By Richardson Ogwezzy
In the democratic setting, aspiring for elective political positions is always a common phenomenon and it is normal. But it is incontrovertible that everything has its own times and season. As such, even if aspiring for elective political positions is the legitimate right of an individual, it should be done with a high sense of decorum, which encapsulates doing so within the appropriate time frame for such. The propriety of time further deepens the respect for laid down principles and procedures for such exercise. The view that aspirations for elective positions should not run in contradistinction to the timelines designed by the appropriate body is to avoid putting the cart before the horse, thereby unnecessarily heating up the political system. For instance, the early commencement of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship race in Delta State within the first three months of Sen (Dr). Ifeanyi Okowa’s assumption of office on his second tenure smacks of the impropriety of the unregulated aspirations. Again, the discussion on the PDP zoning formula became a topical issue in the State. This explains why many of the aspirants whose names are in the public domain for the race to Dennis Osadebe House, Asaba, are mostly from the Delta central senatorial district.
This early springing up of governorship aspirants among PDP members in the State has been received by many Deltans with mixed feelings. Some feel it shows lack of support for the present administration because you cannot be in a hurry to indicate interest for governorship in the administration you have an unalloyed support for. Some others are of the view that the early emergence of aspirants is one of the factors responsible for anxious PDP politicians jumping ship in the State since some of the governorship aspirants have already picked their running mates while others have also made promises that do not augur well for the unity and synergy of the noble Party. Hence, party members who feel shortchanged are wont to seek alternative political platforms for the realization of their ambitions and interests. But the question many Deltans keep asking is: how many people have these aspirants attracted to the PDP fold that is giving room to this frenzied hurry and scheming for the gubernatorial race? Or are they aspiring to hold the governorship ticket of a party they have not strengthened? Delta State PDP has been enjoying stable political life since 1999 till date. What efforts have they made to boost the party’s image and encourage the growth of same.
Thanks be to God, that His Excellency, Sen. (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa, has frowned at the early commencement of 2023 governorship race and political consultations which occurred within the first three months of the second tenure, saying that such moves revealed gross political inexperience and lack of adequate depth of political engineering by those concerned in the ill-timed political race to the government house.
Nonetheless, the governor has stated unequivocally that his successor must be grounded in the State politics, must see Asaba as his own place because of its status as the State capital, must not be unfair to the Anioma nation of Delta North senatorial district and other senatorial districts and most importantly ensure fairness, equity and justice in navigating the ship of the State.
Now that the governor has explicitly stated the conditions for his succession (succesor), how many of these aspirants have all these qualities. Without gainsaying the facts, they have all it takes for the race, but how many of these aspirants will take the issues of Anioma nation seriously? For the governor to lay more emphasis on the need for his successor to give consideration to the Anioma nation of the Delta North senatorial district, take Asaba as his place and as the State capital, means he has reflected on the extent of neglect of the Anioma people and Asaba as the State capital by past administrations. The level of development he has achieved in Asaba and the State in general, I believe, are the reasons why he (the governor) emphasised greatly on the conditions of the next governor. This is simply to ensure continuity (and sustainability) in line with his laudable developmental strides.
The people of the Delta North are not oblivious of the fact that come 2023, the next governor will come from another senatorial district. And having been brought to political limelight by this present administration, the people of that extraction wish that the next governor would be the type that has been supportive to Anioma development agenda, has close political ties with Anioma politics, has innate tendency to continue the good governance and developmental strides of Sen. (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa in the State and should be one that the leaders of Anioma can vouch for. The result of the good governance of the present administration has given great political awareness to the Anioma people. This has given rise to an increased political participation in which the district will never want to play a second fiddle in the State politics and beyond.
Furthermore, in every game, a player sees himself or herself as always winning. He or she talks in future terms using terms like: I will win, or my team will win. Game players do not have failures in their lexicon. The same attitude obtains in politics, which is equally a game. Political office holders will always talk in future terms on how they are going to win elections or how their candidates or party will win. When the governor spoke in future terms on the conditions of who will take over from him as governor, it was misconstrued by some critics. The same misconception was shown by the armchair critics when the governor said that “at appropriate time the leaders in the three (3) senatorial districts will meet and point out way for the 2023 governorship race” while stating some conditions expected to be met by his successor. On the governor’s well-intended speech, members from rival political parties see him as acting like demi god. But every politician is likened to a game player, who always wishes his team to win. Even at the National level, the APC on several occasions asserted that they will win the Presidency for many years to come. No one saw that as acting like a demigod.
Every leader is ordained by Almighty God, hence leaders speak futuristically at times; such speech confidence is the grace given to them by God. In most cases, when politicians that have brought good governance to the people and are wholly accepted by the people act, they do so with a level of absolute confidence and trust which they enjoy from their people.
Richardson Ogwezzy writes from Emu Kingdom, Ndokwa-West LGA
