On The Issue Of Delta Central Never Believed In Rotation: My Reply To Chief Alex Okunbor

The biggest mistake any politician can make is to assume that the Delta State of 1999 is the same as the Delta of 2007 or 2015.

The rules of engagement, the psychology of politicians and the entire game has changed.

I consider the permutations that some of us are slaves and others are slave masters who must continually tell us what is right or wrong, what is acceptable or not acceptable utterly despicable and totally unacceptable. I have contempt for those who harbour such views and who believe that Deltans must eternally succumb to thier political dictate till eternity.

As far as I am concerned, we are all free citizens of this state and we must all play by the rules if we must ever coexist in unity and peace as a people.

The recent publication by the Publisher of the Daily News Analysis newspaper,
Chief Alex Okunbor from Delta North, that Delta central never believed in Power Shift is not only misleading, it is erroneously concocted to suit the mindset of his paymasters and those who are bent on destabilising the peace and political understanding we have in Delta state.

The writer in his desperation to turn logic on its head avered that if not for the Ijaws, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa would have lost the PDP primaries in 2015. This is another lie from the pit of hell.

I do not know where he got his statistics from because I am aware that during the primaries, every single vote was dropped in one single box without the name of the person or local government and so he is either ignorant or deliberately mischievous to conclude that Delta central voted for Chief David Edevbie during the primaries.

Secondly, in his skewed imagination, he posited that Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan’s mother is partly Urhobo and as such he is from both Urhobo and Itsekiri.

Ordinarily, I would have enjoyed seeing him progress in this self inflicted error but for the sake of the general public let me educate him.

Dr Emmanuel Udaghan’s mother is from Ubiaja in Esan south East local Government of Edo State. She is not an Urhobo. The only reason Chief Ibori is related to Dr Emmanuel is because his mother is an Itsekiri and he is maternally related to Uduaghan family.

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The writer also went further to say Dr Ifeanyi Okowa won that election due to his enviable credentials and dexterity in one breath and in another breadth made it clear that he wouldn’t have won if not for the Ijaws. Such conflicting analysis can only come from a confused soul.

To try to demean, bring down, relegate, downplay and rubbish the efforts of the Urhobo nation just because he wants to score a cheap political point is despicable and grossly unacceptable.

Since it is difficult to know who and who voted for our amiable Governor during the primaries, the only way we can ascertain those that brought him to power in 2015 is to compare the votes of the Ijaw nation to that of Urhobo nation.

A close look from results declared by INEC shows that Delta Central as divided as it were then pulled a total of 189,233 votes, while the 3 local government of Ijaw pulled a total vote of 133, 258 votes .

In all this and from available records I still cannot fathom where the writer is drawing his conclusions from that if not for Ijaw his Exellency Senator Ifeanyi Okowa would have lost both the primary and the General elections.

It is most unfortunate to say the Urhobos never believed in rotation when it is evident that both the father of Government, Professor Sam Oyovbaire and Chief Onanefe Ibori, the man that introduced zoning into the political lexicon of Delta State are all Urhobos. For the records, if you do not know why Prof Oyovbaire is called the ‘Father of Government’ I urge you to do more research and it will overwhelm you the inputs of the above mentioned Urhobos to make the 2015 elections a success.

I will say this once and will hold my peace, Delta central believes in rotation. It will be an error of misconception to think otherwise. If there is anybody that do not believe in rotation in Delta central then the writer must be bold enough to mention their names.

It is more logical and ofcourse I will agree with the writer if he says Chief David Edevbie, Chief Kenneth Gbagi and Olorogun Great Ogboru do not believe in rotation and as such should be punished for that. It will make more sense if the writer also says they and thier cohort never believed in zoning and should not be fielded in order not to insult the sensibilities of Deltans. The writer must be religious enough to admit the fact that both are serial contestants who do not represent the collective will of the Urhobo nation. Whatever they did with thier few cohorts who he accused of being members of DC23 was to further their personal interest and it should be viewed from that perspective henceforth. Period!

Needless to remind Chief Alex Okunbor that rotation has brought relative peace to Delta State and we must not for our selfish reason do anything to jeopardise and scuttle the process.

Delta central will not trade words or heat the polity based on the personal opinion or provocative utterances of an individual who is less informed about the complexity of Delta politics..

Notable leaders from Delta South and Delta north including Ijaw have attested to the fact that zoning across senatorial district and not ethnicity must be strictly adhered to, no matter what.

His Excellency Governor Ifeanyi Okowa who is unarguably the leader of Delta north and Delta state PDP is a decent, civilised, responsible and mature person who values peace, seeks to avoid conflicts, believes in equity and mutual agreement, who will always allow good sense prevail over retrogressive sentiments and who realise the fact that unity, good neighbourlines and love must be sacrosanct at all time.

I urge all men of goodwill to be focused so we can come together as we always do to deliver our party candidate who will naturally emerge from Delta central come 2023.

God bless Delta State.

My name is Sanco Ese
Gods Pen of Intervention,
Nat. Cord. Osu Governorship movement