2023: Itsekiri Chief Chides Agege Over Alleged Divisive Campaign Remarks

The Egogo (voice) of Warri Kingdom, Chief Robinson Ariyo, has chided the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege over remarks considered as divisive and unstatesman-like.

Ariyo, a peace-builder and lawyer, faulted the comments attributed to Omo-Agege, the Delta State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Senator Omo-Agege had reportedly said at Effurun, Uvwie Local Government Area during a meeting with members of The Struggle Platform where he described the state government as being unfair to the Ijaw ethnic nationality in wealth distribution.

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The Struggle Platform is a pressure group supposedly pushing for an improved condition of Ijaws in oil-bearing communities in the Niger Delta.

At the forum, Omo-Agege was quoted as lamenting that he had always felt the pains of the Ijaw nation and the deprivation and poverty in oil-bearing communities.

“l continue to feel the pains of the Ijaw nation because l know the contribution of the Ijaw nation to this country.

“l know, as a consequence of this contribution, so much is returned here to our state either by FAAC allocation or by way of 13 per cent derivation, but is there anything on ground in Ijaw nation that is commensurate with that receipt to Delta State? The answer is no.

“I believe government has been unfair to the Ijaw people given their contributions to the economy of the contribution to the struggle to what comes to Delta State.

“We will do better than this government; We are prepared to change the narrative.

“We are prepared to judiciously use the resources that will come to Delta State for the benefit of the majority of our people,” Omo-Agege, who was in company of his running mate, Rt. Hon. Friday Ossai Osanebi and the State APC Chairman, Elder Omeni Sobotie, had averred.

Reacting to Omo-Agege’s submissions in a statement, Chief Ariyo, himself a former chieftain of the APC, said such utterances were undignifying and short of unifying the ethnic nationalities and political blocs in the state.

“I have carefully watched the campaign of Omo-Agege with regard to the coastal areas of Delta State, where there are Itsekiris and Ijaws.

“He constantly isolates the Ijaws and neglects the Itsekiris. Apart from being divisive, it is against the rules of campaign and constitutes an insult on the collective intelligence of people of the area; both Ijaws and Itsekiris. This is low!

“It is not about keying in or keying out. What I desire is a governor for all not a governor for some.

“Even those in PDP if in the unlikely event that Agege wins, he will be their governor. This trait is too low for a governorship aspirant not to talk of a candidate.

“This is about knowing that three people live in an area and you’re saying that one of them is marginalized,” he queried.