A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State, Hon. P. O. Oju, has appealed to Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, Governor of the State, to shelve the alleged plan to relocate some faculties in the Delta State University of Technology, Ozoro, especially the Faculty of Business Administration to Orerokpe, his hometown where he alleged a campus of the institution will be set up.
He said Governor Oborevwori of Delta State should do a re-think of the alleged plan since, in his view, it will amount to killing Delta State University of Science and Technology, Ozoro and “bury the corpse at Orerokpe, his hometown, to create the impression that he loves his people so much.”
Oju, former Chairman of Isoko Local Government and former chairman, Isoko North PDP Elders Council, alleged that the critical faculties in the university are to be relocated to Orerokpe to establish a campus in the Governor’s hometown.
In a statement issued yesterday, the Isoko leader warned that carrying out such a plan for a university that is barely three years old will cause tension in the state and potentially upend the harmonious relationship between the Isoko and Urhobo people.
In his statement, Oju called on the “good Orerokpe people, Urhobo people the closest to Isoko people and the peace loving people of Delta State to without delay advise my amiable governor for whom I almost lost my life mobilizing people to vote for him as my PDP candidate to go back to history and copy what H.E. Governor James Onanefe Ibori did when he wanted to establish Oghara Polytechnic.
“He did not kill Ogwashi-Uku and Ozoro Polytechnics which were almost dying. Rather, he revived them and established the Oghara Polytechnic. There was jubilation in the whole of Delta State. H.E.Governor Sheriff Oborevwori should not create unnecessary tension in Delta State in his time for people in Isoko to pass a vote of no confidence on PDP, our political party.
“It is my sincere and honest advice that H.E. should have listening ears and do his PDP members in Urhobo, Isoko and the whole of Delta State proud. I will not stop advising until the right thing is done”, Oju said.
The Delta State University of Science and Technology, Ozoro was first established as a College of Agriculture which was turned into a Polytechnic on January 1, 2002, by law during the administration of Chief James Ibori.
In February 2021, Governor Ifeanyi A Okowa upgraded the Polytechnic to a university, the same time he established two additional universities in Asaba and Agbor.
The “Relocation Of Ozoro Varsity Faculty” by sitting Governor, Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, to his hometown of Orerokpe, is very self-serving, controversial, egotistic and uncalled for. It clearly shows that Sheriff Oborevwori is very insensitive and shrewd as an opportunist-politician who will do anything to satisfy his Okpe people at the expense of other ethnic groups in Delta State.
First and foremost, let’s be clear, that the Delta State University of Science & Technology, Ozoro, is a public-owned institution managed by the Delta State Government. Meaning; the Delta State sitting Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, has every power to order any relocation of faculties at the said university, but he and his supporters and ethnic bigots must act according to the extant Laws, which established DSUST, Ozoro, in the first place.
Furthermore, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and his supporters should tell their audiences why the choice of Orerokpe is the ONLY place the relocation of the said “faculties” from the Ozoro Varsity the best-fit? There aren’t reasons whatsoever other than rob Peter-to-Paul politics here. Orerokpe is not the ONLY town in the entire Delta State, where “faculties” from the Ozoro Varsity can be relocated. Many towns, villages and communities are abound to accommodate such relocation, but Governor Oborevwori has chosen his hometown of Orerokpe, of which is outright nepotism.
Finally, from now on and going forward, the Isoko Nation must decide once and for all what path it should follow in the ongoing Delta State politics of ethnicity being championed by the tribal-jingoists of Okpe Kingdom and Sheriff Oborevwori. The Isoko Nation should henceforth, build bridges and alliances across the political divide for the zoning of the Governor’s Seat, the State House of Assembly Seats amongst the ethnic groups of Delta State. The Isoko Nation don’t compete with other ethnic groups in the state, and that’s it is being taken advantage of. Never again should the Isoko Nation vote Sheriff Oborevwori for second-term or re-election in Delta State. Very sad indeed.