TONTO DIKEH – WHY I’LL NOT STOP RUNNING FOR OFFICE UNTIL I WIN
Read Time:2 Minute, 58 Second
By Adeniyi Onaara
Tonto Dikeh, the African Democratic Congress’s deputy governorship candidate in Rivers State in the 2023 election and a prominent Nollywood actress, declared on Saturday that she would not stop running until she achieved her goal.
She stated that her chances of managing the oil-rich state in the future were both high and limited, owing to the nasty nature of politics.
Dikeh made these remarks in an interview with journalists in Abuja during the GOTNI national leadership conference, which was organized by the National Leadership Centre under the subject ‘Leadership for Sustainability.’
“One of the things I learned (while running for office) is resilience and never giving up,” she remarked. After four years, I know they will forget about me and that, ‘she is not going to come back.’ But I am going to come back. Every four years, I am going to come back. I will come back and I will be in their faces. I will be coming back to the contest.
“My chances of becoming governor are both high and slim because politics is a dirty business.” It will not be free and fair. (Nyesom) Wike’s candidate did not win in a free and fair election. So I don’t expect politics to be free and fair, but as someone once said, having a lion’s heart necessitates taking the lion’s share.
“I don’t care what they think about my position; I’ll continue to have the lion’s share, whether in my personal life or in politics; I’m here to stay, and they have no choice but to accept it.”
According to her, Nigerian youths require leadership, especially now, when they are all fighting for a better Nigeria and a better life.
Dikeh said, “I said something; I said that the youths are restless. They are young, they are vibrant, and this is the time for them to do things. They cannot achieve those things if they do not fall under the platform of leadership.
“I contested for the position of Deputy Governor of Rivers State under the ADC and I saw how the older politicians perceived me like, ooh! This girl came to joke but I told them I didn’t come to joke.
“I made them understand that I came to fight. I might not have won but it will go down in history that I contested against Wike or Wike’s boy or the other big shots that I contested against.’.
The celebrity said one of the reasons why the elderly look down on the youth is because they lack leadership, while the older class does not see what they should be seeing in the younger people.
“They are not totally wrong; I saw what happened during the #EndSARS saga. There was no form of leadership. I personally did not want to indulge in that because, after investing so many millions on GOTNI Leadership Centre and attending programmes almost every three months, I would not go into a fight blind without a leader or without a structure.
“It was structureless, and these are the things that the elderly politicians look at us and say that these people are not ready. We need to put ourselves in the position of power, and it is not just contesting; it is actually being power yourself, and I don’t think we have gotten there yet as it is,” she stated.
According to the CEO of GOTNI Leadership Centre, persons occupying leadership positions in Nigeria do not have the prerequisite leadership training that is necessary for them to function effectively.
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