How Ewherido’s death affects dynamics of Delta 2015 SENATOR Akpor Pius Ewherido, the highest elected official in the country on the platform of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), died on Sunday, June 30, 2013, a week after declaring his intention to run for the governorship of Delta State in 2015. However, while the entire Urhobo nation is still in mourning mood, his death may have upset the political apple cart and calculations of the state. Chief Bobson Gbinije, the initiator of a non-governmental pressure group, the Mandate Against Poverty, put this scenario succinctly thus: “Ewherido’s death is a horrific blow to the Urhobo nation of Delta State, democracy, 2015 (elections) and the Nigerian nation.” Human rights lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo, expressed shock at the sudden death of Ewherido, whom, he said he was looking forward to working with in his plan to run for the 2015 Delta State governorship election. In a condolence message to the Senate, the people of Delta State and the family of the deceased, Keyamo said that Ewherido and himself shared a common vision and dream of transformed and people-oriented government in Delta State from 2015. “Before his untimely death, the distinguished Senator shared the same dream with me and my numerous followers, to rescue our dear Delta State from the iron-grip of a small clique that continues to appropriate our common patrimony to themselves and their families,” Keyamo said. The Urhobo of the Delta Central had been in agony playing alleged second, or even third fiddle in the governance of the state. Although they form the majority in population and solidly occupy eight local government councils, and with a visible presence in some other councils, they had literally not governed the state, except for a brief period in the aborted Third Republic when Olorogun Felix Ibru became the first Executive Governor. Hence, the senatorial district, from where Ewherido hailed, and represented in the Senate, was optimistic that it had found the most eligible candidate to reclaim the state’s governorship slot they had been denied several times, for what they said was for no justifiable reason. As a respondent disclosed, when Ewherido signified his intention to contest, “the people were extremely excited that for the first time, a full-fledged Urhobo son, who had a zeal for his tribe, was staking a claim to the governorship seat.” Their contention is that James Onanefe Ibori, who was the first governor in the new political dispensation beginning from 1999, and “who claimed Delta Central as his nativity, was not truly an Urhobo son.” While admitting that the former governor’s mother was their daughter, they argued that ‘Oritsejoromi’ and ‘Ibori’ are not Urhobo names. However, ahead of the 2015 elections, it’s claimed that Ibori, who is serving jail terms in Britain, had endorsed and anointed Ewherido as his candidate for the next governorship race of the state. Ibori reportedly took the step to “make amends and appease the Urhobo for his actions and inaction that adversely affected them, especially the propping of his cousin, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, as governor to succeed him.” Some aides of the incumbent governor admitted that Ibori was still wielding influence in the affairs of Delta State. But the aides, who wished not to be named, said that if it were true that Ibori had endorsed Ewherido, then the senator’s death would have settled weighty issues capable of creating anxiety in some official quarters in the state. They reasoned that self-preservation is the first law of existence and that since Governor Uduaghan was serving his last term in office, he would want to endorse a candidate that would protect his interests after leaving office. The aides also stated that Ibori’s influence had gradually and continually attenuated with time, as Uduaghan steadily established himself and raised his own political structure. Senator Ewherido, a few days before his death, indicated interest to run for the gubernatorial position of Delta State and had entreated his new party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), to that effect after he had moved in with a batch of his former party members. That move precipitated his and some of his supporters’ expulsion from the DPP. In certain quarters, his hurried move to the APC was perceived as a political manoeuvre to undercut his brother, Chief Great Ovedje Ogboru, whom he was not sure could re-contest the state governorship after he had been denied the seat repeatedly by the courts. Some members of the DPP viewed Ewherido’s action as the proverbial biting of the fingers that facilitated his elevation to the exalted seat in the Senate after his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), denied him all opportunities to make any political progress; and this forced him to joining the DPP. On that score, the Delta State leadership of the DPP met in Asaba, and expelled him from the party. Painful as Ewherido’s death might appear, it had calmed frayed political nerves in some quarters. While the Urhobo were planning to accord him unalloyed support in his gubernatorial aspiration, the people of Delta North were (and are still) flexing muscles, declaring at any slightest opportunity