By Dapo Akinrefon

Mr. Paul Owumi was Senior Special Assistant to former Delta State Governor, Chief James Onanefe Ibori. He was appointed Executive Assistant on Foreign Relations by incumbent Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, a position he has maintained for over seven years.

The activist cum politician recently began what many has termed as upsetting the apple cart by holding state wide consultations in a bid to formally join the 2015 governorship race for Delta State.

In this interview, Owumi reveals why he’s the best man to succeed Governor Uduaghan whose tenure expires May 29, 2015. Excerpts:

There have been talks about you holding consultations with some people  you identified as stakeholders . What was the reason for doing this and what were you hoping to achieve?

Delta is a very complex state. It is multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and hypersensitive in terms of politics. Anything you do is bound to have some interpretations and if not well handled, meet with unintended consequences.

So, you must identify key stakeholders that are vital in shaping opinions and have become role models to many. I’m not talking of political godfathers or people sometimes referred to as political jobbers.

And so because of the seriousness and importance attached to the issues at stake, I thought it wise to meet with some elders of my party, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Some of those also consulted are community leaders and religious elders all of whom are vital and critical in determining who would become the next governor of Delta State.

Your entry into the governorship race has come as a surprise to many especially the zoning of the governorship seat to Delta North senatorial district. Knowing that you are from Delta Central, is your entry into the race not an open challenge to the powers that be in the state?

This is why I keep talking of a pan-Delta mandate. I am not running as the candidate of any particular ethnic group. Of course I am aware of the agitation by the Anioma people for power to shift to the North. Am also conscious of the desire of Delta Central to have the governorship returned to them.

It may interest you to know that I satisfy the aspirations of both groups. I belong to the centre and the North. You may say I am a bridge builder if you like. For those who may not know I have the blue blood of Asaba running in me. My grandmother was the eldest of the Achuzia family, senior to the celebrated civil war hero, Colonel Achuzia. So I can claim Asaba and indeed Anioma as a matter of right.

No one can ask me not to sit in the gathering of Asaba people, neither can anyone prevent me from speaking when the Anioma people have their assembly. Similarly, I am an Okpe man from Sapele as a true son of the revered Chief B. T. Owumi, the Adani of Okpe Kingdom. My full name is actually Paul Otomiefe Achuzia Owumi.

Let me also add that Okpe people are as agitated as the Anioma in this governorship race is concerned. Of course, you should know that Okpe has the dominant population in Delta Central. Yet the governorship has eluded them.

The two elected governors from the central, Chief Felix Ibru and my boss, Chief James Onanefe Ibori are not from Okpe. In the same vein, the Anioma are worried that despite having nine local governments, with the  central and south districts having eight each, the zone has not been able to produce a governor. Fortunately, both aspirations find perfect expression in me.

You may say I am a personification of the marginalised Okpe and Anioma people. This is why I talk of a pan Delta mandate. And the mandate is divine because it is ordained by God Almighty.

What are your strategies for winning the PDP primaries and become candidate of your party?

I am the voice of the youth in Delta State. I am the hope of the women and other marginalised groups.

You must agree that the youths and women constitute the bulk of the active population. I represent the future for them. Ultimately, they are the ones who will tell the party and the entire people of the state that I am their man.

So what policies should Deltans expect from you if you become governor of the state?

It is my belief that God has used my father and current governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan to lay the foundation for a modern Delta State. First the renaming of Delta from the Big Heart to Finger of God is a master stroke. This for me is the watershed of Governor Uduaghan’s policy thrust.

Together with the Delta Beyond Oil programme of the administration, I believe that the superstructure has been laid. What is left is the building of blocks which God has ordained me to do for his people from May 29, 2015.