Is it not surprising that most of our Nigerian Political leaders at the State Government level, especially those in Delta State, are well-traveled, yet they are never thinking of replicating or bringing into their States, some of the things done by their counterparts in other developed societies in the US, UK, France, etc. The simple reasons we can come up with to explain this is; it is either these Political leaders have surrounded themselves with sing-praisers, sycophants and bad advisers, or they are simply not interested in genuinely bringing ‘good governance’ into their State and leaving good legacies behind. We believe the latter (or even including the former), is the case of the Governor Ifeanyi Okowa PDP-led administration. It is in the light of this that we write this piece and hope that the Delta State Governor would heed to the advice, and perhaps make the necessary adjustments where needed, within the little time left for this administration.
This kind of people are usually many, and they are known to flock around one, especially when one is at the verge of success, acquiring political power or already in power. They are evident in both the public and private sector. They usually come around like ants when they see sugar – and they will keep on eating and eating the sugar until there is nothing left. Then they will await the next (culprit) round of sugar to continue their parasitic tendencies.
To say that there are indeed ‘enemies’ of Delta State’s collective/overall progress and development, is to put it mildly. The sad part is that even the past and present State Governors, often times were/are not aware of these enemies and the serious harm they cause and bring upon their administration and the people of Delta State. But being aware of these enemies of the State that are regarded as the most dangerous set of persons in the world, who usually come in as (close) friends, family members, relatives and close allies – is the wisest thing any Delta State Governor would do for himself. These special breeds of enemies, who, because of their closeness to, and rapport with the State Governor, are usually not seen as the suspects. But their actions and very-presence have the propensity to ruin every good policy, system, step that might have good intentions of development for the State, and even the personality and legacy of the State Governor.
We believe there is need for Governor Okowa to learn very fast, if he can, to avoid the mistakes made by his predecessors, especially in this area of those whom he listens to. Even though, Governor Okowa’s first tenure in Government is drawing close to an end, and the prospects or possibility of his coming back for a second term in office cannot be ascertained now, however, we believe he can still do much in addressing this issue within the little time he has in office. And the said issue here is this, whether Governor Okowa likes it or not/or believes it or not – those daily singing his praises as the best performing Governor (even printing T-Shirts to propagate this) with his so-called SMART agenda, which they do obviously to buy favour and continue to eat from the honey-comb, are his real enemies and the enemies of the State.
It is over three years of the Governor Okowa PDP-led admnsitration, and the “Ego Aria” (there’s no money) government of Okowa is said to be patronizing “made in Agbor contractors” that are well paid to do standard jobs but they are merely doing ‘shadow jobs’. Even in Agbor where the governor comes from, the roads are already washing away and emergency patches are usually carried out on it so that the Governor does not see it. Sadly enough, those behind this “economic sabotage of waste of funds” daily smile with the Governor in Office. The Contractor-In-Chief follows him everywhere like a twin brother, while smiling to the bank with money meant for quality jobs but delivering on sub-standard work; after all it is government money – they would say. And because Governor Okowa has chosen to turn a blind eye to his adopted twin brother contractor shady road construction works, it is being alleged that the contractor is fronting for Governor Okowa because the jobs are being done at his home town, and yet, he does not see anything wrong with the poor road construction jobs executed.
To explain to us why these set of persons are very dangerous, when the immediate past Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan was still in power, this special breed of persons were singing his praises and spurring all kinds of support for Uduaghan as one of the best things that has ever happened to Delta State. However, now that Uduaghan is no more in power, it is these same set of sycophants and praise-singers that are daily running down Uduaghan’s name and reputation, including re-circulating his recent viral interview video on Channels TV. We can see that these people are the real enemies of the State. These same people are now rallying round Governor Okowa as their newly found farm to constantly harvest/reap from. They are very good at telling Governor Okowa what they know he wants to hear and see all around him – as such, he is carried away by the euphoria of a supposed ‘performing governor’. But in reality, we all know that is not the case. Some of these sycophants even go to the extent of using their own money to make custom designed T-Shirts that are boldly printed “OKOWA IS WORKING”, and they wear it to accompany the Governor when on any official tour/movement within and outside the State. They also print such mush messages on Face caps and also badges/tags which they pin on their Shirts/Clothes.
If any of us is given the opportunity as a Deltan and a concerned Nigerian to mark and score the performance report of the Governor Okowa PDP-led administration, how would you score the Delta State Government of Okowa on the scale of 1-100 using the following indices of Power, Education, Health, Standard of living of Deltans, Infrastructure, Security, Law & Order, Investment Opportunities, Employment Opportunities, Good Governance, Accountability & Transparency, etc.? In as much as everyone is entitled to their own opinions and views about the Delta State Government of the day, but if we are to TELL OURSELVES THE SINCERE TRUTH; devoid of any bias, prejudice, ethnic or political affiliations, we would score the Delta State Government far below average in their performance – judging them with their campaign promises and theme of “Prosperity For All Deltans.
It was Governor Okowa who made a promise that every Democracy Day (May 29th) in Delta State will be tagged “Praise Day”, a promise that he has fulfilled since he came on board in 2015. Though, the May 29th day has been reversed to May 1st recently by President Buhari, Governor Okowa has fulfilled his promise of praising God, but the question is, has he fulfilled his electoral promises to Deltans? Has he created job opportunities for Deltans? Has Deltans become prosperous under his government or have the people been more stricken with poverty and lack? Has he paid civil servants’ salaries/arrears as well as pensioners as expected? Has he constructed enough roads and schools and other basic infrastructures and public amenities? Has he been accountable and transparent to Deltans in the management of the State’s wealth and resources? Has he addressed the decay in the State’s public health sector in the General and Teaching Hospitals? Has he been able to guarantee Deltans and prospective Investors of assured Security of lives and property in the State? Has he lived up to “expectations of Deltans” in the over three years of his reign in Government?