that it was their turn to produce the next governor of the state, “whether the person comes from the PDP that operates the zoning system or any other party in the country.” The zone has been bandying the name of Senator Ifeanyi Okowa as their main candidate for the gubernatorial race in the 2015 general elections, and that had been generating some political heat in the state. But besides the Delta North people smarting to claim what they think is their rightful gubernatorial mandate, nobody is sure of what Governor Uduaghan has in mind because, as the out-going chief executive of the state, he would like to endorse a candidate that would project his policies and programmes, and protect his interests after he had left office. As at this moment, the governor has not endorsed Okowa, as his successor, even as another aspirant, Chief Victor Ochei, has entered the race. Ochei, Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, and who also comes from Delta North, has reportedly been gathering supports from individuals and groups across the state in the past few months. The late Ewherido’s political shuttle commenced when he perceived that the PDP would not allow him to actualise his political ambition on its platform. He had run the governorship primaries for the 2007 election under the party in Ogwashi-Uku and lost in what he described as unclear circumstances. Consequently, he left for the DPP under whose ambit he won the Senate seat for Delta North that’s angling for the governorship of the state in 2015. The news that James Ibori, from faraway prison in England, was backing Ewherido for that election would have generated some bad blood somewhere. A political analyst, who affirmed Ibori’s “awesome power in dictating the major political tunes in the state,” noted that it (power) was no longer as potent as it was when Ibori was in Nigeria, a free man. “Remember that he (Ibori) single-handedly installed Uduaghan, his cousin, on the governor’s seat,” the analyst said. “However, Uduaghan has his own life to live and since Ibori is not available to protect him, he has to stand firm and make plans for survival after his tenure.” Some Urhobo hold that since Ogboru had contested for the seat several times but “was not allowed to govern,” as they believe he won the elections but the courts and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) held otherwise, it was time to look elsewhere, as they believe that Oghoru would be moving to a higher level of political pursuit. Importantly, Ewherido’s death has eased things for the PDP, which has been ruling Delta State since the inception of the current dispensation, and which reportedly felt that if he (Ewherido) contested, with the backing of the Urhobo and others, it would lose its grip in the state. Now that he had passed on, the immediate political move would be to organise a by-election for the vacant seat in the Senate, and political watchers think the PDP stands a chance of clinching it, given the troubles in the DPP before Ewherido’s demise. The most probable candidates are the same people that Ewherido contested against and defeated at the poll. The DPP that had lost Ewherido to the fledgling APC would also make attempts to field another credible candidate for the by- election. As a matter of fact, it has started shopping for aspirants, but most respondents said it was inauspicious to volunteer their names at the moment “as the situation is very volatile.” Watchers of the Delta polity are of the view that the political situation in the state in 2015 will be very interesting, because if the APC had picked Ewherido as its candidate, it would have posed a strong challenge to the other parties. “As things stand now, if the PDP works a little bit harder, it will win the governorship race in 2015,” one of the sources said. Meanwhile, Senator Pius Ewherido’s death has come as a terrible shock to the Urhobo. A family source said that although he had a medical history of high-blood pressure, it had never been a life-threatening one. While some Urhobo believe that he died of natural causes, others are sceptical, reading political meanings into his passing. They hold that Ewherido was a threat to some people’s political aspirations, particularly as regards the governorship race. However, some prominent Urhobo sons are uncomfortable with the raised decibel of insinuations containing nuances of foul play in Ewherido’s death. Chief Johnson Obarovbe, the proprietor of the Westminster College, Lagos; Oma A Odoh-Tadafe, managing-director of Building Services Ltd and Simeon Ohwofa, a real estate magnate, who all visited the deceased’s family, warned against spreading such unfounded information. Whatever the assumptions, the Senate has described the death of Ewherido as shocking and devastating. The Chairman of Senate Committee on Information, Media and Publicity, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, said Ewherido was one of the most articulate, erudite, urbane and easy-going senators, “who brought his wealth of experience as a Deputy Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly to bear on the floor.” Abaribe added: “Ewherido was always concerned about his constituency and Nigeria as a whole.”..
Posted on: Tue, 23 Jul 2013 17:46:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015