Fresh from a jail term in a United Kingdom prison, Former Governor of Delta State, James Ononafe Ibori, has started making waves ahead the 2019 election. In a recent speech now known as the “Oghara Declaration”, he declared support for a second term for the incumbent governor of the state, Dr. Arthur Ifeanyi Okowa, urging the Urhobo to support the governor. Tongues have been wagging since in favour and against. The New Diplomat’s South-South Bureau Chief, JOHN OGHOJAFOR, examines the aftermath.
Some call him their political messiah, others refer to him as their political leader while yet others simply call him the ‘Odidigboligbo’ (a sobriquet for something very large and powerful). But Mr. Ighoyota Amori chose to qualify him as “next to God politically”. He is James Ibori, former governor of Delta State who returned from the UK recently after serving a jail term for money laundering. His return since February 4, 2017 has dramatically changed the political firmament of the state. Many had thought that the former governor will quietly slip into Oghara, and, perhaps, shut his gate to allow him some rest after the six years travail in London prisons. But they were mistaken. Ibori threw his doors wide open to receive visitors from different parts of the country who daily throng his palatial home at Oghara in Ethiope West Local Government Area to welcome him and renew their loyalty. He has since taken the centre stage and, according to him, he has put his experience in the UK behind him and is ready to take the lead of his PDP political flock whom he had missed for years.
On Saturday March 11, 2017, members of the PDP from Delta Central Senatorial District organized a welcome party for the former governor at the Western Delta University permanent site in Oghara. It was an occasion which not only attracted PDP politicians from among the Urhobos (Delta Central). Party faithful from Delta South and many from Delta North also converged to welcome their leader. Speaker after speaker, extolled the leadership quality of the man of the moment. Characteristically, James Ibori has gone ahead to reel out what has since become known as “Oghara Declaration” on Okowa’s second term.
Speaking in his native dialect, Ibori said: “I want to beg you all that you should work with our Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa. I know what he is going through because I have been there. You should support him. Let him consolidate the government in his first four years. And you should also allow him go back for his second tenure of four years. I beg Urhobo, our time will come. We are helping them now and when our time comes they will also help Urhobo.”
This statement has continued to elicit mixed reactions, not only from among the political class, but ordinary citizens of the state.
In his reaction, the leader of the All Progressive Congress, APC, in the state, Mr. O’tega Emerhor, said he was not surprised at Ibori’s endorsement of Okowa for a second term, the being the de facto principal of the PDP. He noted that the statement also dispelled rumours making the rounds that Ibori was considering defecting to the APC.
“We in APC Delta State have anticipated this endorsement long ago and are quite prepared to meet him, Okowa and the PDP at the 2019 elections to finally determine which party now owns the state’s political landscape,” Emerhor declared Speaking in the same vein in a telephone chat with The New Diplomat, another chieftain of the APC in Delta State, Paulinus Akpeki, said there was nothing wrong with the statement credited to Ibori urging the Urhobo people to support Okowa for a second term in office. According to Akpeki, Ibori whom he admitted to be his personal friend, is the leader of the PDP in Delta State, and in that capacity, he is in position to make such categorical statement to prepare the minds of the party members.
Akpeki said: “If Ibori has endorsed Okowa for a second term and he is urging Urhobo PDP members to support the governor, he is right. There is nothing wrong with that. The question that should be asked is: who has the Urhobo in APC endorsed for governorship in 2019? We have Urhobo in APC, we have Ibos in APC, we have other tribes in APC. So, let APC endorse their candidate now. “The man has endorsed Okowa as governor for 2019. Okowa is from Delta North. Ibori did not ask APC to endorse Okowa for him. He spoke as a leader of PDP and as an Urhobo man. Apart from PDP there are other parties in Delta State. Let them come up with their candidates so that we can see.”
In a swift twist however, a top PDP leader from Ughelli South who pleaded anonymity told The New Diplomat that what Ibori has said that has been interpreted in the media as an endorsement of Governor Okowa for a second tenure was his personal opinion. According to him, nobody has given Ibori the authority to single-handedly pronounce who the PDP governorship candidate for 2019 would be, adding that he was sure that statement was made out of pressure by some of Ibori’s close political associates.
“The man has just come back from the UK. They should allow him take a rest for now. Besides, nobody has given him the mandate to anoint anybody for 2019 now. PDP is a large family and it has several children. So, that statement is his personal opinion as far as I’m concerned,” he said.
Confronted with the question of whether it was not too early for Ibori to endorse Okowa for 2019 when the governor had barely done two years out of his first tenure, the PDP chairman for Delta Central, A.P. Fovie, said that Ibori’s statement was actually to pre-empt any attempt from any PDP member to contest the 2019 election against Okowa, adding that it was good in order to prevent such potential aspirants from wasting their hard-earned money on campaigns.
Said he: “It is just a statement of fact. It has been un-declared, he only declared it to the hearing of the masses so that everybody will know that it has been settled. There will be primary. Anybody can come out. The person may come out and get one or two votes just to show that he contested the primary. The earlier that statement is made the better so that peoples’ mind will be removed. So, for those who want to come out, now that it is declared, it is better for them to keep the little they have rather than going to squander it and regret their action.”
Political analysts have come up with diverse views. Speaking with The New Diplomat on the implication of the “Oghara Declaration”, a public commentator, Barr. Peter Orotowho, noted that the endorsement has clearly set the state for the kick-off of political activities. According to him, the declaration will act as a tonic for the opposition APC to start putting its house in order with a view to avoiding the dismal defeat it experienced in 2015.
“You can see that the APC has dissolved its state exco and has scheduled what they called a Unity Congress for June. If they succeed in that exercise, then PDP should be ready for a tough fight in 2019. That perhaps was why the leader of the party in the state, Mr. Emerhor stated in reaction to Ibori’s endorsement that when the time comes they will know who owns the political landscape of Delta State,”, he noted.
Although many PDP members who responded to our enquiries were of the opinion that the former governor’s pronouncement was indeed a soothing balm on the political nerve of Gov. Okowa who had been reportedly anxious about the position of Urhobo before now, a source however noted that it is not yet Uhuru for Okowa because the relationship of Ibori to the powers-that-be at the national level is not yet very clear.
“I think the former governor’s statement at Oghara could be out of pressure by some of his old political associates, but it is important that he should be very circumspect about the way he succumbs to this people lest they implicate him. The coast is not yet clear enough for Ibori to be making public statements. 2019 is still far away and anything can still happen especially when his relationship with those controlling national politics is not very clear for
The New Diplomat’s finding however showed that there are still very many powerful members of the PDP in the state who are not members of the Ibori political family. Although our calls to Ijaw national leader and a strong member of the PDP, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, were not picked, a close ally of the elder statesman who spoke to the The New Diplomat on condition of anonymity said Ibori spoke for himself and not for the party in the state. According to him, “he is a leader to some members of the party, but that does not bequeath on him the mandate to endorse Gov. Okowa for a second term single-handedly.”
For now, the return of Ibori seems to be rekindling some kind of unity among the PDP members in the state. Since his arrival about a month ago, his country home in Oghara has become a Mecca of sort where he plays host to political associates, friends, business men and all manner of visitors, including those who, for one reason or the other, left the party while he was away. All things being equal, the unity and reconciliation which his presence is forging in the party may just be the renewed strength which the paety needs to coast to victory come 2019.
