…Group Accuses Commissioner of Misinforming Ibori, Sparks Protest
Ethiope West Local Government Area has been recognized as the stronghold of the PDP in the state since the emergence of the present democratic dispensation in 1999 for so many reasons. First, Oghara the headquarters of the Local Government Area, has been credited with playing host to the first political meetings which gave birth to the present PDP, courtesy of the former governor of the state, Chief James Onanefe Ibori.
Secondly , the former governor has been credited with the institution of an arrangement which favours the rotation or zoning of political offices with single tenures, among the four political axis in the area, namely Ogharefe, Oghareki, Mosogar and Jesse. This entrenched arrangement has, no doubt, created peace, harmony and political stability among the four blocks over time, and because of the equity and fairness it engenders, politicians from the area who have been predominantly PDP, have demonstrated loyalty to the party, thus always producing 100 percent victory, willy-nilly, in every election held in the area.
Thirdly, the 8-year tenure of Chief James Ibori (himself from the Ogharefe block of the Council Area) as governor of the state attracted an unprecedented development to the entire Local Government Area, including several juicy political appointments that empowered no fewer number of sons and daughters of the area.
This has endeared Chief Ibori to the heart of every Ethiope West person who now see him as a political godfather to whom everyone one owes utmost respect.
It is against this background that the people of Jesse kick-started the preparation to project one of their sons for the position of the Ethiope West Local Government Council chairmanship election believing same that it was their turn to produce the Council boss. But the mood of the people changed when the Honourable Commissioner for Environment, Hon. Barr. John Nani brought the news that the political godfather, Chief James Ibori, has altered the political balance by extending the single 3-year tenure of the Council chairman to two tenures, thus denying them the opportunity to produce the next chairman. To them, it is bad news.
A source confided in the The New Diplomat that the Jesse’s PDP members have been venting their anger against Barr. Nani since he broke the news to them as they believed it was him (Nani) who actually sold the idea of a second tenure to the former governor.
The New Diplomat gathered that a Sapele-based lawyer who is also a strong member of the PDP in Jesse axis, has been leading the protest against the alteration. He was alleged to have mounted loud speakers on the roof of his car, driving through Jesse town, telling the people that it was Barr. John Nani who sold the idea of a second tenure to the former governor, adding that he, Barr. Nani, has ‘sold Jesse people’ position out in order to retain his commissionership for another four years from 2019.”
But in a chat with Barr. John Nani, the Commissioner for Environment denied selling the idea of second tenure to Chief Ibori to enable him remain a cabinet member in the Gov. Okowa-led administration. According to Barr. Nani, the idea of extending the tenureship of major political office holders from Ethiope West to two was that of Chief Ibori himself, adding that it made sense that a political office holder who has the opportunity to go for a second term would perform better out of experience.
Said he: “Well of course, let me say that zoning is unconstitutional. It is an arrangement between the people, agreed upon by the people for convenient sake. If the zoning is becoming anachronistic, if it it is becoming old and obsolete and they now find a way to make it two tenures each, anybody making news from it is only being foolish because what goes to others would also come back to you.
“They are only saying that the present Local Government Council chairman should go for a second tenure. When it comes to Jesse it would be two tenures also. So, any man questioning it should not be thinking of position rather he should be thinking of the development of the area.
“I would not resign my position as a Commissioner because I was not the one who decided, in the first place, that it should be one tenure each. Those who decided that it should be one tenure each now decide that it should be two tenures each, he who gives takes. So, it follows strictu sensu that where it was one tenure before is now two tenures.”
The Commissioner also averred that the Jesse Traditional Council whom he has met over the protest, accepted the new arrangement of two tenures for the Council chairmanship, adding that the chiefs realized that the performance of the Council chairman, for example, cannot be assessed correctly with one single tenure which, according to him, is like a mere empowerment.
“The Jesse people, I know full well that when I was with the Traditional Council, they all said that they abide by the two-tenure zoning system because when it was one tenure they could not enjoy the dividends of democracy as in other places where two tenure operates. This is because no man goes there to see himself to be held responsible and accountable to the people because he knows it is like empowerment. But when it is two tenures, the person has to work harder because he knows he is coming for a second tenure when the people will judge you”, he said.
On the allegation against him that he was a harbinger of bad news, the Commissioner who was visibly furious, said that whoever accuses of carrying bad news because he told them that Chief Ibori has adopted a two-tenure system, it will be bad for him and his family when the time comes for the Jesse people to reap the benefits of the two-tenure system, asking rhetorically, if all the development he attracted to Jesse from his days as House of Assembly member to now, amounted to bad news.
Countering the allegation against Barr. Nani that he sold the idea of two-tenure zoning to Chief Ibori, a member of the Jesse Traditional Council (the Oguedion), Chief Peace Aghomi stated that the allegation was not true, adding that he was at the meeting held at the home of the former governor, where he alluded to the fact that he (Ibori) instructed the Commissioner to go and pass the message on the new arrangement for the Council chairman to the PDP in Jesse.
He said: “It is not true because I was among those who went to the first meeting in Asaba and the second meeting in Ibori’s place where he said he was the one that directed John Nani to go and tell his people. And he asked a simple question that he has made a son of Jesse to go to the House of Representatives three times and nobody cried. Why now he has introduced the two tenure system for the Council chairman and people are crying. And we saw reason with him and we are comfortable with it.”
Chief Aghomi’s further explanation however seems to give credence to some allusions from some PDP politicians in the area to the effect that Chief Ibori’s alteration of the existing political balance among the four blocks in the area has an undertone. To that school of thought, the former governor’s extension of the single tenure of the Council chairman to two is, by implication, another way of saying that his daughter who is doing his first tenure as a legislator in the Delta State House of Assembly, will also break the existing single tenure protocol to go for a second tenure. And if this political chess game by the godfather is successful, a second tenure for his daughter would qualify her for the speakership position of the House of Assembly, which has a record of not giving that exalted position to a green horn. This could be adequately inferred from Chief Aghomi’s comment when he said:
“He is the leader. He brought the party to the state and we cannot question him. For going two times is for the good of everybody. Today, there is nobody who can be a speaker in the State House of Assembly if that member is in his or her first tenure. But for the second tenure such a person will make us proud and that is the best thing for us.”
Although Chief Aghomi alluded to the fact that, after listening to the explanation of the Commissioner in the traditional council meeting, they were convinced of the benefits of the two tenure system and that they have appealed to the sentiment of the people, The New Diplomat investigation however revealed that the grumbling and disenchantment among the grassroots is quite deep-rooted and if the situation is not properly addressed, it may dovetail into a situation where the aggrieved may shock the PDP with protest votes in the forthcoming Local Government election in January 6, 2018.
Contribution by David Jenkins
