescuing it from the brazen grip of unprecedented partisanship and fawning patronage that has deprived that very institution of its professionalism; but an apex bank that will provide a framework that commits to a credible and transparent plan to normalize the exchange rate which has become a source of national shame and thus bring down inflation that distorts the productivity of our hard working Urhobo people back to single digits.
“Capacity to restore hope and revive the unity of Nigerians Urhobo people will keenly scrutinize all those who offer themselves for leadership particularly the presidential candidates and will only vote a candidate that prioritizes uniting and securing Nigerians, initiates and fosters reforms that will engender productivity , expansion of physical infrastructure as well as generating opportunities for all in a harmonious environment”.
Read the Full Statement Below:
URHOBO PROGRESS UNION
(UPU)
THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE URHOBOS WILL VOTE FOR IN 2023
The 2019 Presidential election was won with a vote margin of about three million votes. There are over six million Urhobos in Nigeria, that is why the Urhobo people more than ever before and conscious of the suffering of our people and the consequences of the election of bad or ineffective democratic leaders, will take very seriously the 2023 election through active participation as demonstrated by UPU massive mobilization of our sons and daughters of voting age through paid radio jingles and adverts during the last INEC voters registration. The Urhobo people who are the 4th largest ethnic group in this country will come out massively to vote in the next election in a way and manner our people have never done to elect leaders at all levels particularly the election of who should be the president of Nigeria in 2023.
The Urhobo people have suffered so much on account of the enormous and untrammeled powers vested in the number one office in the land, the office of the president that has been used to hold down the development of the component parts of our so-called federation contrary to our charter of agreement before independence. Urbobos are unhappy the way the most powerful office in the land has mis-managed our diversity, security, economy and the entire social fabric of Nigeria. That is why the urhobos across Nigeria will troop out en mass in the forth coming 2023 election to make a demographic political statement with our numbers of who should be the president of Nigeria on the basis of key issues that matter to the Urhobo people.
Let us be very clear, the Urhobo people in electing democratic leaders in 2023, will be careful and meticulous in our choices of leaders and a president who will commit to and abide by the principles of federalism, acknowledgement of and respect of our diversities, a track record of commitment to democratic tenets such as free and fair election, good governance with respect to fiscal and social accountability and other such desirable values.
The Urhobo people like other Nigerian nationalities have a sense of history of how we were knocked together to be a federation under British imperial rule and how all the agreements at the Lancaster House discussions entered into, to form this union, have all been breached and abandoned. We agreed at inception that each nationality within defined geopolitical zones were to autonomously run their affairs by sharing cognate and equal powers to make decisions for our development, within a federal union.
By this understanding, Urhobos within state and geopolitical boundaries ought to be relatively autonomous in determining the pace and scope of their development through representations to the Centre while contributing to the development of the federal union. Similarly, the federal union government ought to reciprocally contribute to the development of each nationality and geopolitical boundaries but the reverse is now the case, the centre has taken all our resources and emasculated our people who are now hungry and angry. That is why they will troop out in 2023 to make a statement of who is fit to be elected the president.
But for the Union, resources within our geopolitical boundaries are primarily our resources that will be used for our development as it should be if we have never had cause to be united to others by colonial force, with the Federal government as a benefitting partner, for our collective interest, as part of the Federal union understanding, but now those who operate at the centre that should protect such rights have become even worse than colonial powers in their sense of entitlements to such federal benefits, to the detriment of our people who are also not allowed to protect our people and communities from invaders, who are now occupying our forest ,destroying farmlands and raping our women. That is why the 2023 elections matter so much for the Urhobo people as to who should be the president of the most powerful office that has betrayed the trust of Urhobo people and other Nigerians.
The UPU formation in 1933 that pre-dated Nigeria, thought that elected federal officials had our development, not our oppression, as their primary mandate, but today we find elected leaders at the centre prioritize personal, ethnic, religious interests and even the development interest of people of foreign neighboring countries above those of our people and other federating nationalities. That is why the 2023 election matter so much for the Urhobo people and other nationalities of the South-South and all oppressed ethnic groups across Nigeria.
The Urhobo people’s federal expectation, that our sons and daughters can be secure and free to live anywhere in Nigeria as part of the benefits of federating, without ethnic or religious profiling by the very people elected to protect our collective interests, have all gradually become hopeless expectations turned into regrettable tragedies, such that the opinion of many Nigerians have turned towards secessions from the federal union. That is why the 2023 elections matter to the Urhobo people across Nigeria .
Even when the Urhobo people that have not called for succession but have together with some nationalities have been generous enough to concede the middle ground of demands for reconsideration and restructuring of the terms of federating, some persons elected to temporary leadership positions have assumed the imperial perception of omniscience, falsely believing they have superior or asymmetrical control of coercive forces, despite the reality that the technology of modern warfare may defy such false arrogance of blind belief.
