By Uche Uzoamaka
As the people of Delta State prepare to vote in Saturday’s election, they must make it clear that they want a Governor of Delta State in Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori and not a Governor of Orogun in the person of Ovie Omo-Agege. Delta State was built on certain ideals which count for equity, fairness, justice, and equality. These ideals reinforce and consolidate the beauty of our ethnic plurality. Delta State has survived and developed on these ideals for twenty-four years and it is the hope of all that the ideals will remain the building blocks of the future Delta State of our dreams. That is a Delta State where we all have a sense of belonging and where no man or woman is oppressed because of the ethnic group to which he or she belongs.
The two major contestants in Saturday’s election represent the two sides of the good and bad of Delta State. Sheriff Oborevwori of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is a consensus builder who has been a strong advocate of rotation from which Delta State draws its sustainability. On the other hand, Ovie Omo-Agege of the All Progressives Congress (APC) represents the opposite of the ideal that is based on rotation. Omo-Agege is an ethnic fanatic who believes that only the Urhobo people based on population should rule Delta State forever. The more painful reality is that back home Omo-Agege is not Pan-Urhobo because all that he brought to the Urhobo nation from the Senate are located in his small village of Orhomuru-Orogun, a village with less than thirty houses. He ignored the other twenty-three Urhobo kingdoms.
What Deltans want is a Governor that will continue to integrate Delta State as one and not a Governor that will promote one ethnic group over the others. We want a Governor that will embrace the Isoko, Ijaw, Itsekiri, Ukwuani, Urhoboand, Aniocha/Oshimili as one good people of Delta State. This is the recipe for equity, fairness, justice, stability, and peace. Deltans will find such a Governor in Oborevwori. So far, Oborevwori has been Speaker of the State House of Assembly for a record two terms approximating seven years. This is an unparalleled feat. As Speaker, he presides over a House of Assembly with twenty-nine lawmakers across the State and has earned their confidence and respect because he has evolved as a bridge builder and pillar of democratic ideals. His fellow lawmakers see him as a Pan-Delta leader who will take the State to greater heights without rancor and divisive tendencies.
What Delta State needs in going forward at this point is inclusive governance and Oborevwori can offer that without let or hindrance. He has always been in the PDP from its inception and has gathered both Executive and Legislative experience. His manifesto speaks well to the hopes and aspirations of Delta State. Omo-Agege on the other hand is a carpetbagger who has moved to half a dozen political parties and serially contested the governorship and failed.
The verdict out there is that he is not the kind of Governor Deltans wants. We want a Governor of Delta State and not an Orogun Governor. Let Omo-Agege continue to enjoy his status of Obarisi of Orhomuru.
