By Tony Eluemunor

This is my most pleasant public statement since I issued the very first one as Chief James Onanefe Ibori’s spokesman, in December 2007, seven months after he handed over power as Delta state governor after eight years in office. Unlike that first was a salvo and the majority of the others that followed it which were fusillades and cannonades, this one comes with a tone so subdued you could liken it to, no, not a cantata because it cannot have instrumental accompaniment but a ballad (a poem or song that tells a story) or an aria if we must stick to musical terms (because arias are solo songs chosen to display deeper than usual emotion or reflection). This reflective tone and gentle flow comes to wish my Principal a most hearty and wholesome HAPPY BIRTHDAY celebrations.

August 4, 2026, His Excellency, Chief James Onanefe Ibori Ibori turned 68. Far from the maddening times, and after all the battles of yore, Ibori the quintessential rider on the storm, is living the life of an Elder Statesman and Family Patriarch.   The clash of battle has quietened.  From near and far, people pour in to pay him homage. Though he never planned it, he appears to hold court wherever he is as people come to their champion, their leader… for Chief Ibori is the big fish behind whom smaller fish swim for safety as he fights off the sharks of the high seas of Nigerian politics intent on gulping them up. Yes, he has been a shelter in the age of thunder. 
Astonishing adulation?  Ibori deserves it for he served the Niger Delta people selflessly, and in Nigeria, he led the battle for fiscal federalism, national restructuring even as he opposed despotism.  Like Achilles on the fields of Troy, he hazarded himself and paid dearly for his high ideals. But God kept him alive. That’s why millions rejoice with him. Oh, Ibori has publicly thanked Lt. General Abdulrahman Bello Dambazua (Rtd) for saving his life when he was Chief of Army Staff.
One of the reasons for this ballad or aria is that Ibori has “been through a lot of pain in the dirt and (he has) the scars to prove it” as the American musician, Meatloaf, sings in Rock and Roll Dreams Come True. Meatloaf even upped the ante in another line; “You’ve been through the fires of hell and I know you have the ashes to prove it”. Well, as the saying goes, “time heals all wounds” and Ibori has moved on, leaving recriminations behind. But he didn’t even wait for doctor time’s slow pace; instead, he began to forgive and forget as he was being persecuted. I say this because two people could be said to have openly rooted for his downfall and he sent me, when winds of tragedy visited their homes, to offer solace. The first was when Senator Pius Ewherido died, after Ibori had attempted to help fly him to a German hospital. Ibori’s former Aide-de-camp (ADC) Sir Solomon Udele and I went on that mission to console Ewherido’s family. The second time was in 2020; the poet and playwright, Professor John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo passed and Ibori sent me to give his condolences to E. K. Clark. I phoned Ibori and he and Clark spoke for a long time. When E.K. Clark himself passed in 2025, Ibori felt genuine sorrow and, visited his home and paid him glowing tributes.   
There is a sea of misunderstanding and outright ignorance surrounding Ibori. Actually, herd mentality as opposed to diligently gained information which muddies up the public memory is Nigeria’s tragedy. Numerous Nigerian leaders have suffered from this affliction as Nigerians are rarely agreed about any event whether ancient or recent. Monday, 3rd August 2026, I was at the National Library, Abuja, searching for the Pilot and the Airline that flew late Bayelsan Governor D. S. P. Alamieyeseigha from Ivory Coast after a plane from London dropped him there. The Librarian thought I was crazy; he swore that the man sneaked into Nigeria dressed as a woman. He advised that no Nigerian would take me serious because EVERYBODY KNOWS how that man forged a passport, dressed as a woman and a canoe brought him into Bayelsa state from Cameroun. So, 21 years after, that lie still endures. Recently, a retired DSS operative, Dennis Amachree, claimed in a book that the Head of State, late Gen. Sani Abacha died by 4: 30 AM while carousing with a woman. I was the only journalist who pointed out how it diverged from the other facts. Abacha’s medical doctor, Prof Sadiq Suleiman Wali has said that he was treating a FULLY DRESSED Abacha, who was seated on a couch, by around 6 AM and personally broke the news to Abacha’s family. He also mentioned that another doctor was attending to Abacha when he arrived. I’m searching for that Doctor before I rejoin that discussion because Amachree’s lady Pharmacist told him that Abacha had no pulse by 4: 30 AM. Also, the late Gen. Jerry Useni said two lady’s were there when he left Abacha. Amachree said the Pharmacist said that Useni had left before she and her sister arrived the Villa. For the Pharmacist’s story to be true, someone must have dressed a dead Abacha up, propped the remains up on chair instead of laying the body down and if he had a pulse when the doctors arrived, resurrected him from the dead after two hours.   
