Long, long ago, African sages held that even if it be but once, the tropical African elephant does not pass through the forest without leaving tell-tale signs.
As an African I know of no proverb that that is truer than this.
The political journey of Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa, Governor of Delta State, did not begin yesterday, so to speak; it is the result of a long drawn out plan, laced with the enabling success tactics and strategies.
Following the innate push for a greater opportunity to give vent to his desire for enhanced and accelerated personal contribution to the development of his society, Okowa, shortly after his National Youth Service Corps Scheme (NYSC) engagement, cut short his full-time private medical practice to engage in partisan politics.
Soon afterwards, he became Secretary to then Ika Local Government, before its split into Ika South and Ika North-East Local Government Areas. He was later to be elected chairman of the newly created Ika North-East Local Government Area.
Okowa held that position between 1991 and 1993, when, following the national political crisis that dogged the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential poll by the Gen. Ibrahim Babangida administration, all democratic structures in the country were dismantled by the military.
Okowa’s long, almost arduous journey to Government House, Asaba, is all too known to be recycled here. However, certain facts need to be put in proper perspective, for the sake of posterity, particularly as they relate to history.
By becoming the substantive leader of the entire Delta polity as governor, he became the first person of Anioma origin to reach that political destination. Before him, three other persons of the district had been deputies to substantive leaders: John Edozien (to Col John Ewerekumoh Yeri); Simeon Ebonka (to Olorogun Felix Ibru) and Benjamin Sunday Elue (to Chief James Ibori). Long before then, Chief Dennis Osadebay, another indigene of the area, had led the defunct M id West Region by another name – Premier.
Okowa’s ascension to the governorship of the state also has another element of history to it – it consolidates a growing trend where medical officers are governors; his predecessor in office, Emmanuel Uduaghan, a medical officer of Health, with specialisation in Anaesthesia, set the professional rhythmic trend rolling. Yet, in doing so, Okowa also set a record – he broke the jinx of University of Benin (UNIBEN) producing the state governors since 1999. That trend was set by Ibori, an Economics graduate of UNIBEN, and was consolidated by his cousin and successor in office, Emmanuel Uduaghan, who read Medicine in UNIBEN after a futile effort to read Accountancy. Okowa read Medicine at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria’s first university, whose products, especially the first stream of graduates, idolise themselves as The Ancients.
Above all else, are these other elements of the historic significance of the Okowa governorship: He is the first state chief executive to have prior experience in two of the three existing arms of government-executive and legislature. With regard to the executive arm, he has served as the Secretary to Local Government; Chairman of Local Government; Commissioners for Agriculture, Water Resources and Health as well as Secretary to State Government (SSG). In the legislative sector, he was until recently the Senator representing Delta North in the upper chamber of Nigeria’s bicameral legislature. None of his predecessors in office, living or dead, in military or civil garb, had this repertoire of strategic experience that could yield multiple fruits for the state in the days and months ahead.
Correlatedly, Okowa’s unique exposure in this regard also has another significant historic element; he is the first state governor to have prior governorship experience at all three tiers of public administration in the country; local, state and federal levels. He was secretary and chairman, respectively, of Ika North-East Local Government; Commissioner with responsibility for the ministries of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Water Resources and Health, and later, Secretary to State Government (SSG). To cap it all, he was in 2011, elected Senator for Delta North Senatorial District in the higher chamber of Nigeria’s two-chamber federal legislative house.
In all, Okowa is a human envelope encasing a welter of experience vital to the overall success of his administration, which, as is self-evident, is running on a SMART agenda.
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