Ordinarily Akpevwe Onokoja’s advertorial and its sponsors in the Vanguard of Monday April 23, 2012 highlighting what in their wild dream were supposed to be cogent reasons why the Delta Central Senatorial District must produce the next governor of Delta state come 2015, would have been ignored and dismissed as the ranting of hollow food-is-ready-village-politicians but for the expressed arrogance and insult against the well-polished Anioma people.
No need to delve into the reasons these hollow village men adduced for Babangida’s citing of the capital of “Babangida’s Delta state” in Asaba. The reason is very simple: the capital of Delta state is Asaba. Period!
Let me start from the submission of these political charlatans: “Finally, let it be known that for there to be peace, painful decisions are sometimes taken. Those planning and scheming for the office of the governor of Delta state from Delta North Senatorial District should wind up their campaigns and put their monies into investment and industry in the Warri area. They should know that the basis for today’s Delta state is based on the 1991 agreement which President Babangida sealed by giving ‘Anioma’ their capital and giving ‘Delta’ their state and its government. Let all Deltans embrace this fact and continue to live together in peace and harmony.”
True to his submission, Onokoja and his sponsors should be informed and in the language they understand very well that the “painful decision” that has already been taken is that the next governor of Delta state will be of Anioma stock. And whosoever is sponsoring these campaigns should rather develop Warri their state capital (as they acknowledged in the advertorial) rather than seek for development fund from Anioma in a project said to be for another state capital and its people, whatever that means.
Let it be made very clear here that people from the other two senatorial districts had taken Anioma’s peaceful disposition to mean cowardice or rather docility. The Anioma people are neither cowards nor docile in terms of violent confrontations but we do our own intelligently. That we decided to be peaceful came from our polished and enlightened background- we are not bush people. They may need to find out from the authentic MEND how many Anioma sons are actively in the Niger Delta struggle both in the field as combatants and the intellectual (campaign and propaganda) aspect of it not noise making for settlement.
Akpevwe Onokoja and his sponsors in their warped mindsets said President Babagida at the creation of the state in 1991 gave the Anioma (Delta North Senatorial District) the capital while what he called the “old delta” (South and Central Districts) was given the mandate to rule the state forever. If this is not an ogogoro-inspired political arrangement in the imagination of some drunken men how else could anybody talk like this?
Akpevwe Onokoja, the ogogoroman and his kaikai team fully accepted that “the first elected governor of Delta state, Chief Felix Ibru came from Delta Central Senatorial District. When this democratic dispensation then came, Chief James Onanefe Ibori became governor in 1999 and he is also from Delta Central Senatorial District. Now, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan from Delta South Senatorial District is the governor since 2007. When Uduaghan’s tenure finishes in 2015, the governor position will revert back to Delta Central Senatorial District. On this we stand. On this the people of Delta state as a whole should always stand to ensure there is equity, fairness, and justice for the people of the old Delta state.”
Can you see this man and his sponsors’ village argument? They are not even intelligent enough to marshal their campaign. So Delta Central Senatorial District occupied Government House Asaba in all the democratic dispensations since the state was created until Delta South took over in 2007. Did common sense “equity, fairness, and justice” not tell Onokoja and his co-soujourner in this sterile adventure that there should not be any ambiguity about Delta North Senatorial District producing the next governor?
It is insulting for this village -group and their sponsors to buy advert space to say that “Delta North Senatorial District has benefitted immensely from the Government of Delta State as headed by sons from Delta Central and South Senatorial Districts since 1999……. Asaba is now a sprawling metropolis brand new homes from new riches. Compare this to Warri which is in a mess, no roads, no drainages, no work, old roof tops (compared to new and shining roof tops in Asaba); bad smell, poverty, and kidnappings etc” This is real mumu argument!
From my experience in political campaigns and strategy, the fleet of newspaper campaigns may not actually be coming from Delta Central Senatorial District but from persons of Delta South stock. The reasons are simple: all those new houses with shining roof tops in Asaba are owned by people from the central and south senatorial districts who took all the lands from Asaba, Igbuzor Okpanam, Okwe, Ugbolu, Anwai etc literally free of charge with government fiat without paying the real land owners a kobo. The danger in this sort of campaign is that it can backfire by spurring the Anioma people into violence. Let us not pray for a situation where the Anioma people whose lands were grabbed by our brothers from the South and Central Senatorial Districts for the sole reason that they occupied Government House, Asaba turn violent and start asking for a revert of ownership of those lands where we now have shining roof tops.
No section of Delta state has a monopoly to violence. The Anioma people may in real terms be more violent that whosoever feels that they are docile. So let equity, fairness and justice prevail and let there be peace as Anioma produces the next governor for the state. “On this we stand. On this the people of Delta state as a whole should always stand to ensure there is equity, fairness, and justice for the people of the old Delta state.” And this is the actual painful decision that has been taken which should be maintained.
IFEANYI IZEZE, Abuja (iizeze@yahoo.com; 08033043009)