…*Ovie Omo-Agege Should Be Next Delta Governor
Mr. Francis Ewherido is an author, relationship coach and insurance broker. Francis, who is a brother to the Late Senator Pius Akpor Ewherido (a former senator representing Delta Central Senatorial District), is a founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State. He spoke with selected journalists on why the Ewherido family took a retreat from active politics and their choices for 2023 general elections. OVIE OKPARE was among the selected journalists. Excerpt:
You Were Active In 2015, But Have Been Quiet Thereafter. What happened?
You are correct. My brother, Emma and I were involved more than you know 2015. The APC lost the governorship election in Delta, but won at the centre. Like other states the leadership of APC in Delta State took their turn to congratulate the President-Elect then, Muhammadu Buhari, at Aguda House in Abuja. The venue was not yet full when we got there. The front roll was fully occupied, but there were empty seats in other rolls. Emma sat on the front roll. Then more people came in. One of them was a former member of the House of Representatives, who crossed over from PDP to APC two days earlier. The leader of our delegation told Emma to vacate his seat for the Honourable. Emma refused. The leader started threatening Emma. I was in shock. He later apologised to Emma privately, but of what use when you disgraced him publicly?
See, my late brother, Sen. Ewherido was a founding member of APC nationally and the arrowhead in Delta State. After he died, his loyalists sent Chief Adelabu Bodjor, Hon. Edewor Omonemu, and the late Chief Henry Olori to ask us the way forward and if an Ewherido family member was interested in taking over. We told them we just wanted to be left alone to mourn our brother. They sought our consent and we told them they could go ahead to look for a new leader and financier. Omonenu was detailed to go to Lagos to see a potential new leader and financier.
Anyway, other unsavoury incidents happened after the Abuja incident and we just felt it was needless hanging around. We decided to concentrate on our individual pursuits. In Urhobo, there is onome (this is mine) and oravware (This is ours). In life, onome should sometimes take precedence over oravware. APC was oravware.
In politics, loyalty is a scarce commodity and when you get it, you treasure it. Sen. Ewherido could not have committed such a schoolboy error of publicly humiliating and telling a hard core loyalist to vacate his seat for a day-old member of the party. The same person for whom Emma was publicly disgraced is back in PDP as we speak. But we are still in APC. Since then, we decided to concentrate on onome until HE Senator Ovie-Omo-Agege became Deputy President of the Senate. He extended a hand of fellowship to us and that is why we are back on the train.
Is That Why You Are Routing For Omo-Agege?
Not necessarily. Any good marketer will tell you the ease of selling a good product. Those from Delta Central back home are in a better position to tell you the impact the PDP-led Delta State Government has made and that of Omo-Agege, the senator representing us. For me ipsa loquitur (the fact speaks for itself).
PDP has not clothed itself in glory in the last 16 years, especially. Omo-Agege has shown that he can bring the much needed transformation in Delta State if Deltans vote him in as governor. Look at Rivers and Akwa Ibom States and what they have achieved in the last 16 years. How much revenue did they and Delta State earn within this period? I just feel the problem with Delta State is lack of good leadership. Omo-Agege will be a good governor. He has proven that with his performance in the senate.
So, You Are Not Supporting Him Due To Party Affiliations?
Maybe partly because my late brother wanted APC to rule Delta State and provide good and visionary leadership. But I am also supporting him because in my opinion, he is the best candidate. Incidentally, I am supporting other APC candidates in the state because I feel they are the best. For the Senate I am supporting Chief Ede Dafinone. The other candidates are eminently qualified, but I have known Dafinone in the financial circle, not just him, but his siblings, for a while. Except for Ede who politics threw into public light, the rest of them are accomplished but live private lives. I had to caution a young friend who said Ede does not have the financial capacity to match his candidate. I told him that beyond his personal accomplishments and wealth, Ede has family wealth that spans over 60 years. You do not compare that with wealth that was created in 1999. In any case, the election should be issues-based, not who has more money.
But They Also Say He Is Not A Grassroot Man And Can Neither Speak Urhobo Nor Okpe…
The grassroot base issue is not true. Speaking fluent Urhobo might be true, but I speak Urhobo fluently because my parents taught me. The mistake of the father should not be visited on the son. There are other aspirants in the same boat as Ede Dafinone. They also do not speak Urhobo fluently, but the question is, is speaking Urhobo a criterion for providing effective representation of your people? The business in the senate is conducted in English and Dafinone is very sound there. I would have been worried if he could not speak English very well. My position in no way negates my age old advocacy that we must speak our indigenous languages to our children and stop a vital part of our culture from going extinct. But we should stop muddling issues and stay focussed.
Rev. Francis Waive, who represents my constituency in the House of Representatives is another good product that is easily marketable. For me, he is the best representative of my constituency in the green chamber since 1999. Again res ipsa loquitur (The fact speaks for itself). He deserves a second term. There is another candidate, Barr. Spenser Ohwofa, who tickles me a lot. He is not from my constituency, but a sound young lawyer. We worked for the same client some time ago. He was the lawyer while I was the insurance consultant. He is very hardworking, diligent and thorough. We must begin to support and vote for our best candidates at all levels. That is one of the surest ways for a better Nigeria. Finally, is my homeboy, John Oyibokwifi, aspiring to represent Ughelli South Constituency in the Delta State House of Assembly. I am sentimentally attached to the constituency because apart from my hometown, being part of Ughelli South, my late brother Sen. Ewherido was the first legislator to represent the constituency in the fourth republic – 1999 to 2007. There are three major blocks, Ewhu, Ughievwen, and Olomu in the constituency, not to discountenance my maternal home town, Effurun-Otor. Power has gone round and come back to Ewhu and John is a young, vibrant and intelligent man. He is a new kid on the block, but the cap fits.
So, You Believe In Power Rotation?
Yes, but initially I was opposed to it until Ibori rammed it down our throats in Delta State. Now I see the benefits. The Urhobos used to be terribly hated in Delta State. I remember travelling from Asaba to Lagos around 2001. The venom that came out of one mama from Asaba sent shivers round my body. She hated everything about Urhobos including our delicacies and how we spoke. Now Delta South and Delta North have produced governors. Anger towards Urhobos has eased and the political atmosphere is calmer because every ethnic group thinks it can now produce a governor through power rotation.
The initiator and beneficiaries of zoning in Delta State are all in Delta PDP. I thought they should sell and champion power rotation between North and South as a recipe for peace and stability in Nigeria, but that seems not to be the case. I am a firm believer of rotation of power between the north and south. It is the turn of the south and I am resolutely committed to it. Any lover of Nigeria should. National interest should supersede personal interest. I see only Southern candidates contesting to be the next president of Nigeria. I can’t see beyond that. After eight years, power goes back to the north in 2031, thank you.
