ASABA/Nigeria: The performance of Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori will be the major selling point of his 2027 re-election campaign, according to the governor’s Executive Assistant on Public Enlightenment (Projects and Policies), Mr Olisa Ifeajika.
Ifeajika said the administration’s record in office, rather than political affiliation alone, would form the basis of the campaign to secure a second term for Oborevwori.
He stated this while appearing on Politics HQ, a programme on News Central Television.
According to him, his support for Oborevwori’s re-election was informed by what he described as the governor’s achievements since assuming office.
“The governor of this state, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, is my project in the forthcoming general elections because we want to return him as our governor, not just because he is our party man, but because of the work he is doing in Delta,” Ifeajika said.
He also explained Oborevwori’s declaration that his political project for 2027 was to secure the re-election of President Bola Tinubu.
Ifeajika said the governor’s support for Tinubu did not conflict with his own bid for a second term as Delta governor, noting that both men are members of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“He is an APC man, so he will talk about the President of Nigeria, who is of the same party with him, being re-elected,” he said.
Ifeajika said the APC would rely largely on the administration’s achievements and effective communication of its policies and projects to voters ahead of the election.
He described Oborevwori as a “good product that is selling itself”, arguing that the governor’s acceptance in the state was based primarily on his performance.
He further contended that Oborevwori’s electoral prospects would remain strong even without the APC platform.
“Even if we were not in the APC, for instance, we would have still won the elections, because our governor is a performing governor acknowledged by everybody in the state,” he said.
The governor’s aide also defended the Federal Government’s decision to remove the petrol subsidy, acknowledging that the policy had brought economic difficulties but arguing that it was necessary to end what he described as an unsustainable financing arrangement.
Ifeajika said Nigeria had reached a point where government was borrowing to sustain fuel subsidy payments, describing such a situation as financially unhealthy.
He compared the ongoing economic adjustment to the stages of farming, saying difficult groundwork had to be completed before the benefits of the process could be realised.
“What we are going through in this country now is like a farmer. To farm, you first clear the bush before planting, weeding and eventually harvesting. It takes a process,” he said.
According to him, one of the consequences of the policy change had been increased allocations to state governments, which he said had improved their capacity to meet salary and pension obligations.
Ifeajika recalled that some states previously experienced prolonged delays in the payment of workers’ salaries, citing cases in the North-Central where, according to him, workers went for several months without pay.
He claimed that the situation had changed significantly, saying workers and pensioners were now receiving payments more regularly.
However, he acknowledged that the economic hardship being experienced by Nigerians had not disappeared.
Rather, he said the critical issue was for governments to ensure that the additional resources available to them translated into tangible improvements in the lives of citizens, particularly those at the lower end of the economic ladder.
“The issue is how the states are deploying the funds available to them to make sure that the people at the lower rungs of the society feel the impact,” he said.
On the 2027 election, Ifeajika said the APC would seek to persuade voters through the records of its candidates as well as effective communication of government programmes and projects.
He said Oborevwori’s performance had helped strengthen the relationship between the administration and residents of Delta State.
According to him, the governor’s projects and policies had increasingly convinced residents that the administration was responsive to their needs.
“Delta State is one place that the political party we are in as a ruling party is almost synonymous with the people,” he said.
Ifeajika maintained that the administration’s performance would remain central to the APC’s campaign strategy as the state approaches the 2027 general elections.
