Celebrating Urhobo First Female Parliamentarian, Oboro At 48

By Moses Darah

In the 2019 electioneering campaigns, I wrote an article in honour of the first female Urhobo parliamentarian, Barr. Evelyn Omovowan Oboro, titled: “Evelyn Oboro: The Making of the First Urhobo Female Senator’.

Today is her birthday and I decided to repost the article here with minor modifications to celebrate her achievements, elegance, boldness, radiance and the place of the girl child in our modern society. Possibly, this will help me escape the plagiarism scare in the academia.

The place of the girl child in today’s world is at par with their male counterparts. An understanding which many, including President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to grasp hence his famous description of his wife, and by extension women as not being important in the scheme of things. According to him, his “… wife belongs [only] to the kitchen, the sitting room and the other room.” Whereas women, the world over are making good accounts of themselves. They make a large proportion of the civil service, arts & design, music, law, business, education & research, healthcare, food management, communication, accounting, engineering and other fields of human endeavour.

Some of the women that are believed to have had the biggest impact on world history include the Polish-born French scientist, Marie Skłodowska Curie who founded the new science of radioactivity and  effective cures for cancer. She was the second person to win a Nobel Prize. The first elected female Head of State in Africa, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia is a good example of the fact that the girl child can excel in the world of politics.

The world stood still for Hillary Clinton when she contested the 2016 United States presidential election and narrowly lost out not on the number of voters but on the screwed Electoral College system.

In Nigeria, Dora Nkem Akunyili set an exceptional record as the Director General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). As the Minister of Finance and the coordinating minister for the Economy, the Ogwashi-Uku born World Bank Deputy President, Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala piloted Nigeria to become the biggest economy in Africa.

In Urhobo, some of the exceptional Urhobo women in one of the world’s most noble professions, the academics, are Professors Augusta Omamor (A renowned linguist of the University of Ibadan who passed on recently), Otete Cecilia Okobiah (Vice Chancellor, Western Delta University, Oghara) Rose Aziza (immediate past Deputy Vice Chancellor, Delta State University, Abraka), Dicta Ogisi (former Deputy Vice Chancellor, Michael & Cecilia Ibru University, Agbarha-Otor) and Mabel Evwierhoma (former Dean, Faculty of Arts, University of Abuja). The President of the Urhobo Progress Union’s (UPU) Women Wing (Eghweya Re Urhobo), Chief (Mrs) Christiana Onoberevune Siakpere tops the list of excellent administrators. The likes of Chief Grace Akpoguma (former Minister of Science and Technology and Delta State Head of Service), Dr (Mrs) Veronica Ogbuagu (former Commissioner of Education, Delta State), Chief Judith Enamuotor (former Commissioner of Information, Delta State) and Chief Mary Iyasere (Commissioner, Commerce and Industry, Delta State) to mention but a few have all demonstrated that the girl child is of substance even in politics.

The first female parliamentarian, Hon Barr Evelyn Omavowan Oboro is in the class of women that had the biggest impact on world history. She is one of the Urhobo women who have brought fame to the Urhobo nation.

Evelyn Omavowan Oboro, born today, December 24, 1971, is a progressive Nigerian politician and the immediate past member of the Federal House of Representatives, representing Okpe/Sapele/Uvwie Federal constituency in the 7th and 8th National Assembly. She was elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). She received the West Africa School Certificate at Alegbo Secondary School, Effurun in 1988 before she applied to study education in Delta State University where she obtained a Bachelor’s degree in 1997. She holds a Master of Public Administration in 2002 and a degree in Law in 2009 from Delta State University.

Oboro’s impact in the Federal House of Representatives is glaring to all. Her Senatorial candidacy was based on her quality contributions and effective representation of the people from 2011 to 2019 at the National Assembly, under PDP. She narrowly lost to the APC’s candidate, Sen Ovie Omo-Agege, who emerged as the Deputy Senate President of the 9th Senate. Her firmness and decisiveness is exceptional, qualities which mark her out for political relevance in the nearest future as she celebrates her birthday today.