By Eferovo Igho
Twenty four years of apical thievery at Asaba and the Councils Headquarters in Delta State cannot be well told here, so also the infamy it has brought to the State and the poverty and pains it has subjected the masses to. But what can be quickly said here is ‘the cry of rescue’ that all of that has thrown up.
And suddenly, after these long years of political cum financial subjugation, you heard this whistling and humming of the people. Though not easy to decipher at that point you can tell by their sweet faces that something newsy is around; then came the low-pitched sounds and eavesdrops, but you reasoned it was nothing to run away with yet being still shadowy; then it hits you direct, loud, clear and unmistaken before it quickly became streets chat.
But will he or will he not! And how verifiable is it? So, given your background you thought you should still keep your hands akimbo. And then, the man came! He strode in with towering credentials, profile of record performance and it was no surprise at all, therefore, that his unique, incomparable and achievable vision for Delta had a ready place in the hearts of all. Welcome Ovie Omo-Agege!
It was a bangy entrant. It was a catalogue of goodies, and very rare ones he promised and since he reeled them out there has not been a counter or rejoinder or can there really be any.
Thus he let the cat out of the bag, and immediately created a bunch of dithering ‘aspirants’ in other Parties to that office. The shot that day he made the declaration is unmistakable: Ending the Omnishambles that has been governance in Delta these 24 years.
May we add too that though he may not have started the miracle that is Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun (FUPRE), some think his consolidatory role (increase financing) of FUPRE cannot be denied. And Federal Polytechnic, Orogun, just had its first Rector in the person of Dr. Duke Okoro. And who does not know that Senator Ovie Omo-Agege singularly thought out that Federal academic institution, and ensured it ’emblazons’ his Delta State landscape, as it is today. A senator? Yes, a senator stamped that project in the State. What a testament and revelation of what Deltans stand to reap not many days hence. Really, it is better imagined what awaits Deltans when this man starts pulling executive strings.
This trained lawyer with an LLM, got the practical startups at Pat Okupa and Co (if you know what great a Chamber that was). He had a sweetly burgeoning legal practice – home and abroad – after that; all that besides coming from a famed legal family and poised to be Footesque (of Sir Dingle Mackintosh Foot, QC we speak) when politics – if you like – took the better part of him.
And you have since seen a rising star in him since 2003 in rocket fashion: Executive Assistant to the Governor, Commissioner for Special Duties, Secretary to the State Government, Senator and Deputy Senate President. Walking the whole hug, indeed both hugs of Executive and Parliament, Omo-Agege who has done for his Senatorial people what has never been thought of by Senators before him let alone attempting to doing same, thinks of replicating same feat to all Deltans which can only be by executive representation at the helm.
Never again should Deltans acquiesced with the financial recklessness in Delta, the infamy it has brought to the State and the heartless efforts to cover all tracks these many years. Never again! This is the promised relief. And whilst the allure of success may pull the electorate around him and its drumbeats echo resoundingly here and there, Omo-Agege remains fixed in focus, and ever stirred in drive.
The chemistry or mutual attraction between Omo-Agege and the electorate in the State cannot be overemphasized. Then again, given the drive and push you see in him, the Civil Service in Delta will automatically pull up its socks, and get ready to be cleaned from all the contamination of these stranger politicians in Delta PDP. It really cannot be otherwise because stellar track record is what Omo-Agege is gearing up to leave behind as against infamy that has hit rock bottom in the State with PDP.
Not one to be quickly snowed under with duties, how he handles his numerous assignments and duties at the Senate and his primary constituency of Delta Senatorial District and secondarily South South, and indeed nationally, you are always hands akimbo seeing how he meets the diverse needs of the areas of his coverage. He has proven to be a shining star where others before him have either awfully failed or attained skimpy success.
If he has held down his senatorial office so far, he sure much better a gubernatorial office. Or, if we all agree he has with gusto tucked into this present mandate, much more will he with a chief executive mandate. And after all, given his frame, energy and knack for results you see a man better carved for executive roles. Delta needs a man like Omo-Agege to unveil the true face of governance, for, for how long shall theft continue to rip off our treasuries and rip up our lives? Twenty four years they have been into it – when shall our Otoge be? 2023 presents the answer in Omo-Agege.
For 24 years corruption has been the only language of PDP usurped governments in the State. Corruption straddled regimes! It has been unmatched profligacy fathered by matchless election rigging these decades, the rigging being sine qua non for the continuity of profligacy and or to keep at bay trail followers! But now they’ve caught the ague – to our delight – since Omo-Agege stepped out. So, that perpetuated perception in Delta that politics is a grabby enterprise is emptying out.
Surely, the time to show Delta State’s PDP the exit door is 2023. The time for all and sundry to rise up is now. It must be overwhelming queues and sweeping mandate for Omo-Agege – a whitewash – which the present cabal at Asaba would dare not attempt to play out their dark theatricals around the voting process, and if they unashamedly do, to their peril, and a whitewash that cannot be denied by the Courts.
Yes, Delta’s Otoge is here. Hagamoslo (Let’s do this). Enough is enough.
Igho, a veteran public affairs commentator, wrote via eferovo@gmail.com.
