By Grade-One Clark
This short but incisive exposition is not just an academic standpoint, but a factual narrative of the grand betrayal of a people. it unravels the bits and pieces that have in recent times tipped the odds and shifted the balance of power from the PDP to the APC as a new party of destination for Ijaw people. The Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa led administration adopted deliberate policies of Ijaw exclusion and isolation from mainstream politics and governance in Delta State. There is anger in the heart of Ijaw, the anger is underpinned on issues, as in: denial of meaningful projects that could have positively impacted the life of the people, secondly, the non appointment of Ijaw to position of relevance in the executive, as if Ijaw have no one that went to school.
While the governor mouthed ” ego aria ” (no money) to Deltans, which allowed him borrow in excess of N200 billion in the last 6 months, without opposition, he however quietly sat on an undeclared windfall of over N300 billion, from the federal government, until Nyesom Wike squuelled. With all that money at his disposal, including monthly allocations from the federation account that also ran in billions, the governor never considered completing the Ayakoromo Bridge, nor the Bridge meant to link Torugbene and Ojobo communities, in the Burutu LGA.
Both were on going projects inherited from the last administration, 8 years ago. They remained untouched till date. He also never added a single brick to the Burutu School of Marine Technology, since he assumed office. These projects are dear to the heart of Ijaw, countless appeals were made to His Excellency, but they fell on deaf ears, like water poured on the back of a duck. I watched in bewilderment when the governor on TV told the entire nation that he has improved the lives of the riverine people of his state. But how? What did he do for them?
But Dr. Okowa raised gigantic highrise buildings in the campus of the Delta State University he recently sited in his hometown of Owa Alero. Ijaw people feel terribly betrayed and shortchanged by him after the massive support they mustered behind him in votes and resources in 2015 and 2019. The governor did not only turned his back on them, he also attempted to whittle down the self esteem of Ijaw leaders, especially that of Elder Godsday Orubebe CON, former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs. The effrontry is not only inexcusable, it was arrogance taken too far. Space and time won’t permit giving depth to how the governor tried to undermine the former minister and subject him to opprobrium. Not only the Ijaws of Delta, the entire Ijaw nation revere this illustrious son. The governor in his inordinate ambition for more power miscalculated, and shot himself in the foot. Many who are reading this piece are privy to the facts.
Predicated on the bad blood generated by the governor the former minister had no choice but to officially announce his resignation from the PDP. No man has become so wise that he sees his ears, as Okowa believes he does, nor can anyone hide behind a finger. The out going governor recruited turncoats of ijaw to cast doubt on the well earned reputation of the former minister, which to me was a big mistake. The Ex Minister later aligned forces with the APC, which led to the unexpected, he was immediately endorsed for his worth, to steer the affairs of the APC in Delta State, as, Director General, for both the presidential and governorship campaign committee of the party. Bonding him firmly with His Excellency, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu and Senator Ovie Omo Agege, Deputy Senate President. Both candidates are tipped to win with landslide.
Like an old testament prophet, in an earlier piece, I predicted a collapse of the PDP in Ijaw territories, hinged on Elder Orubebe’s unceremonious exit. Today, a mass exodus from the PDP to the APC, is being witnessed. The surge of depletion in the ranks of the PDP can only be compared to an avalanche of quicksand. The emergence of robots as Okowa’s henchmen in Ijaw LGAs, people who have their heads buried in the sand, while their people suffer denial, won’t deliver for the PDP in 2023, the party will fall flat on its face. Elder Orubebe leadership is indisputable, he has availed a rallying point for the Ijaws in the APC. The Orubebe ” ogele ” will continue to wreaked collateral damage on the seemingly unassailable roots of the PDP as we approach 2023. It is rapidly flushing out all vestiges of the ragged umbrella.
The icing on the cake is the desire of many PDP foot soldiers and old warhorses to exact revenge on the party, for the 8 years of meaningless twist and turns, comparable to the biblical Israelites journey, the Dr. Okowa administration took them through. Rather than come out to openly dissociate with the PDP, many argued it would be best to play the role of agent provocateur within to create disharmony and internal contradictions in the party. The worm that destroys the kolanut lives in it. To them Gov. Okowa sowed whirlwind, so it is best to meet him midstream with a hurricane.
Grade – One Clark
Writes from Asaba