Delta 2015: I won’t accept consensus candidacy – Monye

A frontline governorship hopeful in Delta State, Prof. Sylvester Monye, rejected the consensus bargain deal to streamline the numerous aspirants jostling to succeed Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan next year.
Chief Peter Okocha, who claimed to have been unlawfully excluded from the race in 2007 and is also in the 2015 race, has equally rejected the consensus option.
Okocha said any attempt to infringe on his right of contesting the governorship seat next year would be contested in court.
Over 20 aspirants have indicated interest and littered every nook and cranny of the state with their campaign posters and billboards on just the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Monye, resigned last month as President Goodluck Jonathan’s aide on Projects Monitoring and declared last week for the race.
He said he is best for the position because he has served under three Nigerian Presidents.
Hence he said: “I will run.
“I will run for the office of Governor of Delta State in the February 2015 election because I believe that the appointed time for the commencement of Delta State’s irreversible journey to greatness is now.”
Between 2005 and 2011, Monye served as the Executive Secretary of the National Planing Commission and the National Economic Council.
He later served as the Director of International Economic Relations of the Federal Ministry of Finance.
The Professor of International Business was on the Board of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Governing Council of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, the National Hospital in Abuja, the Alternate Governor for Nigeria of the OPEC Fund for International Development in Vienna, Austria and Board Director of the Bank of Industry within the years under review.
Speaking at his home town in Onicha-Ugbo, Aniocha North Local Government Area of the state on Sunday, he said he was not keen on consensus.
He said: “I push myself forward because I am patriotic, tested and trusted, while I served for 14 years under three successive Presidents.
“I consulted for 18 months before I declared for the race.
“I did not enter the race because of consensus.
“I am working on my own.
“I am not going to enter into consensus bargain.”
Monye was sure that his constant flow of patronages and delegates that cut across all ethnic barriers from all parts of the state over the years would see him to the highest office of the state.