The 2015 elections may be a year and several months away but
in Delta State, the impression one gets is that the gubernatorial poll may well
be holding tomorrow. While hardly anyone has publicly declared for the race,
certain interested politicians are already at one another’s throats in what is
fast deteriorating into a rat race to Government House.
My projection is that the acrimony with which various
political gladiators are trying to actualize their ambitions may well lead to
bloodshed in the period leading up to the election proper, a pointer to which
is the dastardly attempt on the life of Engr. Victor Ochei, incumbent Speaker,
Delta State House of Assembly. The failed assassination, a brazen act of
terrorism, took place at Obomkpa, a town in Aniocha North Local Government
Area, which Ochei represents at the Assembly, targeting him in what was a clear
attempt to murder him in cold blood at an event at which he was engaging his
constituents at a grassroots level.
While Ochei has already emerged as the frontrunner on
account of his stunning achievements as Speaker, the storm of unfair attacks
from a multiplicity of directions over a race he has not even officially
declared for, can only serve to make Deltans more sympathetic to his person.
The latest of such attacks is a laughable attempt to link him to Urhobo
Progress Union, UPU, activities. In the first place, much as he loves the
Urhobo people, Ochei happens not to be an Urhobo man, that he should either be
interested or involved in matters pertaining to the UPU. At any rate, though he
is the number three citizen of Delta State and Speaker of the state’s House of
Assembly, he simply lacks the requisite leverage to openly or remotely control
the elders of the Urhobo nation whom he holds in the highest esteem and
respects as fathers and uncles of his. The leaders of the UPU are elder
statesmen and national figures in their own right and not the sort of persons
that are susceptible to external influence even from someone in Ochei’s
position. Those insinuating otherwise have only ended up insulting the
distinguished elders of Urhoboland in their infantile bid to tarnish his
reputation.
While such despicable conduct is morally reprehensible
enough, upping the ante to terrorism and attempted murder of the head of the
first arm of government of the state is most unconscionable and must not be
tolerated by government, law enforcement agencies and the good people of Delta
State. Interestingly, the stakeholders currently pressing Ochei to run, appear
to be more interested in building a broad based coalition across the state by
unveiling his enviable credentials as a detribalized Deltan and a unifying
factor with much to offer rather than a gubernatorial hopeful merely banking on
power shift.
Unfortunately for the mastermind of the murder attempt, they
frittered away all the years they have been in positions of authority,
approaching governance from a self-centered angle rather than leaving something
behind for which Deltans would be proud to remember them by.
Ochei, amongst other achievements, has delivered what is now
the best House of Assembly chambers in Nigeria, with public affairs
commentators setting his accomplishments as the minimum standard for anyone
aspiring to the governorship of Delta. It is certainly not his fault that his
rivals have nothing to show which qualifies them to become governors. If they
had been more forthright persons, they would have been minded to recommend
themselves to Deltans on the basis of genuine achievements to the benefit of
the citizens of the state. Having failed to make any positive impact in
government, they are now prepared to resort even to murder as a shortcut to
power. Ironically, with this coldblooded attempt to snuff out Ochei’s life with
an Improvised Explosive Device, the favourite weapon of Boko Haram terrorists,
the good people of Delta will only end up even more favourably disposed to his
emergence as their governor.
In light of the growing understanding that it is only fair
that the governorship of Delta be zoned this time around to Delta North, it is
expected that the indigenes of the zone would make hay while the sun shines by
pruning down the unwieldy number of aspirants from their zone while distancing
themselves from desperadoes who seem quite prepared to kill a fellow Deltan for
power. They will ultimately be better served by rallying around a credible
candidate they can present with confidence to the rest of the state.
As for those amongst them who may be ready to do anything
for power, such despicable behavior can only lead to disunity which aspirants
from other zones may well find expedient to capitalize on for the purpose of
denying them the governorship in 2015.
It would appear that some of our politicians, having become
arrogant and ignorant upon the intoxication of power and the euphoria of high
office now see their becoming the Governor of Delta as a do or die affair.
Unfortunately for them, Deltans will choose their Governor from the ranks of
performing leaders with verifiable achievements they can actually see as a
testament to sterling stewardship in government.
Needless to say, the last sort of politicians they will
allow into Government House, come 2015 are those whose stock in trade is the
sponsorship of unfounded stories in the media. Now that they have upgraded from
planting stories to planting bombs in a desperate bid to force their way into
Government House, Deltans now find themselves in a vantage position to see what
clearly differentiates them as terrorists, from a level headed, cool, calm and
collected gentleman like Victor Ochei.
Written By Dafe Akpomedaye
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