By Abiola Olawale
The political landscape of Delta Central is heated following a fierce war of words between former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, and Senator Ede Dafinone, the lawmaker representing the Delta Central Senatorial District of Delta State at the Senate, over a multi-billion-naira Nigerian Oil and Gas Park Scheme (NOGAPS) in Eku-Salubi.
Omo-Agege strongly dismissed claims from Dafinone’s camp regarding the location and viability of the N100 billion industrial project, accusing his political rival of attempting to sabotage what he describes as the Urhobo nation’s biggest economic milestone since the Delta Steel Company (DSC).
The tension erupted after reports surfaced questioning the siting of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) backed industrial park in Eku-Salubi in Urhobo land.
Critics, allegedly backed by Dafinone’s camp, claimed the location of the site in Urhobo land lacked immediate proximity to navigable waterways (such as Ijaw riverine communities) required for heavy equipment logistics.
Reacting sharply to the narrative, Omo-Agege’s camp fired back, calling the claims porous and an attempt by political opponents to discredit a monumental federal investment simply because they did not initiate it.
This was contained in a press statement issued by the Special Adviser on Strategy and Communications to Omo-Agege, Godwin Anaughe.
The statement reads in part: “Senator Ede Dafinone and his camp seem intent on convincing Delta Central that a project this significant is somehow suspect, for no better reason than that it wasn’t their idea.
“That’s really what’s driving this latest attack. A N100 billion industrial project shouldn’t be collateral damage in a political rivalry. It shouldn’t be turned into a tug-of-war over credit. And it certainly shouldn’t be undermined by someone holding actual legislative responsibility over it, for reasons that have nothing to do with the project itself.
“Let’s be clear about who we’re talking about here. Dafinone isn’t some outside commentator weighing in. He’s a sitting senator and Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Local Content. That role comes with a duty. If a project of this scale is genuinely under threat, his job is to defend Delta Central’s interests — not quietly enable the people trying to discredit it. His constituents have every right to ask which one he’s actually doing.
“This matters because the Senate Committee on Local Content, of which Dafinone is Vice Chairman, is precisely the body with oversight responsibility over this project. This is not a peripheral committee assignment. It sits at the very centre of the decisions that determine whether this project lives or dies. Given that, the Urhobo Nation has every right to expect him to use that position to protect the project — not to sit back while it is undermined, or worse, to become part of the campaign undermining it.
“The article that kicked all this off was dressed up as the work of an independent political analyst. What we understand, though, is that it was written by Dafinone’s own media office. If that’s true, let’s call it what it is: political messaging wearing an analyst’s coat. If Dafinone has a case to make, he should make it himself, under his own name. Thinks the project is technically flawed? Say so. Thinks it won’t be commercially viable? Show the evidence. Thinks the site is wrong? Explain why. What he shouldn’t be doing is sending a surrogate to do the arguing because he wasn’t the one who facilitated it.
“The article throws around big claims about the N100 billion project without a single named engineer, NCDMB official, investor, or community leader on record calling it unviable. It leans entirely on insinuation and unnamed “industry sources” to make a real development project sound like a failure.
“That doesn’t hold up. If Dafinone genuinely has technical concerns, he sits on the Senate committee that oversees exactly this project — he can summon the officials, demand the assessment, and publish the findings himself. A newspaper surrogate isn’t a substitute for actually doing the job.
“Take the claim that the Eku-Salubi site is “landlocked” and therefore doomed. Anyone who actually knows the area knows that’s not true. The site sits along the River Ethiope, which runs through Umuaja, Ubiaruku, Abraka, Salubi, Eku, and Jesse before flowing through Sapele into the broader river and maritime network. So what, exactly, does “landlocked” mean in this context? A site doesn’t become commercially unviable just because a political rival’s article says so.
“There’s also a rather important part of this story the article left out entirely. The project was sited during the Buhari administration through Senator Omo-Agege’s efforts, and it received full backing and approval from the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board under its then Executive Secretary, Engr. Simbi Wabote. Land was acquired. Environmental assessments were carried out. The site was cleared. None of this is political spin — it’s all on record and can be verified.
“So the real question isn’t why Eku-Salubi was chosen. It’s why Senator Dafinone said nothing when there was an actual push to move this project out of Delta Central altogether. He was Vice Chairman of the Local Content Committee that oversaw this project at the time — he had the platform, the access, and the responsibility to speak up for Delta Central. So where was he? Where was the pushback, despite repeated demands from Senator Ovie Omo-Agege to protect the project? A senator who had every opportunity to defend this project doesn’t get to now play the role of concerned critic from the sidelines.
Instead, it took former Governor James Ibori and his daughter, Hon. Erhiatake Ibori-Suenu, stepping in to help stop Delta Central from losing the project entirely. And now, after all of that, Dafinone has suddenly “discovered” the project and wants everyone to believe his concern is purely technical. That’s a hard story to buy.
“This project isn’t Omo-Agege’s personal property. It’s a N100 billion investment meant for Delta Central, with substantial groundwork already done. It’s expected to drive industrialisation, jobs, local manufacturing, and energy development — including 24-hour power for Eku and its environs, Orogun, and the university community in Abraka. Whatever stage it’s at right now, the priority should be simple: get it finished and delivered to the people. That chance shouldn’t become another casualty of Dafinone’s politics.”
