Agitation for the control of the political soul of Rivers State under the platform of Peoples Democratic Party in the 2015 general election is becoming more interesting with one of the strong contenders, Major Lancelot Anyanya (rtd), promising to fight cancer in the state which he linked to oil exploration by multinational oil companies.
He also pledged to take the state to the Promised Land and bring back greatness to the people.
Already, no fewer than 10 political heavyweights have indicated interest to fly the flag of PDP in next year’s governorship election.
Anyanya spoke in Port Harcourt during a rally organized by his Campaign Office after collecting the nomination form for the PDP governorship primaries.
At the event which also coincided with the formal opening of his Campaign Office, the aspirant pledged to cripple poverty, ignorance, starvation and environmental degradation, in line with “the Rivers greatness creed” which he recently inaugurated.
Anyanya also stated that he would beam special attention to healthcare services in Rivers State.
He said, “My first time in school – I went to Sacred Heart with my late older sister who died of cancer and that’s why we will fight cancer. We’ll fight cancer because we know that because of the impact of oil exploration, most of our people are battling with cancer.
“So a state government must make Medicare of the highest standard that will deal with issues that our people are forced to deal with and make it a priority. So we will fight cancer by the grace of God.
“We will deliver infrastructure that will deliver you from this hold-up that appears like the wall of Jericho. Our city is growing every day but yet you deal with traffic gridlock like the wall of Jericho; but I’ve come to announce to you, the wall of Jericho will fall down flat.
“I declare that the message is one and simple: greatness is coming back to Rivers State. The simple message is: Greatness is coming! Greatness is coming! Greatness is coming! Greatness is coming! I say to you today, like our President and leader, Goodluck Jonathan says, we have no personal enemies to fight. But we know the enemies we must fight: poverty, ignorance, starvation, and environmental degradation.
“Those are the enemies we have and those are the enemies we must fight. Those enemies have no colour. They know no race and God wants us to be great.
We declared to you our people that greatness is the call of GOD to every man. Greatness is the cry of every man’s spirit.
“God is unveiling and packaging the Rivers State that we have come to announce to you. God is about to introduce to you the Rivers State that will give everyone that opportunity to be great.”
While regretting the poor infrastructural development in Rivers State, Anyanya said, “we stay near the river and yet we complained that we had no water. It is because we disconnected ourselves. By the grace of God, our brother and our leader, President Goodluck Jonathan will be re-elected for his second and final term. Listen seriously. We have lost the opportunity of his first term to benefit fully because we disconnected ourselves.
“And that’s why it is dangerous that a time of such great change, the state that used to be the leader among states in Nigeria is going back and back and back. Like I said in Abuja, it’s an abnormality. People have spoken about the fact that the mandate celebrated today is the mandate of the PDP and that’s why we declare boldly that we have come to reclaim that which is ours.”