It is against the background of the above painful reality of what the Urhobo people have suffered in this country that the Urhobo Progress Union is putting forward the Urhobos charter of electoral keys issues that will determine the direction we shall cast our votes and which of the presidential candidates that Urhobo people shall vote for in the 2023 election. Accordingly, Urhobos will vote for a presidential candidate that will commit publicly to the following issues that matter to the Nigerians:
1. A Leader that is committed to true Democracy:
UPU is calling on all sons and daughters of Urhobo nation to vote in 2023, a Governorship and presidential candidate that commits publicly to further reform of the electoral system and enthrone a culture of credible election where votes count. Urhobo people do not want a president who gets to power with their votes to be begged and cajoled to sign future bills from parliament to improve the quality of elections in our country but will only sign when he or she is not on the ballot. Politicians who have proven records of frustrating free and fair elections at Local government, state or federal elections, who have affiliations with election riggers, distortion of results at collation centres, bribing of pliant judges, and sponsorship of ballot box snatchers or thugs would be avoided and shall not get the votes of the Urhobo people in the 2023 election.
2. Accountability and transparency
Urhobo voters are urged to examine and scrutinize the history of all persons aspiring for public offices to ensure that they have no public record of association with treasury looting, carting away of public funds where they are sorely needed for collective development to horde in developed Western nations for their personal and family use only. They are to avoid such candidates like the plague they are and the harbingers of social plagues that they can be.
3. Respect for diversity and multiculturalism
Urhobo voters are urged to scrutinize the actions and historical records of election candidates to see if they abide by agreements, and practices which foster respect for federal character and multiculturalism as enshrined in the federal character clauses of the Nigerian constitution and the normative understandings in the national conferences that have been entered into by Nigerian nationalities but deliberately frustrated by such persons and forces within their political leverage.
4. Record and Capacity to create dignified employment for youth. All over the country, Urhobo hard working youths, many of whom have obtained very decent education are now Political aides to politicians and others “Okada” and “Keke NAPEP” riders. And many others denied opportunities for employment they are qualified for at the Central Government because of where they come from as minorities. There is no enabling environment to create employment for themselves and others. For our hard working youths the political firmament of the country has become a brood that consumes its eggs, this leadership trend must not be allowed to continue. That is why Urhobos and indeed Nigerian voters in 2023 will only vote for candidates with capacity and track record of creating an environment that will usher in abundant job opportunities.
5. Security with community participation:
At no time in the history of this country have the Urhobo people felt so unsecured and abandoned particularly with respect to their security. The Federal system has become one in which State Government have become Chief Security officers only in nomenclature and at best logistics providers to a security arrangement controlled from Abuja. Quite a number of Urhobo people have been killed by Herdsmen armed with AK47 rifle in Abraka, Uwheru in Ughelli north and several other communities in Urhobo land where our women raped. Our farmers and fishermen have become sitting ducks for foreign invaders and yet the security system renders everyone helpless. Urhobo votes shall be for a presidential candidate that will commit publicly to and willingly to tweak the security architecture, reform of the security sector and governance to include levels of policing in the different layers and tiers of governance namely Federal, state and community.
6. Demonstrate Capacity to preserve the commonwealth for general benefits
Urhobo people shall reserve their votes only for a presidential candidate with proven records of competence, capacity, credibility and commitment.
Urhobos will vote such a candidate that is willing and have traceable public records of capacity to commit to zero tolerance for corruption; ready and prepared to courageously block leakages and cut the cost of governance, and not be a source of leakages to the public fiscus by himself and through associates, a candidate that will not arrogate privileges and benefits to his family and ethnic group, who will create touts who levy and obstruct public enterprise. Urhobos will vote for that presidential candidate who will be at the forefront of re-establishing the independence of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) rescuing it from the brazen grip of unprecedented partisanship and fawning patronage that has deprived that very institution of its professionalism; but an apex bank that will provide a framework that commits to a credible and transparent plan to normalize the exchange rate which has become a source of national shame and thus bring down inflation that distorts the productivity of our hard working Urhobo people back to single digits.
7. Capacity to restore hope and revive the unity of Nigerians Urhobo people will keenly scrutinize all those who offer themselves for leadership particularly the presidential candidates and will only vote a candidate that prioritizes uniting and securing Nigerians, initiates and fosters reforms that will engender productivity , expansion of physical infrastructure as well as generating opportunities for all in a harmonious environment.
Given the terrible and bleak state of the nation and where the country currently is today, the urhobo people will keep a date with history in 2023 by casting their votes for candidates particularly a presidential candidate that publicly and personally commit to the enumerated key issues above. That will be the candidate that Urhobo people will vote for in 2023.
Long live Urhobo People !
Long live UPU !
Long live the federal Republic of Nigeria based on Equity, Fairness and Justice!
Chief. Joe. Omene
President-General.
Urhobo Progress Union
Follow The Eagle Online Channel on WhatsApp