 Yes, Ibori has had more than his fair share of this herd-mentality induced false stories stacked up against him. Many, such as E. K. Clark said they turned against him for making his cousin to succeed him as Delta state Governor. How many people know that Ibori never groomed His Excellency, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan as his successor? Or that he could not have groomed Uduaghan because the office was open for people from the Delta North and the three I’s (Ijaw, Isoko and Itsekiri peoples) of the Delta South senatorial districts? Even some persons from Ibori’s own Delta Central District, such as Ewherido, also vied to succeed him and fought him for not backing them. If Ibori had totally backed Uduaghan in the primaries he and the third civilian Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa would not have tied at the primaries. In fact, had Ibori really backed Uduaghan, Okowa would not have joined the race. Minus the Obasanjo/Atiku fight, Chief Peter Eloka Okocha could have easily succeeded Ibori as Governor but Okocha lost out because he told Obasanjo that he would never foreswear his friendship with Atiku.
Discuss Ibori’s daughter, Hon. Erhiatake Ibori-Suenu and some know it alls would swear that her father foisted her on the people. But that is a lie. The Ibori name endeared her to voters all right but she “pushed” herself. Her father was in London when it all started. She put out word that she wanted to celebrate Ibori’s birthday. I phoned Ibori in London and he said he didn’t plan for any celebrations until he returned. I called Taake and she said matter of flatly: “I don’t need my father’s say so to celebrate his birthday”. That made great sense to me; people should do all in their power to honour their father. Ibori’s political associates attended the event and supported he campaign. On her election day (into the Delta State House of Assembly), Ibori’s aides and friends and rallied around her. I joined the security “dudes” in driving through the crannies of Oghara. Unprompted, I wrote her statement when she won. Yes, Ibori’s supporters embraced his daughter and made a pro-Ibori statement. 
Yes, Ibori is like an island surrounded by a sea of false stories, misunderstandings. How did Ibori begin the journey which landed him on the Governor’s seat at the Government House, Asaba? How did he trump the big names from his Delta Central Senatorial District? Even I his spokesman got to hear that story March 13 this year when I was told about the chess game that played out in the Delta National Congress. I heard about the late Chiefs Felix Ibru and Patrick Okpako Okitiakpe, and may others.  Sometimes, the people are not to blame for they were taken hostage by self-serving liars. Many journalists wrote out of sheer ignorance or were victims of press manipulation and misinformation (mistake without intention to harm) and disinformation – a deliberate lie cooked up to deceive and mislead.
Yet, the arsenals should not be disturbed today and the cannon balls should not fly. This is a ballad, remember, in celebration of Ibori’s birthday. One day, Ibori’s story will be told. It will give a fitting insight into Ibori the South-South champion who in 2002 ensured that Raymond Dokpesi’s African Independent Television (AIT) remained in the man’s hands though a man had wanted it for his Third Term bid. Ibori, in many political fights, remained stoutly defiant and uncompromising to the end, his knees refusing to bend in supplication to his fellow man or any unknown god. Instead, he stood his ground; brave, unbowed, unshaken, and resolute like a high tower.  Not even any vicissitude of life could break down his robust and towering confidence or for that matter his golden dreams, or could it truncate his forward march in the mine-infested field of Nigerian politics – ahead of his contemporaries and above even his own reputation as not many yet fully understood him. He exercises extravagant will power so lordly as not only to truly amaze his enemies but meet with their secret admiration. 

What passion! What fighting spirit! What self-will! What singularity! 

For today, I send a Happy Birthday celebration wish to Ibori the Elder Statesman and the family man. Let politics and politicking take the back seat.