Comrade Igbini Odafe Emmnauel, is a leading politician in Delta State. In this interview, he breaks his silence on politics and governance of Delta state, condemns the recent outburst of Senator Ned Nwoko against Governor Oborievwori, and speaks on his advisory role for Ibori and Uduaghan and many more issues.
Excerpt:
It has been a long while that Deltans heard you speak out about governance of Delta state. This is unusual of you, particularly as you are known to be a very vocal critic of government in the state during the tenures of Ibori and Uduaghan. Why your sudden silence since the tenure of former Governor Okowa and till now?
It was a deliberate decision by me to remain silent during the eight years tenure of Governor Okowa which extended to the first one year in office of Governor Sheriff Oborievwori. I say it extended to the first one year tenure of Sheriff because Okowa was visible almost everywhere around him probably to help guide him on governance of the state given the role Okowa played in his emergence as our Governor. I don’t have issue with Okowa doing so because I am one person who sincerely believes that in first one year in office of incumbent governors, they need the guidance of their predecessors who anointed them to be their successors. You know how very toxic, politics is played in Nigeria, don’t you?
Just a bit of digression, if you don’t mind. Is this the reason you have remained in defence of former Governor Wike whom his successor, Governor Fubara and many people accused of being overbearing on the Governor and wanting to extend his tenure through the backdoor?
Yes, it is for this reason I defend Wike, and my dear brother, Governor Fubara, knows very well that more than anybody else, he needed and still needs Wike, whom he still calls and respects as his political ‘oga’, to closely and carefully guide him to smooth take off, at least for his first one year in office. Don’t forget the fierce political battle fought by Wike even against many of his very close political allies, just to make Fubara become the governor of Rivers State. But Okowa didn’t fight half of that in my state to make Sheriff, his successor. This I can tell you authoritatively because I am a political leader in our state. I knew what transpired, and the key role I played too.
Shocking revelation you have just made about the role you played in the emergence of Oborievwori as governor because you are the political leader of your political party, the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) in Delta state, having been its governorship candidate on three occasions and its state chairman for many years. Your party had a governorship candidate in this same election that produced Oborievwori as Governor. Was this not anti-party on your part?
What is your understanding of anti-party? But to answer your question directly, No, I didn’t play any anti-party against PRP. I stood for the overriding interest of the people of Delta state as I did even on the three occasions I vied for the governorship of Delta state which had Dr Uduaghan, Chief Ogboru, Chief Ovie Omo-Agege and others as candidates, in 2007 to 2011. Deltans didn’t know the critical role I played in the emergence of Dr. Uduaghan as Governor in the three elections. I am referring to the two fresh governorship elections of 2007 and 2011 and the January 6, 2010 re-run election after the Court of Appeal annulled his election in October 2010. I hope one day soon, Uduaghan will talk about the role I played when he publishes his Memoir.
Concerning Sheriff emerging as Governor, I was one of the leading political voices who truncated the plan of former Governor Okowa to distort the existing gentleman agreement on power shift in our state which if allowed, would not have produced Sheriff or any urhobo man or woman from Delta Central Senatorial District as his successor in 2023. Just for the record, Sheriff became Governor, first and foremost, because of this gentleman agreement which made it strictly the turn of Delta Central Senatorial District, after which it will be the turn of Delta South Senatorial District and back to Delta North.
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But you still have not answered my question on the reason for your sudden silence since the tenure of Okowa and now Oborievwori?
For those who know me very well, I am not a critic or an activist only for the sake of condemning policies and actions of those privileged to be in charge of governance of our country or states. I speak out on issues of public interest only with a view to having good governance that should engender peace, prosperity, equity and justice for all. It is my moral and constitutional duty to do so as a citizen of Nigeria under section 24 of the 1999 Nigerian constitution, as amended. Ask Okowa if in his first few months as our Governor, I was not directly and privately communicating with him and offering some useful advice to him which he appreciated? Is it not in public domain that I publicly declared my support for his decision to terminate some major contracts initiated by his predecessor, Uduaghan, which I said were misplaced projects ab initio, and that I told Uduaghan same when he approved such projects? But after these first few months of communicating with Okowa, I decided to keep mute, say nothing and offering no further advice till he completed his two terms. I criticise and advise people who sincerely want to be criticised and advised for the overriding good of society. I don’t force myself on people. For eight years, I was one of Uduaghan’s most appreciated and trusted Advisers. He took my criticisms and advice seriously. I also played same role for former Governor Ibori in some very critical decisions he took as governor. I can see that you are shocked the more as you are hearing this for the first time. Again, they are both alive for you to go confirm what I said now.
