The statement made by the Delta State Governor, His Sen. (Dr.) Ifeanyi Okowa did not go down well with us. The Governor’s disparaging statement portends danger to not only the ruling PDP in the State but also to the peace and harmony the State has been enjoying in her democratic sojourn.
The Governor boastfully said that the next governor to take over power from him must be someone who will be fair to Anioma nation. He also said such a person must be someone who understands Delta politics. What a jingoistic impudence?
To answer him, Sen. Okowa should know that every Deltan knows that Delta State is a heterogeneous State which is divided into three Senatorial Districts. We are very sure that the political class including those contesting the office of the next governor also know that a governor of Delta State is a governor for all ethnic/Senatorial Districts. The man who claimed to know it all only ended up created an oligarchical government of a sectional hegemony. We don’t need such he-knows-it-all Governor again but someone who will rule the State with a detribalised mindset.
Deltans do not wish such a person to rule the State again. We need a detribalised governor unlike someone who only become a road master in parts of the State leaving the rest to live in squalor and regrets. Delta State is presently being ruled by hegemonic oligarchs.
Mr. Governor, all the three governors from the Central and the South Senatorial Districts since 1992 only lived in Government House, Asaba to govern the State. None of them had ever unconstitutionally relocated the seat of Government to the South, even though the South was administratively raped by the military fiat through the instrumentality of bottom power.
The Governor also said that he felt ashamed that some leaders embarked on early campaigns and consultations. Your Excellency, have you forgotten how started yours immediately after the general elections in 2011? You were the first aspirants that campaigned for the Governorship ticket. Okowa Political Vanguard was launched in 2012 and by 2013, the campaign proper started while other aspirants were still weighing their options.
Your Excellency, we believed Deltans felt slighted by this rather scornful statement. If you mirror yourself and reflects back to 2015 retrospectively to see how you started your governorship race, we don’t think you have any moral rectitude to disparage anybody who starts the race early. It’s said that those who sit in a glass house should not throw stone.
Your Excellency, the characters you attacked with scorn and disdain today just because they’re seeking for political futures were some of the key figures who stood by you against all odds in 2015. Some of them abandoned their political proteges and or ethnic kiths and kins to work for you. Providence will judge us right if you choose to maintain a dignified neutrality in the next Governorship election in your Party. Of course you should also remind yourself that it’s not you alone but all Deltans, especially the PDP delegates to decide who should be the next PDP Governorship candidate of the Party.
“The next governor take over from me MUST be someone who understands Delta politics”. There’s an adage which says, man proposes but God disposes it. Sir, you may have been very powerful and influential but remember that it was God that brought you to power. The same God is still alive. As a man, you may have interest but the use of the word MUST seems like you can dispose what God proposes. No matter how powerful we are, let us have the fear of God.
Conclusively, we wish to ask, are you really running an egalitarian government? The Anioma you are projecting interest is on the same page with you? Sir, if you are a detribalised governor then immediately complete the projects in the southern parts of the State including some parts of the Anioma nation. Deltans will appreciate if you immediately complete the Ayakoromo bridge, Kwale Industrial Park, Ogbeye Floating Market, commence work on Warri Industrial Park, rehabilitate and upgrade Warri township stadium with the same attention you gave to Asaba Stadium, upgrade and take over Osubi Airstrip, convert it into a domestic airport to allow businesses to thrive in Warri and environs.
Deltans will scroll your name in gold as they did to Chief James Ibori if you give equal attention of developments to all the LGAs of the State the same measurements of attention you gave to Agbor and Asaba.
Instead of dabbling into the next circle of elections with biased mind in order to polarize the State along ethnic lines, we earnestly appeal to Mr. Governor to pay up the over three months salaries and impresses he is owing his political appointees. We believe that will better serve the interest of Deltans. In the incoming days as we have earlier promised, Warri Rebirth Movement will address world press conference in Asaba to tell the world the shenanigans associated with the government of Delta State.
Signed:
John Oyime,
Director General,
Warri Rebirth Movement
