After all the talks, arguments, counter arguments, endorsement, no endorsement, the real task of governance is about knowledge and capacity to raise resources and the management skills to apply the resources for the development of the state and the people.

In everything, there is always good, better and best and it is clear to all Deltans that Edevbie stands out as the best, most qualified, most experienced, most competent, most exposed.

It is for this reason the Commonwealth Development Corporation assigned him to take charge of their development investments in Malaysia, India, Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Pacifics and various other nations across the continents of the world.

It is for this reason that, just as Obasanjo saw and brought back our dear Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala from the World Bank to help Nigeria clear its debts then, Ibori also saw and brought Edevbie back to serve Delta State. He proved himself from day one by raising the state finances from N6b in 1999 to over N60b by 2003 and led the fight for the payment of 13% Derivation to Niger Delta States which now provides the funds for DESOPADEC. Many Deltans have also testified to how he reformed the state finance processing system such that he doesn’t need to know you and you don’t need to see him before you get your pay or your due, which is truly how government should work.

It is for this reason that Yar’adua made him the Director of Finance and Strategy of his Presidential Campaign Organisation and later appointed him into the Presidency to serve as  Principal Secretary, a position by which he virtually administered the whole country. He proved his commitment to his people by conceptualising the Presidential Amnesty Programme which helped to stop militancy, fostered education and skills acquisition for the employability of Niger Delta youths and provided a peaceful environment to restore Nigeria’s oil production output without which the nation would long have collapsed. He also fought for the establishment of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs to add another funding platform for the development of Niger Delta States.

It is for this reason that Governor Okowa brought him back to serve Delta State again as Commissioner of Finance and Chief of Staff for which Okowa has acknowledged that he has provided genuine leadership, invaluable professional skills and advice for the development of the state and does things like they are done in developed climes.

Such is the essence of Edevbie, the David of our time, anointed to kill the Goliaths of poverty, infrastructure deficits and low economic growth that affects our people.

Deltans, let us make no mistakes nor be deceived by any sentiments or propaganda. Let us stand with Edevbie for the greater development and modernisation of our dear Delta State.

By Smart OFUGARA

The reverend name Chief Obafemi Awolowo is synonymous with Free Education as it became a successful policy for empowerment, enlightenment, and resources for advancing society and human potential.
It was such a cherished legacy that later generations of leaders embraced free education as it was good for the growth of society and the people.

Across the old Western region (now Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ekiti,Ondo, Edo and Delta), the importance of free education was felt with the governors who governed these states between 1979 and 1983.

The names of those governors have been remembered and institutions have been named after them.

That is what legacy is all about.

The roles played by these leaders were felt by the people.
They addressed issues of their days with the knowledge and resources that were available to them.

They were not negative, their fences were low. In fact, their fences were made of 🌱 beautiful flowers 🌺 .

During a discussion at a public forum, Professor Tomori wept before the nation. He told the story of how he left Ilesha as a young boy for secondary school in Ughelli under the care of the driver of the lorry that took him to Government College, Ughelli. A total stranger!

There was no kidnapping, loss of life, or dastardly act.
We had values for the sanctity of life. Everyone was his brother’s keeper.
We were happy as a people despite our differences in ethnicity.

In the journey of life and leadership, no one pays homage to the palaces, mansions and tombs where leaders are buried.

Only on rare occasions were visits made to the places where leaders are buried.

When leaders pass on to eternity, their deeds and legacies are discussed.

They are remembered for the impact they made in society and how it negatively or positively impacted the society they have led and left behind for future generations to inherit.

Until 1999, we had expressions of words such as austerity measures, structural adjustment program, belt tightening, securing our future.
These phrases were sold to the people to put them in check of the hardship that was ahead.
Yet, people went to work every mornings. Productions and services were carried out.

There were companies and multinationals employing people. Contractors and suppliers were busy scathing for businesses. Subcontracts were existing, schools were functioning at capacity and order was in society while relationships were built.

Politics was not a career. Neither were roles like SSA or PA regarded as forms of employment.

The legacy of the politicians who have led the nation from 1999 to 2023 will be remembered for the insecurity they successfully inflicted on our society.

These politicians will be remembered for aiding the evacuation of companies that existed and provided sources of livelihood to people.

They will be remembered for driving away foreign investors and companies.
They will be remembered for enhancing destructive tendencies in people whereby gangsterism became a norm to its highest levels.

They will be remembered for creating poverty rather than generating wealth for the people.

They will be remembered for not building upon the evolving society they met.

They will be remembered as a group of people who made society so insecure with their policies of incessant disruption of the norms and values that governed our society.

They will be remembered for failing to plan for the increase in population and projection associated with infrastructure.

They will be remembered for their myopic and narrow mindedness in governance.

They will be remembered as a group who made instability of prices for basic amenities to be out of the reach of the common man.

They will be remembered for failing to follow through with our development plans.

