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Wednesday, May 28, 2025 is a day that current members of the Delta State House of Assembly will live to remember for ever. The razzmatazz about the visit of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori to deliver his State of the State address in the legislative chambers was palpable and visible everywhere. From the entrance to the premises of the House of Assembly, there was fanfare. Dance groups showcased their dancing prowess, singing the praise of the Governor. Gaily dressed men and women, obviously supporters of the All Progressive Congress (APC) were on full display, chanting songs eulogising the Governor.

As usual the space housing and leading into the Assembly’s chambers was packed full, while staff of the Assembly had a hectic time controlling and directing the large number of people streaming into the available space and seeking to gain entrance to the chamber’s gallery upstairs.

The growing population and inherent political awareness that makes people interested in trooping in to see things happening in the Assembly underscores the fact that the Assembly complex, especially the gallery needs to be enlarged to accommodate more Deltans and other members of the public.

With the lawmakers seated and the house called to order by the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Emomotimi Guwor and signaling the commencement of proceedings, he called for items on the day’s order of schedules to be suspended to enable the House receive “the visitor” into the Assembly chamber.

The Speaker then called on the Majority Leader, Hon. Emeka Nwaobi, Ph.D for a motion to invite “the visitor” who is the Governor into the chambers. While the proceeding of making the motion was still on, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori entered the chambers, causing a momentary confused atmosphere; the governor broke the protocol by not allowing the legislators to complete the ritual and procedure for admitting a “Visitor” like him into the legislative chambers. That the legislators were startled by the way the governor entered the chambers was obvious. Yet, the Speaker ably rose to the occasion. Soon after Governor Oborevwori was shown where to sit and sat down, the Speaker directed that the proceedings and process for admitting the “Visitor” must be completed despite that the Visitor had already taken his seat. And so, that process was carried through.

Trust the observing public. Tongues wagged as they discussed the embarrassment that the lawmakers were faced when the Governor, the Visitor suddenly came in without allowing for the ritual of admitting him into the chambers to complete.

Perspectives started unfolding. While some observers attributed the situation to the lack of working synergy between the Governor’s protocol officers and the House of Assembly protocol officers, who should have known when the “Visitor” should be properly invited to enter the chambers, others posited that Governor Oborevwori should have known better, himself being the immediate past Speaker of the Assembly, a position he occupied for six years as a two term Speaker, during which he also received governors as Visitors to the Assembly chambers.

There were still those who said that during Oborevwori’s tenure as Speaker he observed the Assembly’s protocols with uncompromising rigidity. “But why did he not remember that he out to observe the same ritual he made his predecessors to undergo when he was speaker?” This was a poser that again stimulated further debates.

Some argued that there was nothing the lawmakers could have done other than what the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Guwor did to signal the commencement of proceedings to fulfill the ritual for the Visitor to be invited to step into the chambers. Also, there were nostalgic feelings about the era of past legislative work, which someone said were those era from which the Delta Assembly earned the sobriquet, “ The most vibrant house of assembly. For protagonists of this argument, the era of being called a Vibrant house of assembly ended when Rt. Hon Olise Imegwu was speaker.

According to these people, which was during the administration of former governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, when the legislators would take positions on matters in the interest of the people that are opposed to that of the Governor and other powers that be. That crop of lawmakers had liver and they had gumption. Unfortunately, Speaker Imegwu was irrationally removed in a very demeaning manner when a loyalist of the powers that be and one of the assembly leaders, forcefully  pulled Rt. Hon. Imegwu down from his seat as speaker and took away the chair. Of course Imegwu was displaced, defeated and stranded. It was to enable loyalists of the powers that be that wants  Imegwu out to perfect their scheme of getting him away as Speaker.

Mention was also made of the days of the late Rt. Hon. Ewerido. Those pushing the argument contended that those were the days when lawmakers took issues on their merit and face value; they spoke according to their conscience and in the interest of the people. No one’s argument was influenced by the position of political godfathers. They were chaste in their positions on issues in the interest of the generality of Deltans. “Those were the days of the real vibrant Delta state House of Assembly. Not now any more. The current lawmakers are heavily compromised on account of blind loyalty so they can keep being in the good books of their godfathers. That’s why the Assembly no longer experiences engaging debates on issues because there are ox that must not be gored,” a protagonist averred.