If we are sincere with ourselves, we would realize that the answers to the above questions are in the negative and not encouraging to say of any government. And with ‘elections year close at hand’, many like us are not hopeful or expecting anything significant to change the fortunes of Deltans within the few months remaining. Many might disagree with us on this, and the enemies of the State will defend the Okowa-led Government as a performing Government. But no matter how bitter ‘The Truth’ is, we have to say it without fear or favour and regardless of who or what are concerned. And to put it bluntly, the Okowa PDP-led Government has failed in terms of concrete development in the State that would outlive his administration. Imagine a place like Warri, known as the commercial nerve center of the State, has not had any flights into the oil city via the Osubi Airport that has remained shut for about a month now and still counting. And the Okowa Government seems not to be bothered at all. Yet, some persons and his Government are claiming to be implementing a so-called SMART agenda.
Governor Okowa has tagged May 29th as Praise Day, which is good, but has he and his Team been praising God with all sincerity of purpose? Governor Okowa and his Team in Government are obviously happy praising God because they seriously do not have any idea or inkling of the kind of sufferings the people he is supposed to be governing are going through. It is easy for Governor Okowa and his Team to praise God because they are daily enjoying the fringe benefits of being in Government, which include steady supply of food, power in Government House/Offices and their homes, available transportation at any time to be in any place as they see please, etc. Whereas, the people he supposed to be governing are daily faced with severe hunger, suffering, and living within harsh and sub-human conditions. If Governor Okowa and his Team are happy praising God but the very people he is supposed to be governing are daily unhappy due to the abject poverty, hardship and sufferings in the land, what should we call that? Isn’t that hypocrisy or what? It is only God that knows the heart contents of every person, and every one of us will be judged, not only based on our actions against others, but also our intentions in the heart.
Truth be told, a man who fails to understand and see that the real enemies he has are those closest to him, is an enemy to himself. Governor Okowa has a lot to learn from the mistakes made by James Ibori and Emmanuel Uduaghan. But it is daily becoming evident that he has refused to learn from his predecessors’ mistakes. And this is obviously due to the fact that he is blinded by the thirst for power, hence, he is believing all the sweet stories these enemies want him to hear.
We have always constructively criticized the PDP-led Government in Delta State for nonperformance since 1999 till date, regardless of who or what is concerned. This included the 8 years tenure of former Governor Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, who, in our own score card, performed very low as expected, considering the enormous revenue accrued to the State during his reign in Government, when the oil revenue wealth was highest in the country. But regardless of this undeniable fact, that does not mean that it was all bad. There are certain things we can pinpoint to say this is what the past administration of Uduaghan had left behind as a good legacy in Delta State. However, we cannot pinpoint anything concrete, or say the same for the Governor Okowa led Government and his so-called SMART agenda, which is just in the air as far as we are concerned. The question is, what can Deltans and Nigerians attach to Governor Okowa as a legacy he is leaving behind in his first term of Office? All we can say is that the Governor Okowa’s agenda are simply on papers and in the social media propaganda. All the lofty policies and the said SMART agenda are not seen in the lives of the people. They are not seen on the streets/roads within Delta State.
Governor Okowa should not allow himself to be deceived. It is only those who are not afraid to tell him the truth (even when it is bitter to swallow) that are his real friends and the friends of Delta State. Okowa’s Town Hall meetings usually filled with only party faithful and filthy sycophants is not the solution, as the real masses are never in the hall when he enumerates his supposed achievements, which they do not see on news medium. Some of the greedy politicians and enemies of the State will even intimidate and harass people just to bring him back in 2019 so their “well of wealth” will not dry up. So, to put it bluntly, in our own assessment of Governor Okowa’s administration, he has performed far below his predecessors. Governor Okowa should be reminded that he was not forced to contest for the position of governorship of Delta State. Nobody placed a gun on his head and forced him to seek for the post of Governor of Delta State in an election. The decision to become Governor of Delta State was his own personal decision. He must have believed that he was up to the task to deliver before he contested for that post as Governor. And for someone like him who has been in Government since 1999, he obviously knows the ins-and-outs of the Delta State economy. In other words, Governor Okowa has no justifiable excuse for his poor performance. There should not be any excuse for his non-performance, or the excuse of saying that he could not perform well because he met an empty State’s treasury. Governor is not a novice in Delta State and Nigeria’s politics because he has been actively involved in the politics of Delta State since 1999 till date. Even when he became a Senator, he still had boys in all the Delta State Government that were loyal to him to keep him well-informed. Again, he really does not have any excuse for not performing as he ought to. The truth must be told that he has not done well at all. Governor Okowa is the least, in terms of governance and development deliverables in Delta State Government history under this democratic dispensation. Governor Okowa is only good at creating frivolous portfolios for his Team to reap from the State’s collective wealth.
If we most move ahead as Deltans, then this culture of widespread “celebration of mediocrity”, supporting or singing praises of a dysfunctional government (no matter how long it has been with us), have to be uprooted and done away with; both from the political leaders and the followers. We must first acknowledge the fact that we have a ‘big problem as Deltans’ in this regard, and then we can take the necessary steps in addressing them. Deltans, especially those “political traders”, should stop all the praise-singing and sycophancy for things to change for the good of all. Until we begin to tell our political leaders and ourselves the ‘truth’ as Deltans, mediocrity would continue to be enthroned as lord over all of us in Delta State. The Delta State Governor, in his own part, should simply shine his eyes and get rid of these enemies of the State that are like bees around him.
Zik Gbemre, JP.
National Coordinator
Niger Delta Peace Coalition (NDPC)