They will be remembered as people who built palatial mansions which they hardly slept in or homes where they became prisoners with the very high fences built to cover the beauty of these structures. Houses which will eventually be inhabited by cockroaches, reptiles and rats.

History will remember them for everything done to bring society down and for not striving to sustain systems of wealth and good governance which they were handed.

And I repeat, they will be remembered negatively and derided in no time.

Smart I. Ofugara

By Akpohdoma Michael Mikoko

2023 In View: A world bank study supervised by Prof. Paul Collier of Oxford University has recommended the Anambra model of governance under Peter Obi administration for the rest of Africa and other developing countries.

Anambra is our next doorstep neighbour, Buhari bridge and old Niger Bridge is what separating Delta and Anambra respectively.

Who is Prof Paul Collier?

Sir Paul Collier, CBE, FBA is a British development economist who serves as the Professor of Economics and Public Policy in the Blavatnik School of Government and the director of the International Growth Centre

Who is David Edevbie?

He is British peculiarity, an alumnus of the University of Lagos, where he took a degree in Economics 1982 – 1985, most of Edevbie’s training is birthed in elite education.

He had a masters degree in Business Administration MBA from Cardiff Business School, the United Kingdom with proficiency in International Corporate Finance 1987 – 1988, culminating in advanced management training in Harvard Business School, Harvard University, USA.

His world-class tutelage would launch him into multinational corporations.

Beginning in 1988 in Barclays Bank, London rising as Manager’s Assistant Corporate Lending, Hill Samuel Merchant Bank 1992, Investment Banking Executive and subsequently Commonwealth Development Corporation (now known as CDC Group) also in the United Kingdom as an investment manager. To his credit, he was the head of Asia and Pacific Regions and later established the Philippines office, garnering high profile finance expertise.

Edevbie made a dramatic entry into Nigeria’s political space in 1999 when he flew home to assume office as commissioner for Finance and economic planning under the administration of Chief James Ibori in Delta state.

By the time his tour of duty ended in 2003, he had transformed a lethargic civil service from a slow outmoded bureaucracy weighed down by dusty files into a vibrant technological- savvy, computerized institution, leveraged by speedy and efficient operations in fiscal management.

His pedigree propelled him to national reckoning when he received an invitation to be the Director of Finance and strategy in the campaign of the then PDP presidential candidate, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua now late.

He was later appointed principal Secretary when Yar’Adua was elected president in 2007, serving until April 2010 after the death of the head of state, to establish his consulting firm, Avantgarde, reputed with tested portfolio in Power, Oil & Gas, Mining, Health, Telecommunication, Financial Markets and Hotels.

Delta state already have a Peter Obi model among us, before other Africa states will benefit from Prof. Paul Collier recommendation. Let’s collectively take
advantage of his service to the betterment of all Deltans.

Public Statement

*On Edevbie we Stand*
– Urhobo Grassroots Awareness Association

We have read with consternation the public statements by Delta Central PDP Executives and Local Government Council Chairmen appealing to the leadership of Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) to rescind their choice of Olorogun David Edevbie as the Urhobo consensus PDP candidate.

The decision of the UPU derived from its scrutiny of Urhobo aspirants at an interactive session in the month of March in which Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori and Olorogun David Edevbie participated.

Before the engagement, the UPU made it clear to the aspirants that given the current uncertainties in Delta political climate, especially the seeming repudiation of the rotation of power on district basis which also seems to be calculated to undermine the interest of the Urhobo nation to produce the next Governor, it was necessary for the Urhobo nation to not only present a common front to ensure that they do not enter the primaries divided, but also to present a candidate with the best capacity and exposure to perform on the job for the good of all Deltans.

The panel included various retired judges, Senior Advocates of Nigeria, top Academicians, top business executives, accomplished professionals in different fields and various other persons of high integrity and standing in Urhobo nation.

It is not the first time that the UPU is carrying out such an exercise. In 2014, they did the same thing from which same Edevbie was adjudged the best from a field of contenders which included the sitting Deputy Governor and SAN of long years standing, Prof Amos Utuama, the current Deputy Senate President, Obarisi Ovie Omo-Agege, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi and others.

Indeed, this time around, it was even Governor Ifeanyi Okowa who advised the UPU, at their 90th anniversary celebration last year, to prune down the number of aspirants from Delta Central.

For the avoidance of doubt, this was well reported in the New Telegraph and other newspapers on December 5, 2021 as follows:

“Governor Okowa, who spoke during the 90th anniversary of the UPU urged the President-General, Chief Moses Tiaga, to prune the aspirants and warned against pull-him-down consultations and campaigns of calumny.

“He said: “When there are too many sons and daughters in a race, it creates its own challenge. The elders understood this. There is a need to trim down and I believe that the time is now.” (End of quote).

It was pursuant to this that the DC-23 commenced the process which produced David Edevbie, Sheriff Oborevwori and Kenneth Gbagi.

Note that the advice by Okowa was to the UPU and it has only further acted to prune down to one consensus candidate in view of the current political exigency.

