Patriot Dantes Odogwu.
Sometimes, I recall with sober reminiscence and nostalgia some things that my late father told me of the personality make-up and inclination of the average Nigerian politician. Why my father chose to enlighten me on this might remain a puzzle within the bounds of my mental ruminations but it suffices to say that it has at least, given me a significant peep into the fluid enclave or enclosure of our Nigerian politicians.
Moreover, such knowledge is one that is sure to come handy as I seek to wade directly or indirectly, through (due to my deliberate involvement in the Okowability Mandate),the political environment of particularly Delta State.
Anyway, before anyone accuses me of elevating my father's homely or private counsels unto his children to the dais of public discourse like this,let me quickly highlight a bit of my father's political profile;a highlight I make in good faith believing it to also justify my claim to his counsel on politicians being one from a qualified political sage and which would somehow serve the public good.
My father was a man reputed in his time as an astute and ingenious politician whose fame pervaded Ika Land and beyond. Due to his unrepentant knack for a Pan- Ika cum Pan-Delta Dream, he was variously assigned responsibility that exposed him to politicians of high calibre. My late father held positions that include(but not restricted to): long-term Chairman of Ward 4 of Ika N/E Council Area and CAMPAIGN COORDINATOR/MANAGER for SDP in both IKA N/E and IKA South Local Government Areas.
Along his political pathway, he was privileged to play host to and also associate with political figures. The list includes Chief Iwegbue,Chief Ibru, Chief Odigie Oyegun(who incidentally is the current Chairman of the APC), Pharmacist Ebonka,Dr Ifeanyi Okowa (who though requires no introduction, was then a Local Council Secretary and Chairman respectively in the 1990s) and other notable politicians of both Ika and Delta extraction.
Ordinarily,some persons might presume that my late father should have been awed and flattered by his political romance and association with the high-calibre politicians. However, I admit quickly that that never was the case. Rather,the man came out inundated with a bruised political persona that was replete with so much disgust and aversion towards politicians whose coming close to them inadvertently exposed their characteristic deception and avarice.
May I cite just an instance to buttress and substantiate my claim as to the platform that gave rise to my father 's somewhat subsequent loathsome reactionary behaviour towards politicians.
It is on incontrovertible records that largely due to the labours of my father and other party faithful prior to the elections, the now defunct SDP coasted home to victory both in Ika Land and Delta State in the 1990s. It was a hard-earned electoral victory that prima facie,needed no soothsayer to assume that the likes of my father ought to be rewarded after their assiduous labours for their party. Alas,they got nothing but constant meandering and shirking of the responsibility to honour them from the higher echelon of the party especially some of them who were virtually handpicked (even when they were not recognizable hard-core politicians that had paid their dues) and helped up the ladder to political limelight particularly in Delta State.
Unfortunately,having emerged as prominent top-brass Government Functionaries, they became somewhat incommunicado and inaccessible to my father and his team of hardworking,loyal and staunchly dedicated party faithful. Sadly, this unjust and unfair treatment of my father and many others remained so until that Republic was exterminated or botched by the Military Junta of Gen Sani Abacha
For me,It is saddening to say here that my father had to,after experiencing the constant and serialized betrayals and dearth of altruism among his party Leadership,choose to immediately quit his involvement in active politics ;but the man later died with an implacable pain of not seeing the fulfillment of his cherished Dream of a pan-Ika cum pan-Delta State characterized by the pervasive spread and bequeathal of the dividends of Democracy especially on the ' common' masses for whose sake he was motivated to join the political foray in the first place.
As I have been known to reiterate often ,the ONLY politician that my father repeatedly singled out from the bandwagon of these deceptive politicians was Dr Ifeanyi Okowa. My father had at every given opportunity confessed to how that it was Dr Okowa alone that stood on his electoral promises;making sure that he fulfilled his obligation to my father,other party faithful and his constituency generally. For example, it is on record that it was Dr Ifeanyi Okowa as Ika North East Local Government Chairman that thought it wise to pursue the electrification project in the Community of Owa Alizomor( where the Deputy Governor back then) hails from.
As a matter of personal principle,and owing to my father's penchant to praise Dr Okowa back then,I had decided to embark on a personalized trail and understudy of the latter's political odyssey and may I say in all fairness that his behavioural pattern and inclination have remained consistent with my father's claims of him.
Hence,it may be said that some of us who have decided to stick to Dr Okowa -now the Governor of Delta State-through the thick and thin have inclined to do so because we have been privileged to experience and affirm his tenacity and trustworthiness in the murky political environment that still parades today,many political misfits who posture as leaders of the masses or people.
As I wind up this piece, let me quickly pass a word of advice and admonition across for all the political appointees and elected officials particularly in Delta State. Without much ado,it is time we all admitted that everyone should (without exception),align oneself as both a worthy receptacle and channel to the masses/
We need to re-echo that which Gov Okowa has kept saying at every given opportunity that as Deltans, we are no longer ready to accommodate the crop of political appointees, elected officials and even career politicians and political hangers-on who only see political offices as faucets of milking and draining the people dry of their collective pulse and patrimony. I think also that in tandem with the resolve of Gov Okowa,the era of impunity,avarice and senseless aggrandizement within the political circles is indeed over.
Well as for me personally ,it has been my unchanging philosophy and divine contract to stay on the side of the masses while seeking to utilize every God-given opportunity to better other people's lives. This to me, is the way to live: it is that whether as a politician, bureaucrat or technocrat, one's life is noted as that which impacted lives at any given opportunity.
Again,I need not remind our politicians that power is transient;hence in the final analysis, what would keep you relevant and in the memory of men long after the fading away of the trappings of office and power would be the legacy one bequeathed on others while having the privilege to do so. Maybe I would have to recommend that our current avalanche of politicians go learn from the experiences of some of our immediate past political leaders(at the Federal, State and Local Governments Levels)who their stay in various offices was regarded by all as dismal and short of the public's or people's expectations. Just see what has become of most of them barely 2 months of leaving office or relinquishing power!
Lastly,for persons like me,Gov Okowa would remain a bridge that connects the DESIRABLE political past and the ENVISAGED political future. I admit that he is not perfect and so he is not exempted from some variegated human frailties that visit all mortals. But without doubt,Gov Okowa is a man that possesses an honest heart that pants for a pan-Delta whose developmental strides and achievements will be and remain the envy of all. I am confident to say this: without equivocation, Deltans of all tribes and tongue would have tangible and verifiable reasons(when taking stock much later) to thank God that Dr Ifeanyi Okowa became the Executive Governor of the State at this point in time.
Moreover, since he was able to stand out in the midst of the crooked political generation of the past and now has found himself by God's grace in the current dispensation that is STILL no departure from the undesirable political past,he would (through his experiences and exposure) be capable of helping Deltans and his numerous political protégés in our collective navigation of the tides and trends that shall confront us in our political sojourn towards a prosperous Delta State.
Indeed,I presume that the sobriquet or moniker of Gov Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa as the EKWUEME is no mere appendage to flatter him. Just as my father would tell me then,Gov Okowa has always walked his talk and how in all modesty do I say that Delta State is blessed to have such a man in the saddle of leadership!
God bless Delta State.
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