There might be need to state quite distinctly that the power shift arrangement, some call it zoning, as it concerns the governorship of Delta State should be respected by the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), elders, leaders and stakeholders from the three senatorial districts.
The gentleman agreement favours each senatorial district for eight years, while in turn, each waits for 16 years to get the governorship return to the zone.
Since the return to democracy in 1999, the state has enjoyed relative political peace, particularly on governorship even when other senatorial districts jostled for it against the zone that it ordinarily ought to go, which is what make the game of politics interesting-the competitiveness that comes with it.
The intent and purpose of this writer is not to look at the political tsunami that greets each political dispensation, but to x-ray the peace the state has enjoyed when the district that ought to produce the governor, takes it.
The gentleman agreement
It has been argued in some quarters of the state and the argument was intensified when the incumbent, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, said there was no formal meeting where it was agreed that governorship should rotate round the three senatorial districts of the state.
From 1999, Chief James Onanefe Ibori, from Oghara, Delta Central, was governor of the state from 29 May, 1999 to 29 May, 2007, with his Deputy, Sir Benjamin Elue from Obior, in Delta north.
At the expiration of Ibori’s tenure, the party took its standard-bearer, Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, from Abigborodo, Itsekiri, Delta South senatorial district. He was Governor from 29 May, 2007 to 29 May, 2015, with Prof. Amos Utuama, SAN, from Otu-Jeremi, Delta Central.
Between 1999 and 2015, Delta has witnessed tremendous political peace because the zone that ought to produce the governor did and the other two districts, the PDP and the entire state are happy for it.
Sixteen good years and seven years of the incumbent, making it 23 years of PDP rule in the state, has brought peace due to the rotation of the governorship seat as gentlemanly agreed by the leaders and elders of the PDP from the three districts.
From 2015 till date, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, from Owa-Alero, in Delta north, took over the mantle of leadership as governor with his Deputy, Barr. Kingsley Burutu Otuaro, from Delta south.
As the race for the 2023 governorship gathers momentum, the atmosphere that greets every political dispensation, body language, political lobbying and the likes have begun. In politics, these are normal happenings but these have gradually started heating up the polity, causing disaffection, creating enemies and much more.
At the expiration of Okowa’s administration, the baton should normally return to Delta Central senatorial district, where the leading governorship aspirant, Olorogun Barr. Kenneth Gbagi, is from with the other two- Olorogun David Edebvie and Sheriff Oborevwori. The trio made the Delta Central 2023 (DC-23) top- three screening.
Ahead of the governorship, the atmosphere is tensed as a caucus meeting of the PDP discussed zoning and shifted further discussion on who produces Okowa’s successor to the next state PDP caucus meeting.
An insider source disclosed that the governor asked leaders of the party during the meeting to halt discussions as a leader from Delta south, Borderick Bozimo, was absent at the meeting.
A source in the PDP, posited that the body language of the governor tilted towards Ijaw in an overture falling from the primaries in 2014, where Olorogun Edebvie, almost clinched the party ticket, but for the spirit of the rotation which guided many delegates Okowa won.
Some persons hold the view that the Senator representing Delta south senatorial district, Senator James Manager, Chief Government Ekpemupolo and other Ijaw leaders bankrolled Okowa, which made him to clinch the party ticket.
In the meantime, a former governor of the state, Chief James Onanefe Ibori, who was serving jail terms in London reportedly fought his senior brother and successor, Dr. Uduaghan, who pushed a former Permanent Secretary, Mr. Tony Obuh, before the Edebvie agenda, principally because Delta northerners rejected Obuh and insisted that it must be Okowa.
Ibori, in prisons custody, stood for equity, fairness and justice in 2014 for Delta North just as he had examplified at mega rallies of PDP then in Oghara, Asaba and Agbor, where he stood shoulder high for Okowa, against his cousin brother.
Although it could not be ascertained, but it was alleged that Okowa, entered agreement with his Ijaw political friends to push for Ijaw Agenda in 2023. It was also rumored that in the event of Ijaw failing to grab the opportunity, he would take the governorship to Delta north again, as both senatorial districts have produced the governor and it could start from anywhere or from the end, rather than the begining, Delta Central.
Indeed, there was a seeming political kite, last year, that since the governorship had gone round, it should start from where it ended, but the agenda met stiff challenges, as well-meaning Deltans condemned it before the governor beat a retreat, acknowledging the said gentleman agreement was informal.
At his quarterly media interaction, May 19, 2021, Okowa stated: “A gentleman agreement is an agreement that is not written, I want to believe that, that is how is supposed to be.
“But whether there was a formal meeting in which the agreement was reached, there was no formal meeting in which a gentleman agreement was reached. So, it means that whatever we are talking about or doing today, what is equitable, justiceable and how to define what is fair, what is equitable and justiceable.
“Hearing about me handing over to an Ijaw man. It is only God Almighty that knows who will be governor after me. I cannot pretend to be God because I am not. I don’t know who God is going to bring bring. I don’t have an intention of playing the role of God. You will hear a lot more things.
“Some people said I want to handover to an Ijaw and some people said I want to handover to an Urhobo. I don’t think that I have the strength to play God but the issue is, when the politics starts, politics will be played but I know that God Almighty will take the decision of who will be governor.
The governor hinted that when the right time comes, his party, would sit down and look at issues on what truly would be fair, equity and what truly could be justiceable.
On Saturday, 5th February, 2022, to be precise, the Assistant National Publicity Secretary of DC-23, Rt. Hon. Chief Sunday Apah, issued a statement: “Why DC-23 Embarked On Pruning Down of Aspirants”.
In the said statement, the seasoned journalist, revealed that in all the visitations to all the ethnic groups, the lobby group embarked on, from Central, South and North senatorial districts, they were asked to prune down the number of governorship aspirants to one.
Now that DC-23, has shortlisted three names, Governor Okowa should not scout too far, he should throw his weight behind the state’s biggest private investor and industrialist, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi, who requires just the instrumentality of government to set in motion appropriate template and machinery for the much-awaited industrialization of the state.