It was therefore strange that when the UPU published their verdict on Sunday morning there was a flurry of intimidation of Delta Central PDP leadership and LGA Council Chairmen by state government and top party officials to disclaim the position of the UPU and insult the leadership of Olorogun Moses Taiga.

We are aware that the first draft allegedly sent by Dr Michael Tidi, the Council Chairman of Warri South, was so vicious and insulting of the Urhobo cultural leadership that the Delta Central LGA Chairmen rejected it. Regardless, they proceeded to redraft it in more subtle and appealing tune and signed.

In signing such negation of the position of the leadership of the Urhobo nation, we can understand their dilemma and difficulties given the intimidation that informed the orchestration.

We are well aware that in their mind and spirit they agree with the judgement of the UPU but only lacked the courage to express so.

Unfortunately, their action amounts to a total betrayal of the Urhobo nation and the selling of their soul. They were told by strangers to insult their fathers and ancestry and they did just that.

We also sympathise with their poor understanding, poor sense of history and poor judgement in stating that, as a socio-cultural organisation, the UPU should not have involved itself in guiding the political direction and destiny of its people. Again, note that Okowa advised the UPU so.

If the topmost cultural body of any society does not care about the political future of its people, such organisation is not only unworthy of its call but such society is doomed.

We wish to remind them them that the so called Delta Central ALGON, if any such body exists, that they are an organ of the UPU and the UPU didn’t need to particularly consult them before taking a decision. The accommodates all political parties and it is therefore bigger and most important to all Urhobo sons and daughters than any single political party. They should also be reminded that the PDP was voted by Urhobo people whose cultural leadership they now seek to denigrate for immediate gains.

Perhaps the Delta Central PDP Exco, LGA Chairmen and Urhobo sons and daughters who have been employed to criticise the UPU ought also to have cast their minds back to 2014 when the Anioma Congress comprising Traditional Rulers, Opinion Leaders and Academicians under the leadership of our highly respected father of Delta State, the Asagba of Asaba, Obi Prof. Chike Edozien, endorsed Sen Dr Ifeanyi Okowa as the best out of over 10 aspirants from Anioma nation.

The process then, just like the UPU’s, was quite elaborate as the then aspirants of Delta North extraction submitted themselves to same procedures of scrutinisation that even took them to Lagos to be evaluated by a Committee headed by the respected Chief Phillip Asiodu who then submitted their findings to the Asagba led Anioma Congress for declaration.

Again, for the avoidance of doubt, the involvement of Anioma Congress in the selection of the best candidate from Delta North was also well captured in the December 14, 2014, report of the Vanguard and other newspapers as follows and public for anybody cares to confirm:

The report read:
“Dr. Okowa emerged tops in the screening organized by Anioma Congress to trim the number of aspirants from Delta North. He was followed by Hon. Victor Ochei and Hon. Ndudi Elumelu… The Secretary General of Anioma Congress, Sir Dan Okenyi told Saturday Vanguard that “the victory of Dr. Okowa is a vindication of the work of Anioma Congress.” Sir Okenyi said even Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has called the Asagba of Asaba, Prof. Chike Edozien, to commend the foresight of the Anioma Congress.” (End of quote)

The question therefore is what makes the action of Urhobo Progress Union different now? If Anioma Congress, being a socio-cultural body, did the same thing in Delta North in 2014 from which Governor Okowa emerged, why is the UPU being castigated, blackmailed and insulted for doing just the same with their own people?

Sadly, a number of the stooges from Delta Central today who now occupy some form of political office are either too hungry or too timid to stand in defence of their Urhobo nation or were too young then and not familiar with the Anioma Congress endorsement.

It appears also that the current Delta State PDP leadership is either not informed that the Anioma Congress took the same process to put present their best who became Dr Okowa or have chosen to be duplicitous.

What is more annoying however is the deployment of the party machinery to insult and desecrate Urhobo land to satisfy the bidding of his master to saddle Deltans with a puppet that lacks the intellect, managerial and administrative capacity to govern the state and represent Delta in both the national and international comity.

Worse still is the attempt to create division and conflict among the various brother kingdoms of Urhobo land to promote their own narrow political interest.

On this, we call on all Urhobo and brother Deltan ethnic nationalities to be vigilant against ongoing evil attempts to destroy our collective cultural unity for the political gains of a few terrible people.

While we forgive the saboteurs who have colluded with external agents to bring Urhobo nation and its leadership to public disrepute, we call on all Urhobo sons and daughters to disregard their statement of dissent and stand up for Urhobo and with the UPU to protect the rights and integrity of our ancestry.

We also especially urge the delegates of the PDP to be bold to rise up for Delta and to defend the PDP slogan of “Power to the People” rather than submit themselves to be enslaved by a few individuals whose interest is only selfish.

Long live Delta State!

Peace unto all our ethnic nationalities!

Signed:
Oghenedoro Erhue
President, Urhobo Grassroots Awareness Association