Delta 2023: Tillje, Ochor, Onyeme, Ossal On The Cards For Deputy Governor

By Okenmor Betrams

Following the conclusion of the primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, across Delta state, some politicians whose interests are on the deputy governorship position have Intensified efforts to clinch the office.

It’s not confirmed if the PDP in the state zoned the position to any particular senatorial district. However, the general belief and high expectation is that the party may have zoned the deputy governorship to Ndokwa ethnic group in Delta north senatorial district.

The speculation on Ndokwa getting the office becomes more rift considering the fact that some of the notable names believed to be strategizing for the office did not aspire for either the House of Representative seat or the Delta North senatorial seat, where they widely favoured.

These Ndokwa political leaders include (Rt. Hon.) Ochor Christopher Ochor, the current Deputy Speaker, Delta State House of Assembly, who is representing Ukwuani Local Government seat in the state Assembly.

Also, in the cards for the deputy Governor’s position is Hon.Fidelis Okenmor Tillje, the Honorable Commissioner of Finance, Delta state.

Tillije, the former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of defunct Fortune Bank, paired with Chief Great Ogboru as Deputy Governorship candidate

This active political effort to gain entrance into Delta State Government House enabled Tillje to acquire state wide recognition which he nurtured and utilised to gain political viability, relevance, potency and a rise in political ascendency that gave him a commissionership appointment shortly after Senator (Dr.) Ifeanyi Okowa prevailed on him to come to the PDP.

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His desire to occupy the deputy governorship office is an open secret. The fact that as Commissioner for Finance, he became one of the few personalities in Delta State who knows the in-coming and out-going of public funds. This equally gave him an advantage to curry the favour of Gov. Okowa.

Another serious contender to the office of Deputy Governor of Delta State, come 2023, is Rt. Honourable Ochor Christopher Ochor considered as the ebullient and smooth politician and described as the ‘’first son of PDP in Ukwani Local Government Area’’.

This description emanated from the fact that Rt .Hon . Ochor has been the most favoured individual since 1999 by the PDP, in Ukwuani Local Government Area.

As one of the governor’s men Friday, Rt.Hon.Ochor has seen it all; from the Personal Assistant to the Governor under Chief James Ibori’s administration to the Deita State House of Assembly, where he served for one year before judicial pronouncement nullified his election and surprisingly, the following day after the courts ruling, Ochor was aptly appointed a commissioner by the subsequent Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan’s administration.

He served in the state executive council as a commissioner before he gained, yet another appointment as the Chairman of the Transition Committee of Ukwuani Local Government council.

He left the office as chairman to resume a much higher responsibility as one of the Executive Directors of the Delta state Oil producing Development Commission, DESOPADEC. After a full tenure in the Board of DESOPADEC, Rt.Hon. Ochor was easily, gifted the PDP ticket to contest, once again, the Ukwuani LG seat at the Delta state House of Assembly. He won the 2019 election to the DTHA and was elected the Deputy Speaker of the House. As the current term of 4 years is gradually winding up, it is however not surprising that Ochor didn’t aspire to return to the House of Assembly or even more further up to the House of Representatives; therefore fueling the speculation of his desire to be nominated as the deputy governorship candidate of the PDP in the 2023 elections.

Another PDP poster boy in the state is Rt. Hon. Ossai Ossai, a member of the House of Representatives, Ndokwa/Ukwuani constituency. Ossai is serving in the House for a consecutive third term; a seat he acquired after his tenure in Delta State House of Assembly where he served as Majority Leader. He contested the PDP primary election to serve another term in the Reps but lost the ticket to Mr.Ezechi, who is currently the flag bearer for the 2023 general election. His interest in the Delta State Deputy Governorship position resumed the moment he lost the party’s ticket to contest for the Reps in 2023.

Another top contender to the Deputy Governorship position in the state is Chief John Onyeme, the chief tax colletor of Delta.

Chief onyeme is a notable philanthropist, grassroots mobilize and an administrator per excellence whose success in raising the states interval revenue base is unprecedented in the history of the state.

Chief Onyeme has a very rich network of political associates and loyal followers across the state, especially in the three Local Government Areas of Ndokwa nation namely- Ndokwa West, Ndokwa East and Ukwani     Local Government Areas.

He is widely believed and expected to be going for the House of Representatives. So after his refusal to pick the form for the primaries, he became the most favoured to go for the Deputy Governorship slot.