When the news broke on Thursday,July 14, 2022, that Elder Stateman, leader of PANDEF and National Leader of the Ijaw nation,Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark has officially endorsed the All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate, and deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, for Governor of Delta State, there was massive jubilation across the State. Deltans were elated as many saw it as a harbinger for the big victory that lies ahead for Omo-Agege and his party, the APC.
Chief E.K.Clark, while welcoming Omo-Agege and his large entourage, made up of political bigwigs from Delta state, at his Abuja home said: “My son,you will be governor (in 2023). Your father who is no longer with us will be proud and happy to see me, his brother, working to make his son our governor. Authority belongs to God and I want to pray for you”
He expressed confidence that Senator Omo-Agege’s administration would massively transform the state within a record time.
Chief Clark further disclosed that after seeing the massive pace of infrastructural and human capital development being facilitated by Senator Omo-Agege in his Delta Central Senatorial District, he had advised him to spread such historically significant goodies to other parts of the state, and that Senator Omo-Agege did not hesitate in spreading the development to areas outside his immediate senatorial constituency.
Chief Clark maintained that he will vote for Omo-Agege against the opposing Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) even though he was a once a member of the PDP.
” My vote is not because you are APC, but because you are the kind of governor I have been waiting for. A governor that will develop not only the whole of Delta, but Warri,which was the projected capital of Delta before it was changed. A governor that will not emerge by imposition. A governor that will serve and not of godfathers,” he said.
Responding, Senator Omo-Agege, stated that he , along with his running mate, Rt Honourable Friday Osanebi and members of their gubernatorial campaign team were starting their first round of formal consultations with a visit to Chief Edwin Clark before they begin visits to various traditional rulers on Saturday.
Senator Omo-Agege said that his developmental impact through infrastructural projects, employment, humanitarian efforts and human capital development positively impacted every town and community in Delta Central and stated that he is seeking an opportunity to raise Delta State to a level where its development can become easily comparable with that of Lagos,Rivers,Akwa-Ibom and other leading states.
Omo-Agege Iamented the deep deteriotion of once flourishing cities in Delta South, Central and North
, and infrastructural facilities across the state over the years, adding that great opportunities exist to boost tourism,road project, education, employment and the internally-generated revenue of the oil-producing state.
“It is said that’by their fruits you shall know them’ by my achievements in Delta Central Senatorial District and beyond speak for themselves. Among others, we have facilitated solar street lights, provision of transformers,e-libraries and numerous other projects and we have ensured the allocation of N600million for the construction of students’ hostel accommodation in Ukwuani Local Government Area.
Under the 2022 national budget alone, we have over 750 projects,in 2001 we had about 600 and in 2020,we had about 450 projects”, stated Senator Omo-Agege while reeling out numerous developmental projects, including a Federal Polytechnic, Nigerian Law School Campus and several other projects that he facilited for Delta State within four years.
“The Warri that you grew up in,is dead and now in great need of massive urban renewal and God willing it is one of the major assignments that our administration will focus on if we emerge as Governor and Deputy Governor of Delta State. Okenrenkoko,Ode-Itsekiri and other places can be developed and beautified to accommodate five-star hotels and become huge revenue-yielding areas like Hawaii in the United States.
“We can become what Lagos became,why can’t we generate enough internally-genrated revenue to power massive development,” he said.
Senator Omo-Agege was accompanied by his running mate,Rt Hon Friday Osanebi; Minister of state for Labour and Employment, Olorogun Festus Keyemu; former two-time Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, and Director General of the campaign organization,Elder Godsday Orubebe,state chairman of the party, Elder Omeni Sobotie, former chairman of the National Social Insurance Trust Fund,Mrs Ngozi Olojeme;his Chief of Staff,Dr Otive Igbuzor, former Delta State Commissioner for Housing, Chief Paulinus Akpeki, amongst other party chieftains and heavy weights.
That Omo-Agege is gaining grounds and infact re-drawing the political map of the state prided as a core PDP state with a vice presidential candidate who has abandoned governance and left his party and state in ruins and tatters strikes the right cord in public governance.
Today, the PDP is largely polarised and deeply divided as the party is embroiled in internal political crisis of who becomes the standard bearer of the PDP. Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has demonstrated lack of leadership as many saw his controversial nomination by Atiku Abubakar as a great disservice to PDP’s attempt to wrestle power at the centre.
Whilst the PDP is in shambles in the state,the APC standard bearer is steadily and remarkably making inroads in the three Senatorial Districts as he nominates 41 year old Rt Hon Friday Osanebi as running mate. The choice of Osanebi did not only resonate excellently well with the youths across Delta State, it has also positively reordered the political dynamics of the State. Even moreso, Omo-Agege ‘s appointment of Elder Godsday Orubebe, a two-time minister of Niger Delta Affairs and one-time Chairman of the old Burutu Local Government Council, whose sterling performance made him a darling of the people, as campaign Director-General, has resonated perfectly well with many across the three Senatorial Zones.
His choice of running mate has been widely applauded and has since silenced many hitherto “noisy people”. For three days in a row, jubilant crowd thronged the streets of Ukuani(Kwale) and indeed towns in the three Ndokwa LGAs in celebration of the announcement of the running mate.
