Akpowowo’s Glorious Journey To DTHA

By Anthony Arugba

“Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.” Those were the words of William Shakespeare, one of the greatest poet ever in the history of poetry. Apparently, when he made this statement, he had the likes of Olorogun Barr. Arthur Akpowowo, Deputy Speaker, Delta State House of Assembly in mind.

Akpowowo’s odyssey in life since his birth shows that he is a naturally born great man. This is not to say there were no vicissitudes at the period of his birth and boyhood till he became a lawmaker and now deputy speaker.

He was able to overcome the adversarial arrows kept in his path. He contested for House of Assembly several times, but came up short until the last election.

To a large extent, we could liken the emergence of Rt. Hon. Barr. Arthur Akpowowo as Deputy Speaker, Delta State House of Assembly to the way David was anointed by Samuel at the behest of God. In retrospect, when Samuel got to the house of Jesse, the latter brought all his sons who were dinning with him and Samuel then asked “ are all these your children”, and he said there was one looking after the animals in the bush who eventually became the choice of God who works in ways beyond our understanding. There’s indeed God’s hands in Akpowowo’s emergence, otherwise he would not have been elected. This is the first time in the history of Delta State House of Assembly a first timer emerged deputy speaker. For his peers in the state House of Assembly to elect him as deputy speaker, it means there must be something spectacular about his personal character and ability to relate with his colleagues and constituents.

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The self-styled Akpowowo rose through the ranks and file. Akpowowo was Delta State Youth Leader of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, from 2008 to 2012, then from 2012 to 2014 before he resigned to contest for the Delta State House of Assembly. Also, in 2011, Akpowowo was appointed Kero Direct Scheme Cordinator by former Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan. In 2015, he was candidate for PDP House of Assembly in Ethiope East, though he came up short. He was however, appointed Special Adviser to Governor Okowa on Waterways/Land Security Committee from 2015 to 2019. Also, appointed Commissioner for Urban Renewal from 2019 to 2021, re-appointed in 2021 to 2022 as Commissioner a second time before resigning to contest for House of Assembly, and won fair and square.

He has a verifiable record in transparency, accountability, and frugal disposition in resource management. Akpwowo has a clean slate in both public and private enterprise which endeared the people of Ethiope East to vote massively for him during the House of Assembly election earlier this year.

In addition, the combined factors of a respectable background as a grassroots mobilizer, community developer and a broad-based vision of leadership has had tremendous impact on his penetration of demographic groups with the resultant swell of a support base for him across the Ethiope East Constituency.

It’s to his credit that he had stayed the course since 2014 when he unveiled interest in representing his people at the Delta State House of Assembly. With somewhat providential role, a lot of things have gone on well for him to the consternation of detractors who had erroneously dismissed his quest as a flash in the pan.

That he is made of sterner stuff is evident in his capacity to endure a long haul and deflect trenchant criticisms from opponents who probably thought he would chicken out of the race during the period of campaign.

We therefore urge the good people of Ethiope East and Deltans to support Akpowowo to enable him bring his wealth of experience to bear in lawmaking and lobbying.