By Festus Ahon

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them -William Shakespeare.

When he was elected into the Delta State House of Assembly in 2015 as member representing Okpe Constituency, little did Rt. Hon Sherrif Francis Orohwedor Oborevwori know that fate was preparing a pathway for him to succeed the incubent, Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa after the expiration of his tenure as Governor of the State in 2023.

As a first termer in the House, Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori’s immediate desire was to learn the ropes of the legislative business, seek re-ection, perhaps remain in the Assembly for as long as possible and become a ranking legislator.

Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori’s colleagues in the House were however, quick to notice his visionary leadership qualities, and on May 11th 2016, elected him Speaker of the Assembly, following a shake up that led to the ouster of Rt Hon Monday Igbuya from the position by the lawmakers.

Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori who never lobbied for the job, took it up after much pasuation from his colleagues.

Determined to succeed, Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori braced up with the challenges of his new office as the presiding officer of the House with a strong resolve to make a difference.

As Speaker of the House of Assembly, he has changed the face of the legislature in the State, through training and retraining of members and staff of the Assembly as well as members and staff welfare. He has also improved on the infrastructure of both the Assembly complex and Legislative quarters.

He has displayed high sense of accountabity, transparency and responsible leadership since he assumed office as Speaker. As at today, he is the longest serving Speaker in the history of Delta State House of Assembly as his leadership style has endeared him to members and staff of the legislature.

In the build up to the 2023 polls, Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori who threw his hat into the ring to contest for the State Governorship, received massive support across the state because of his credibility and accessibility. He relates freely with the high and low in the society.

No wonder, he overwhelmingly defeated his opponents at the PDP primary election. Despite the campaigns of calumny against his person and the litigations, he triumphed, winning all the court cases instituted against him by his opponents.

His landslide victory at the March 18th governorship election, spoke volume of his street credibility and relationship with the people at the grassroots across the state. Even as Governor-elect, he lives freely and relates very well with his community people and those who comes his way.

Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori who first displayed his leadership skills as Chairman of Osubi Community from 1996 to 2003, performed exceedingly well as the community experienced peace and development during his reign.

The Osubi Airport, popularly referred to as Warri Airport was built during his tenure as Chairman of the community. He ensured that the Airport was completed on scheduled without any hindrance.

Before he was elected as chairman of Osubi community, he had served as a Councillor in the Okpe Local Government council in 1996, where he represented Oha ward.

Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori is a born philanthropist as his philanthropic gestures date back to long before he was elected into the State House of Assembly in 2015.

Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori has been giving out scholarship to indigent students across the State. He has also trained very many persons in vocation of their choices, from learning the skill to getting starter packs with cash for takeoff.

In 2018, when he has not even thought of running for governorship, Oborevwori held empowerment programme, which was highly applauded by his constituents, where he gave out cars, buses, hair dryers, power generating sets, grinding machines, wrappers, cash amongst other items worth millions of naira to his constituents.

The empowerment ceremony, which was
held at the Osubi trade fair centre, was attended by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, top government functionaries, community and religious leaders.

The Governor-elect, had before this empowerment program, rescued 13 years old boy, an indigene of Ebonyi State, Master Godstime Chigozie in Osubi, Okpe Local Government Area from his bully uncle, Mr Ifeanyi Akpa who was maltreating him after denying him secondary education.

The passionate Oborevwori took Master Godstime Chigozie to the hospital for treatment as a result of the bruises he got after being severely beaten by the wicked uncle, Mr Ifeanyi Akpa and gave him scholarship afterwards. He enrolled the boy as boarding student at Jesus Hominum Salvator High School, Orerokpe. Today, the boy is in SS 2.

Hundreds of persons have over the years benefitted from Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori scholarship scheme. Before and after that mega empowerment programme in 2018, Oborevwori has been empowering people within and outside his constituency.

As a community Chairman, nobody ever thought that Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori would someday become Speaker of the State House of let alone being Governor. It is on record that he is the first serving Speaker in the State Legislature to be elected as Governor in the State.

Born on June 19th 1963 to the family of Chief Samuel and Mrs Esther Oborevwori, Rt Hon Sheriff Francis Orohwedor Oborevwori set out to be a leader from birth.

Some persons are born great with a determined destiny to lead. This obviously is the case of the Delta State Governor-elect, Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori.