It is shocking that Senator
Ifeanyi Okowa, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate for
the 2015 general elections in Delta State could pick his running mate, Mr.
Kingsley Otuaro, from the Ijaw Nation contrary to the unwritten agreement in
the state’s PDP that the running mate to the governor in the 2015 political
dispensation should come from the Isoko Nation! With the cry by the people of
Delta North Senatorial District to produce the next governor for the sake of equity
owing to the fact that that is the only senatorial district yet to produce the
governor of the state, it was expected that Senator Ifeanyi Okowa and the
people of Delta North would do everything possible to ensure that equity which they
have been clamouring for over the years is practised but this is not the case in
the 2015 political arrangement.
Delta
South Senatorial District consists of four ethnic groups: Urhobo, Isoko, Ijaw
and Itsekiri. The Itsekiri ethnic group currently holds the position of
governor, the Ijaw Nation currently occupies the senate position while the
Isoko and Urhobo Nations are left as orphans. Ahead of the 2015 general
elections, Senator James Manager, who currently occupies the Delta South
Senatorial District in the Senate, has picked the PDP’s ticket to contest the
senatorial election in 2015 while an Ijaw has also been chosen as the running
mate to the governorship candidate from the same Delta South Senatorial
District at the detriment of the Isoko Nation that was originally hinted to
produce the running mate. Is this type
of equity Delta North has been clamouring for?
Moreover, would it be too much
for the Ijaws in Delta State to concede the positions of deputy governor and
senator to other tribes-Urhobos, Isokos and Itsekiris in the Delta South
Senatorial District of the state to garner support towards the re-election of
their son, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in 2015? Is the office of the
president not much more important than those of deputy governor and senator?
Certainly, the office of the president is much more important than any other
position in the country! Thus, it is a thing of pride for the Ijaw Nation to
have produced the president of this nation and it is necessary for them to
ensure his re-election by giving up the inconsequential positions of deputy
governor and senator to other tribes in Delta State. Senator James Manager, an
Ijaw has been in the Senate since 2003 at the detriment of the Isoko and the
Urhobo Nations since the Itsekiri Nation has been on the driver’s seat as
governor of the state since 2007. So, the Urhobos and Isokos in the Delta South
Senatorial District have been sidelined in the governance of the state since
2007.
With this hardline position taken
by the Ijaws in wanting to occupy the positions of deputy governor and senator,
all in the same Delta South Senatorial District ahead of the 2015 general
elections, how do they expect the Urhobos, Isokos and Itsekiris that are in the
same Senatorial District with them to support the re-election bid of President
Goodluck Jonathan in 2015? The worry of this writer is that the likes of Chief Ighoyota
Amori, Hon. Monday Igbuya, Chief Olori Magege etc. who have been in the
forefront in the demand for the next governor to come from Delta North for the
sake of equity could allow this brazen abuse of power sharing in Delta State! How
can these people who are the apostles of equity in Delta State allow this type of
political arrangement that is tilted toward only the Ijaws in the Delta South
Senatorial District? One would have expected these Urhobos who are crusaders of
equity to have drawn the attention of PDP stalwarts in Delta State that for the
purpose of equity, only the Ijaws cannot produce the senator and deputy
governor from the Delta South Senatorial District! Till this moment, none of
these champions of equity has spoken against this awkward political arrangement
and vainglorious display of might.
If the above mentioned persons see nothing
wrong with this political arrangement ahead of 2015, then one wonders the type
of equity they are talking about in Delta State. In fact, what does equity mean
to these people? Does equity only mean the movement of the governorship
position to Delta North while other political positions are concentrated in the
hand of one tribe? If this political arrangement is allowed to stay come 2015,
in the very near future, one ethnic group will produce the governor, deputy
governor and the speaker. This is not good for our fledgling democracy that is
being nurtured.
If the PDP allows this bizarre
political arrangement to actualize in 2015, it will rankle the membership of
the party in the state and also provoke protest votes during the 2015 general
elections. Certainly, this is not a laudable precedent and will not promote
harmonious coexistence among the heterogeneous tribes in the state. Therefore,
this provocative political scheme should be revisited to guarantee peace and tranquility in Delta State.
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