•Ex-gov James Ibori’s power sharing idea has lapsed

•If truth be told, Okowa has done little in riverine communities

•Delta House of Assembly trapped by executive arm

CHIEF (Comrade) Sheriff Blessing Mulade, Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for Peace and Environmental Justice, CEPEJ, (Africa 4 Peace Centre), a non-governmental organization, is a sustainable peace, environmental rights advocate in Nigeria.

Guest on Vanguard Governorship Summit, a podium for governorship aspirants to make public their aspirations and plans for the people, the Ibe-Sorimowei (Kingdom Promoter) of Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri South-West Local Government Area, Delta State, expressed his opinion on salient issues regarding politics of the state as never before by any gubernatorial contender. Excerpts:

By Emma Amaize, Regional Editor, South-South, Jimitota Onoyume, Festus Ahon & Sunday Chancel

Ijaw and Urhobo are agitating for who produces Governor of Delta State in 2023; why Ijaw?

2023 is a wonderful year, a wonderful year because it is an election year in Nigeria. By the nature of our political arrangement, it is open to all in Delta state and currently, both Ijaw and Urhobo are indicating interest. We are not at war, we are only gearing towards one goal, and that goal is who the governor becomes.

We, the Ijaws of Delta state, believe that it is our turn to produce the next governor for equity, fairness and justice because in 1999, the Urhobo in Delta Central Senatorial District produced the governor in the person of Chief James Onanefe Ibori; leadership moved to Delta South senatorial district from where Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan emerged, and in 2015, the ball rolled to Delta North senatorial district and the current governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, emerged.

As the second largest ethnic group in the state, we believe that in 2023 we should be given the opportunity to produce the next governor. We want to believe at this point that all other ethnic groups and senatorial districts should in turn support us because Ijaw supported massively all these persons who became governor of the state, including Chief Felix Ibru, first civilian governor of the state.

I am also aware of the arrangement put in place by former governor Ibori to allow Delta run smoothly, which is laudable. That rotational “political osusu” is a good one and I commend him, but that phase of the “osusu” has ended, and now that we are going into a new phase in 2023, we believe Ijaw should be considered for the governorship position.

What is your position on Governor Okowa’s statement that there’s no official zoning arrangement for the office of the governor?

Integrity plays a key role in every human activity. In 2019 when the governor was on his re-election tour to Otor-Udu in Udu local government area, he made a statement that the Urhobo should wait for 2023, saying that 2023 is their turn. At that moment, by the grace of God, I was opportune to speak and I responded at the time saying: ‘Your Excellency, 2023 is pregnant and it cannot be alluded to one ethnic group, that we (Ijaw) also have interest’, which is the origin of the agitation of Ijaw for the 2023 governorship race.

After that occasion, I received various calls because my statement went viral in the media as a counter to the governor’s position. I did that because I had interest for 2023, and I used the word ‘we’ because of my interest.

Now, for Governor Okowa to say there is no zoning arrangement, he may be right, he is very right to some reasonable extent. In line with what I have said earlier, that the first round of the “osusu” zoning is over, the governor is right to say there is no zoning arrangement for 2023.

Former governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan suggested that Ijaw leadership prune down number of governorship aspirants to one, would you subject yourself to such?

First, I commend former Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan for that suggestion. This is an individual interest that metamorphosed into the people’s decision. Today, we are more than three or four from Ijaw that are aspiring. Ijaw nation is bigger than me and any other aspirant.

So, if the Ijaw nation decides to prune down the aspirants as suggested by Uduaghan, and as also advised by various Ijaw leaders, including Ijaw national leader, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, I will consider it. I will, however, not jettison my interest or intention for political gimmick because I do not want a situation where some persons will indicate interest and use it to lobby for any political position. We have experienced such scenarios several times and aspirants are also beneficiaries of such arrangements.

So, if the entire Ijaw nation agrees that if we go this way, we will be able to achieve 2023, I strongly believe we will prune down for that purpose but for me, I may be the last person to think of stepping down for another aspirant.

What is your candid assessment of the development efforts of the current state government in the riverine areas?

Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa has given a very little sense of belonging to residents of riverine communities in the state, particularly we the Ijaw people. I say this because we had successive governments that did not make any impact in our area. We experienced some sort of development that opened up the Ijaw area under the leadership of Chief James Ibori. Ibori’s administration opened up the Bomadi axis of Ijaw by constructing the Bomadi Bridge which has connected over 15 communities in the creeks.

READ ALSO: Rivers Boat Shooting Incident: Ijaw urges probe of erring soldiers

Chief James Ibori also executed the Escravos project, popularly called the Omadino-Gbaramatu project. He constructed the Omadino Bridge, which is a major project. From Omadino where the road project stopped to Okerenkoko is about 20 minutes’ drive, if that road project is completed. Assuming Dr. Uduaghan who succeeded Chief Ibori continued that project, the Escravos axis would have been opened up by now.

You know the economic viability of the Escravos axis and if you open up that area, it will attract more economic boom than the Bomadi axis, but the project has been abandoned. Aside these two major projects, we have not experienced any other major project.

Under Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, we have some little projects in our area, particularly Gbaramatu in Warri South West, and part of Burutu local government areas, which most people refer to as ‘selective projects in selective areas and communities,’ maybe for political reasons. I say so because the entire Egbema-Ijaw in Warri North and part of Itsekiri area are not connected, you can only drive to Koko and from Koko there is no access road to any riverine community.

There may be pockets of internal road projects but I am not referring to such ones. I am talking about road construction to open up the riverine areas and when we refer to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as the ‘Road Master’, these are some areas where we expected to see his projects but we did not including most urban cities.

In my area, however, we have some internal roads which I describe as pedestal walkways, because they are neither linked nor connected to other communities around and maybe they were constructed because the current Deputy Governor, Barrister Kingsley Otuaro is from that area. The governor in his own leadership has done little for the riverine rural communities in terms of performance.

What happened to your Coastal Areas Development Agency, CADA Bill at the state House of Assembly?

Private bills do not fly in the State Assembly; it is only bills from the executive and the legislature that are given attention.

I followed up the bill after its presentation to the State Assembly for a couple of years, not just in this administration but from the previous administration.

The Coastal Areas Development Agency, CADA Bill, in spite of all the efforts I made through the State Assembly and the Executive, was not given any positive attention.

One of the reasons I initiated the bill was to complement efforts of the government to take care of the riverine areas. It has nothing to do with ethnic interest, nothing to do with Ijaw, Itsekiri or Urhobo, but was designed for all riverine areas of Delta state.

Unfortunately, it did not get approval from the Executive. I was made to understand that until the executive arm gives a nod to any proposed bill, nobody in the House has the authority or audacity to present it on the floor of the House. So, the bill was dropped.

That was one reason I contested for the House of Assembly in the 2019 because legislators have to be independent, but unfortunately the House we have is caged to a reasonable extent.

I reached out to many of the lawmakers who attested that the bill was indeed a good one but said not until they got approval from the executive (Governor), it could not be presented on the floor of the House. I believe in 2023 that agency will come alive.

What is your advice to agitators who have threatened hostilities over the miserly 3 per cent to host communities in the PIB 2021?

I do not think those threats are necessary. Threats from agitators or any other groups are not necessary in engaging the government, but they reflected the kind of society we are in, and the kind of government we practice (I am not talking about the current government of President Muhammadu Buhari).

It will interest you to note that in this nation, particularly in the Niger Delta Region, the aggregate of violence or threats that one unleashes or issues will determine one’s level of recognition in demanding for development in one’s area. If we have a system that does not require those threats, and whatever that is due one is willingly and freely given, I don’t think all these threats will arise.

Successive governments had failed the people and the only language government listens or pays attention to is when you issue threats and carry out violent acts, which is wrong.

What agitators should do is to support the leadership of the region to constructively engage the government. I will appeal to them to be calm because the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is a reasonable government that has the interest of the people at heart and will definitely listen to the calls and cry of the people in this direction.

Vanguard News Nigeria