By Obeten Godfrey
The governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) for the 2019 general elections in Cross River State, Mr. Eyo Ekpo has said that his running mate, Engineer Wofai Ewa will not be ‘a spare tire’ if he is elected into office in 2019.
Ekpo, an ex attorney general of the State, made this known Saturday in Calabar during the launch of the book, Go Global With Opportunities authored by Grace Ihejiamaizu.
“My Deputy will not be a spare tire. He will not be in the office counting pages of newspapers. Cross River State today is a State that is at war with each other. So having a 35 year old as my running mate is a deliberate attempt,” Ekpo said.
He continued: “I choose Wofai because he is (a) dedicated, committed, intelligent and smart young man with a great family upbringing. He is an engineer, a project manager and a conflict resolution expert who has passion for peace especially in rural communities. He is currently doing his PhD in project management.
“Those are enough responsibilities for anyone to carry a young person like Wofai as a running mate, because I know we will win.”
He poured encomiums on the author and praised her efforts for undertaking such a brilliant Initiative by penning down her wealth of experiences on accessing global opportunities.
“When someone like Grace comes along and does what she does, and does so well; one can only applaud and be very thankful that young people of this country particular here in Cross River State where we are, I believe so largely in role models; particularly here in Cross River State, one has to be extremely thankful to know, that there is a Grace Ihejiamaizu to inspire, to be a role model, to be a leader actually.”
He sued for book clubs, competitions and updated libraries in order to stimulate a reading culture.
“If I were to be the governor today, I would make this book a required reading material in our schools, a study material for our schools. Let’s count all the libraries that we have, let’s count the youth organisations that we have; let’s organise book readings, organise competitions and get them to read pages of this book,” he said.
He continued: “One has to say something about young people. Young people I have said it all, I really can’t stop saying something about young people, which is they are young, they are enterprising, and we make everything out of the smallest opportunities that we have.
“In the world of today with such huge demand for success, competition among young people is even more so than it used to be in the past. The kind of competition I see today, sometimes I regret just how much one has to work hard particularly now need to work hard to make a success in life.
“I look at myself dispassionately than when I was twenty five years ago, thirty years ago; and I recognise very clearly that I had a very very tough time attaining what I am expected or what am suppose to attain today if I had been a young person in today’s world.”
He however expressed optimism that the book would meet the yearnings of youths in their bid to becoming global shapers, not just in Africa but the world at large even as he urged the youths to make use of the smallest opportunities that come their way as the first step of their global journey.
“I urge every one of us to read this book. Virtually not a big book, It’s just one hundred and fifty nine pages. I suspect that for those of us who read this book, it would be almost like the experience you have from those of you who have been here, who are born again and again in this hall. It is almost like that experience of being born again, it is like the scales have fallen off your eyes,” Ekpo said.