By Anthony Obuseh
The party primaries have come and gone with all the razzmatazz, drama and intrigues that accompanied them. We are now set for the next and final stage of the electoral processes that will culminate in the selection of the next crop of captains that will be steering our ship of state in the next four years at both the Federal and State levels of government. The forthcoming - February 2015 - Polls will be a simulacrum of gladiatorial contests among the several candidates vying for Presidential, Governorship and Legislative positions; candidates who will attempt to outwit one another to convince Nigerians that they are best suited to shoulder their hopes and aspirations for the next four years.
I am not going to be waxing lyrical in this piece; not going to engage in any form of verbal overstretch. Rather than engaging in such a superfluous exercise, I will proceed to answer a very critical question that is currently making the rounds in Delta State, my home State; a question that has been agitating the minds of Deltans as judgment day approaches: Out of the medley of candidates eyeing the gubernatorial seat in Unity House, Asaba, who qualifies to be the next Governor of Delta State? This question has become the most frequently asked prelude to D-Day – one that this discourse succinctly answers.
The truth is that I have never hidden my obvious candidate of choice to inherit the
governorship diadem in Delta State; an individual I am unapologetically proud to have been associated with from the cradle; one of the few remaining statesmen animating Nigerian politics; an astute administrator cum humanitarian: Senator Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa, the Owa born Senator representing Delta North Senatorial District, bearing the standard of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), in conjunction with the collective aspirations of the Anioma people to have one of their own become the Governor of Delta State, just as the two other Senatorial zones have done in the past 16 years. Reasons for my optimism are not farfetched; they are logical, candid and blunt expressions of the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, as I see it – you can call them my opinions if you like.
For starters, elections are won by the most popular candidates with the majority of votes cast at the end of polling; resounding affirmations by a people of the route they prefer taking and the kind of individuals or groups they would like to drive them through that path. Elections are popular expressions of a people’s collective acceptance or rejection of a set of ideas and those championing them; it is a people-driven process that runs on numbers; numbers that are logical consequences of the level of acceptability and support enjoyed by certain candidates in juxtaposition with their opponents – the kind of acceptability and support that Senator Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa possesses in large doses.
A classic demonstration of Okowa’s acceptability across the three Senatorial Districts of Delta State was brought to full glare at the recent strategic cum symbolic Oghara flag off the PDP’s campaign train. It was an emblematic demonstration of the strength of the PDP as the undisputed heavyweight champion of Delta State politics, and a fitting endorsement of Senator Okowa as the party’s champion in the forthcoming polls. It was an occasion that brought the party’s top hierarchy in the state together; a massive demonstration of the unity that binds the eggheads’ together; a statement of intent to the opposition parties
that the PDP is ready to fight as a collective unit in the forthcoming polls; that like a Spartan phalanx they were ready to confront their common foes together; that despite the devious designs of some shady fifth columnists in their midst, the PDP remains one indivisible entity united by a common interest – maintaining the party’s omnipotent position in Delta State.
The wide acceptance Okowa enjoys across Delta State is obviously a sure pointer to the direction Deltans would like their ship of state to sail; support that cuts across all the primordial cleavages in the state; a vociferous approval of the PDP’s sole contestant for the sole executive ticket that is up for grabs in the state. The progressives in Delta State see Okowa as the missing piece in a jigsaw puzzle that successive administrations have failed to solve since its creation in I991; as a harbinger of the much needed change to a rustic, pre-modern enclave that Delta State has been since its creation; as a modern-day Cortez who has the will and sagacity to take them to Sugar Candy Mountain; as the most adequately qualified candidate, among the motley crowd vying to lead the state, who has what it takes to rescue them from the strangulating sleeper-hold of the debilitating underdevelopment they have been forced to subsist in by previous administrations – military and civilian.
Senator Okowa’s candidacy represents equity, a crucial factor that will ultimately promote unity and peace amongst all the multifarious groups in the state, creating a just society where every individual – irrespective of ethnic, tribal or any primordial affiliations whatsoever can dare to aspire to be the best that they can be; a synergistic arrangement that will speed up the development and growth of a state that has become an also ran in the Committee of Nigerian States. That is why, in recognition of the need to carry all sections of the state along, Dr Okowa, in the course of his campaigns, has pledged not to leave any ethnic nationality out of his administration. He is a bridge builder who has been able to win the trust and confidence of both his political associates and the larger body politic.
Okowa’s profile has evolved to the extent that even his strictest antagonists have been seduced into conceding the gubernatorial crown to him. It is gladdening to note that in the build up to judgment day, a sprinkling of individuals who initially opposed his aspirations – including the 25 that lost out to him in the December 8th, 2014 primaries – have bitten the humble pie and boarded his political train, jettisoning all the crass selfishness that once drove their avaricious quests for power and all its ephemeral accoutrements; a blind disposition that had hitherto beclouded their sense of reasoning and judgment. Having come to the timely realization that fighting a war against a mighty Hercules like Ifeanyi Okowa was like struggling against a swirling Tempest, these bested generals have decided to give peace a chance - a wise decision that promises to bode well for all in the long run.
Another unique selling point of Okowa’s succession bid is his sworn readiness to accelerate the much needed transformation of Delta from a lethargic Dinosaur in freefall, into a lucidly, fluidly and seamlessly functioning administrative machine, once voted into office; a resolve that is hinged on his commitment to the following priority areas: accelerated industrial development through the improvement and sustenance of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan’s Warri Industrial Park, revamping the Agricultural sector to accelerate food security, employment generation, provision of an Improved Health Care delivery system through the provision of Health Insurance schemes, revitalizing the educational sector to equip its products with the requisite skills to find jobs, transportation, human capital development and strengthening the private sector to accelerate commerce and Industrial growth.
I am formally using this medium to appreciate all the loyal supporters of Senator Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa in his ongoing quest to obtain the popular mandate to administer the affairs of Delta State in the next four years, and asking others on
the sidelines to join this formidable armada of progressives on the march. Your fervent efforts to bring about a revolution in the governance of this comatose entity will not go unrewarded. Your continued show of altruistic comradeship remains the key to the actualization of the great dream of a new Delta for Deltans: a task that cannot be achieved without your loyal support. May you never lack the support of true friends and well-wishers when you need them most.
Vote Senator Ifeany Arthur Okowa! Vote for People’s Democratic Party (PDP)! Vote for change! God bless you all.
MR ANTHONY OBUSEH, AN ENTREPRENEUR AND POLITICIAN, WRITES FROM AGBOR.
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