By Lovely Ediakhe Richard
The world today is characterised by increasing varieties, interdependencies and connectivity complexities, changes, ambiguities, seamlessness and sustainabilities.
There’s no doubt that more intelligent leaders are needed to deal with these emerging challenges and demands.
The perception that life is not worth living if we cannot live it for others open series of window for New homonyms to venture into such fray.
Gideon Ikhine, is a “new kid on the block” with so much to offer in this regard.
Unlike others who have failed and fake agendas, his actions have always been motivated by a sincere desire to do what is best for the majority, if it means losing ground with the wealthy, influential or powerful minority.
He has consistently spoken on behalf of the disenfranchised, the underdog and the most negleted members of the society.
Recently, in a gathering where he formerly declared interest to challenge a seat of governance in Edo State, he meticulously stated some of the reasons he chooses to stand in a gap for the people.
“I want to go in there and fix and restore what is broken in Edo. And I will be relentless with that, and I will never, ever give up because the people deserves better,”he said.
Engr. Gideon Ikhine rise as a unifier, has been built in part, on the idea that he represents a break from the established identities that has defined many of our state’s divisions.
To many, he embodies a promise to bridge the old and young, rich and poor, PDP and APC in order for all to work for Edo.
For the records, Nigeria sincerely needs a leader who can finally move beyond the divisive politics currently brewing in the country and states.
Engr. Gideon Ikhine as a progressive and a pragmatist, he is eager to tackle the big issues like health care, education, employment, infrastructure etc.
“Edo State needs a Political Leader with compassionate heart that can connect with the yearnings, pains, and cries of her citizens; especially the under-privileged, our teeming youths and women, seeking hope for a better tomorrow and the total liberation of “Edos,” He quipped.
A quick look at his professional background,Engr. Ikhine is a business leader. He is a man renowned for building businesses and men. A Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE) and a Member of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN). With over 29 years of post qualification experience that has exposed him to opportunities in both Public and Private sectors where he has executed several Projects.
However, these experiences were garnered while working in firms like Enplan Group, Pasomar & Associates, SGS Inspections, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) where he was a Project Engineer responsible for executing challenging Projects in the difficult swampy terrain of Niger-Delta; swampy terrain on Roads, Bridges and Oil Platforms Location.
Challenged by the need to create a truly Nigerian Engineering Company that could compete with its international counterparts and provide equal employment opportunity for the teaming Nigerian Engineers and people, Engr. Gideon Ikhine in 1997 left SPDC Nigeria Limited to establish Nugi Limited, an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) company initially focused on the Oil and Gas industry but has now grown to other strategic sectors of the economy.
Other subsidiaries where he serves on the Board as Chairman include: Nugi LLC (Engineering & Procurement), Houston, USA, Granite Rocks Limited a Mining Company for Granites, Pinnacle Farms Limited with over 25 Hectares of Cocoa at Ohe Village in Esan Central LGA of Edo State.
Elsewhere, Ikhine is also an organiser. At our best, organisers challenge and expand what is possible in our own lives, in our communities and in public policy.
They help people imagine new possibilities, develop and implement plans to realise those visions.
His choice of Political party is the People Democratic Party where he intended to pitch tent during the primaries.
Arguably,this trait of his, will be in full display when he finally emerge as the PDP guber candidate. He will be everywhere talking to everyone eligible to vote, he will gain their confidence and send his message across in clear terms.
In a willing word, there are those who are willing to take risks, and some who are willing to watch from a distance while others wait on to see the outcome.
Ikhine is a willing winner who believes in joint efforts to sail through.
The key to winning your battles, according to Engr. Ikhine,”is not to rely on your own strength, but to put your trust in God”.
This goes against the grain, but at the end of the day human strength and power is not enough: ‘No king succeeds with a big army alone, no warrior wins by brute strength.
Horsepower is not the answer; no one gets by on muscle alone, rather, God gives victory to those who trust in him.”
“Winning the battle takes extra effort and more than we thought possible. But it’s there if we want it. We must accept the challenge and we must do so with a spirit of courage that embraces risk with hope in God” he said.
It is this attitude of a winner and desire to bring about a genuine change that has made Engr. Gideon Ikhine to offer himself to serve his people at this critical time of our political history.
