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BY Dr. FESTUS BOMO PATANI

The recent write up by one Dr. Ejikeme Alphonsus Chukwuemika

(@chukwuemika@gmail.com), titled: “THE OKOWA XMAS GATHERING AT OWA ALERO – Demigod On Stilt Against A King David”, is not only laughable but very childish and ill-advised, like the effort of a confused contract-writer, who wants to say everything in one article to justify his payment.

Just like a proper amateur in the field, you Dr. Ejikeme in your write-up, praised Governor Okowa for making the youths of Ika and Owa-Alero, his own kinsmen, happy and you even sounded like you benefitted handsomely from the Governor’s benevolence at the Xmas gathering. Yet, in the same write up you referred to him as a demigod and in a typical amateurish manner, proceeded to reel out the achievements of the man you are promoting, as if he is in a fight or in competition with Governor Okowa. That is very childish indeed.

In fact, the Movement for Stronger Delta, MSD, had noticed lately, that there has been this spontaneous but dedicated media frenzy, intended to create the impression that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa is working against the Governorship ambition of a particular politician. This kind of plot of course, is not new.

Initially, the media had been swamped and awash with the blackmail propaganda that Governor Okowa had vowed to work against the Guber interest of a particular Senatorial Zone. The media merchants had tried without success to force the impression that it was their singular entitlement to produce the next Governor of Delta State.

Even the opposition party in the state participated robustly and vigorously in pushing that warped narrative, in the hope that they can create sufficient confusion in the PDP, until all their efforts came crashing down like a pack of cards, when some of the real and notable politicians in the Senatorial Zone decided to take their political destiny into their own hands, instead of waiting for anointing on a platter of gold.

Democracy is the Government of the people, by the people and for the people and politics is a game of numbers. Those who followed the ‘Anioma Agenda’ mantra in the run-up to the 2014 PDP Governorship Primaries, will remember vividly that Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, as he was then, came out tops in all the recognized mock primaries to identify a consensus candidate from the 18 or so aspirants of Anioma extraction, who threw their hats into the Guber ring.

But Okowa himself, irrespective of his overwhelming acceptability, not just in Anioma nation but indeed across Delta State, still put in impressive commitment and determination, walked the hard yards of the campaign trail to all nooks and crannies and made it clear to all and sundry that, though he was of Anioma/Ika extraction, he was first and foremost, a pan Delta Candidate.

Ironically, not a few people were surprised when David Edevbie was dramatically and quite unexpectedly, drafted into the primaries, like a desperate knee-jerk reaction from his sponsors at that time, after the cynical gamble with the distinguished administrator, Late Sir Tony Obuh, woefully failed to achieve both the divisive and acrimonious intent behind its conception.

Suffice it to say that Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, who faced strong opposition, both from his Anioma kith and the aspirants from other Senatorial Zones, had already perfected his astute and strategic political game plan and subsequently coasted home to a landslide victory in the 2014 primaries. Of course he also emerged unopposed in the guber primaries, as the PDP candidate for the 2019 elections and is now on course to finish his mandatory second term as Governor of Delta State, in grand style.

The import of this brief history is to clearly establish the fact that Governor Okowa has since grown above the level of several politicians and those pretending to be politicians in the state, whom he contested the primaries with in 2014. It is also to inform and advise those who are trying to create the impression that he is fighting against someone’s interest, that Ekwueme has built such a formidable political structure in Delta State, that it would be more advisable and even much more profitable and rewarding, to work with him than to fight him.

On a very good day, we will devote time to talk about David Edevbie and his political trajectory in some detail, but the advise anybody who loves him should give him now, is for him to try and look for better and more seasoned media handlers to manage his public profile, instead of these untutored amateurs, who address him as “King David” and are making him look hapless, clueless, inept, structureless and desperate.

The other important advise to give every other person trying to arrogate the unction of political anointing on Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, is that Power comes from God alone and it is His sole prerogative to bless whomever He chooses for recognition and anointing. Governor Ifeanyi Okowa himself has been a child of Divine anointing and recognition all through his political and public service career, especially in 2011 and 2015. Anyone who however doubts this truism should do well to remember what happened in the run up to the 2014 PDP Guber Primaries.

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa is definitely not interested in fighting against anybody’s ambition. His unwavering interest is to ensure that the transition from his tenure to the incoming administration is smooth, unanimously determined and collectively endorsed and accepted by all Deltans, and that only the best will be good enough to consolidate on the #StrongerDelta agenda for Delta State.

That is THE SIMPLE AGENDA…