Wao! Was this the reason Uduaghan appointed you as the Director General of Delta State Direct Labour Agency (DLA) which surprised and angered some chieftains of the PDP in the state because you are not a member of PDP, and you are in fact viewed by them as strong opposition to PDP because of your vocal condemnations of policies and actions of their government in the state?
Only Uduaghan can answer this question because the decision to appoint me was his, not mine. All I know is that I never ever begged him one day to appoint me into his government. In fact, immediately after the 2007 governorship election, he wanted me to be part of his government but I declined the offer. I was also to turn down the second offer to become the DG of DLA but he insisted, and few of my friends intervened. Remember, I am so far the only DG of DLA who is not a member of the PDP. I recall during my inauguration as DG at Unity Hall, on August 9, 2011, Uduaghan strongly defended his decision to appoint me despite what he said were direct attacks at him by some chieftains of his PDP who accused him of anti-party.
Honestly, I respect and truly appreciate him because he meant well for Delta state. Long before my appointment I related very intimately with him and took him as an elder brother of mine whom I trusted to confide in yet I continued to criticize and condemn some policies and actions of his government. Even as DG, I also didn’t stop criticising and condemning some of his decisions
What is your assessment of Governor Oboriewvori in past one year in Office?
As I said earlier, I see him still guided by Okowa to execute the MORE Agenda they both promised Deltans. I don’t know what this MORE Agenda is because I never had a hard copy of its details to enable me monitor and make informed and objective assessment. However, I am so happy that Sheriff broke the jinx in my state when, for the first time, we have construction giant, Julius Berger, awarded contract to construct three flyovers to help restore the technology and economic capital of Delta state that was once globally known as the oil city of Warri which today comprises parts of Warri South, Okpe, Udu, Ughelli South, Ughelli North, Warri South-West and all of Uvwie local government areas. These local governments areas cumulatively produce over 70% of the crude oil revenue accruing to Delta state and for many years; this city hosted all leading International Oil Companies and made Delta state one of the leading states in Nigerian because of its abundant human resource and talented youths you find in the entertainment industry. But sadly this city was left neglected and abandoned to rot away. It became a very dirty city and the poverty capital of Delta state.
But the decision of Governor Oborievwori to construct these three flyovers in Warri may have provoked the anger of Senator Ned Nwoko who some days ago, accused the governor of embarking on these projects and others in the two Senatorial Districts while abandoning Delta north Senatorial District. Do you agree with the Senator?
Are these local government areas I mentioned not in the two Senatorial Districts the Senator accused Sheriff of attending to? It is very unfortunate that distinguished Senator Nwoko would make sure accusation which he knows to be unfair and not true at all. Please, I don’t want to speak more about this because doing so will further polarize our people of Delta north against those of Delta central and south senatorial districts. I would rather appeal that the Senator focuses his time, resources and efforts in attracting useful projects from the federal government to our Delta north senatorial district which he represents in the Senate. I will also advise Sheriff to ignore him and remain focused and do more. Sheriff must surpass former governor Wike’s enviable performance record in infrastructural revolution in areas of construction of 12 flyovers, bridges, roads, hospitals, schools, etc, in similar oil city of Port Harcourt. It is only provision of infrastructures like these in the oil city of Warri that will motivate the management and staff of the International Oil Companies (IOCs) to return back to the oil city of Warri, and bring back the thousands of jobs and huge internally generated revenues to the Delta state government. It is totally wrong and uneconomical that these IOCs relocated out of this city to Lagos, which is very far away from Delta State, from where they produce crude oil and gas. This relocation to Lagos State has astronomically raised their cost of production, particularly at a time like this when IOCs all over the world are looking to drastically reduce their cost of production in order to survive. Sheriff must therefore construct at least 12 flyovers in the city of Warri in the next three years like Wike did in Port Harcourt. There is no excuse for him not to do the same because Delta State gets more money from oil and gas, than Rivers State, as Senator Nwoko rightly said.