Hon. Osanebi, a three time member of the Delta State House of Assembly and a former Deputy Speaker of the House, is a formidable and vibrant young man who has tested the political waters and anybody who undermines his political influence in Ndokwa nation does so at his own risk.
That for more than 20 years of PDP reign in the state, Ndokwa nation, a major producer of oil and gas in the state, and infact a key part of Delta north that is strictly oil producing, has been neglected and treated like slaves in their own land. That Hon. Osanebi was nominated from Benekuku, Ndokwa East Local Government Area by Senator Omo-Agege is a demonstration of the APC to turn things around.
On the other hand,the appointment of Elder Godsday Orubebe as campaign DG was the most appropriate thing to do. As two time Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,Elder Orubebe is a strong voice for the Ijaw nation, and an astute politicalforce in Delta politics. No doubt he will bring his sagacity and tenacity of purpose to bear in the rigorous campaign ahead. With the massive support of Deltans across the three Senatorial zones- South, Central and North- who are yearning to replace a tactless, clueless PDP government that has borrowed over N175BN( One hundred and seventy five billionaire), left Deltans in horrifying debts and reportedly mortgaged the future of Deltans with choking debt burdens, Sen. Omo-Agege is poised to unleash an uncommon defeat to the ruling PDP in the state.
Omo-Agege has a pan Delta agenda having identified with the three Senatorial Districts by birth, growing up years and schooling years. An Urhobo by birth and maternal roots in Delta South where he lived very well in his adult life and academically groomed at St. George’s Grammar School,Obinomba, Ukwuani Local Government Area, Omo-Agege has a deeper understanding of the geo-political complexities and developmental dynamics of Delta state more than anyone in the governorship race.
An outstanding lawyer, politician, administrator, business tycoon, Obarisi Ovie Omo-Agege was in 2007 appounted as the Secretary to the Delta State Government (SSG). As SSG, Omo-Agege brought an unusual dynamism and developmental strides to Delta’s public governance space. He strengthened the Office of Project Monitoring to ensure full execution of government projects. Prior to that, as the Honorable Commissioner for Special Duties, Omo-Agege’s administrative acumen, intellectual and professional prowess, and profundity of thoughts as well as judgment on major policy subject matters shone brilliantly like an institutional lighthouse!
Born on August 3,1963, to Justice James Omo-Agege, he studied law at the University of Benin and was called to the Nigerian Bar as a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1986 after completing the professional training program at the Nigerian Law school in Lagos.
Upon completion of his mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) with the Directorate of Criminal Investigation and Intelligence of the Kwara State Command of the Nigerian Police Force in 1987,
Omo-Agege commenced his legal career with Pat Okupa & Co Law firm,where he cut his legal teeth as a litigator in private practice.
In 1989, he moved to Lagos and co-founded Agege & Co, a private practice with emphasis on corporate banking and commercial litigation matters,as a principal partner.
Omo-Agege, in 1990 moved to the United States of America and became a foreign associate in the law office of Charles O. Agege in Los Angeles California, where he counseled foreign clients on Nigerian law.
In 1992, Ovie Omo-Agege was admitted into the state Bar of California District Court and the United States Supreme Court, Washington DC.
He founded Agege & Associates in 1992 and became the senior partner of the firm.By 1996, Agege & Associates merged into a partnership called Agege &ESN and extended its scope of activities to include international consulting, insurance, professional practice,etc.
He enrolled as a student in the post-graduate law degree program at Tulane University Law School,New Orleans and obtained the LLM(Masters of law) degree with distinction in 2002.
Ovie Omo-Agege began his political career when he returned from the United States.He was appointed as the first Executive Assistant to the Governor of Delta State,Chief James Ibori in 2003 with responsibility for the clear formulation, transparent implementation, coordination of crucial government policies, monitoring and appraisal of Executive Council decisions to ensure compliance with the administration’s set goals. He also acted as the Chief Liaison Officer,PDP National Headquarters and Presidency relations, a crucial role which enabled him to develop a network of contacts and friendship across Nigeria.
Two years later, he was appointed to the Delta State Executive Council as Commissioner for Special Duties with responsibilities to oversee major private sector-public sector partnership programs and synthesizatiom of same with governments policy direction, amongst others.
On leaving government in 2007, Omo-Agege became the Chairman/CEO of Techsechsprings Limited, a dredging and oil service company based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
He ran for Senate in 2015 under the platform of the labour party and was elected senator representing Delta Central senatorial district.He defected from the labour party to the All Progressives Congress party in 2017.He was re-elected Senator in 2019 and on 11 June,2019, he emerged as the new Deputy President of the Senate of the 9th National Assembly.
Today, he is the highest ranking political office holder and occupies the topmost echolen of the political perking order in the South South geo-political zone.
For the Love of Delta, (FOLD), let’s send Omo-Agege to clean-up the State as Governor come 2023! No one else in the race has the demonstrable accomplishment, the love for the people as evidenced in his massive, impactful developmental projects across Delta, most accessible and best prepared to transform our State, than Senator(Obarisi) Ovie Omo-Agege, APC governorship candidate and Deputy President of the Senate. Let’s do it together for the love of Delta!👍🏿👏🏿
NB: Ibru Nejuvie, a journalist wrote in from Asaba, Delta State
