By Fred Latimore Oghenesivbe Esq (Eacgovdelta)
In 2018, at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City, the former governor of Edo State and aspirant for the office of national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, assured his guest, President Mohammadu Buhari, at a rally that if elected Chairman of APC, he would use his office to win Delta, Ekiti and Rivers States for the party, in 2019.
Upon hearing this, Mr President’s face beamed with smiles and gave Oshiomhole hi-five node to become the APC national chairman. The atmosphere was charged and the promise made rocked newspapers headlines. That deliberate move by Oshiomhole triggered political discordant tunes in the South-South region, prompting series of debates, political realignments and multifaceted synergies towards the 2019 governorship elections in Delta, Rivers and Ekiti States.
The strongman of Ekiti politics and then governor, Mr Peter Ayo Fayose, and the ever dogged governor of Rivers State, Barrister Weysom Wike, were in fact, the major targets of Oshiomhole because of their obvious boldness and frequent public altercations with the APC national government especially on perceived insensitive posture of the federal government towards solving the nation’s problems as promised by Mr President and APC leaders in their nationwide electioneering campaigns in 2015.
To capture Ekiti State, the Presidency and APC had to flood the state with over 50,000 security operatives, created tension in the state, physically assaulted Gov Fayose and practically stripped him of his constitutional immunity rights. It was that bad. Oshiomhole did that to please Mr President, not minding its implication on our sustained democratic evolution.
In Delta, the response to Oshiomhole’s threat to sack the governor, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa, was spontaneous, as the Delta State Chapter Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Barrister Kingsley Esiso, took a swipe on Oshiomhole, describing him as an overzealous desperate individual with little or no experience in electioneering dynamics.
Esiso was quick to remind Oshiomhole that PDP in Delta cannot be moved in the manner envisaged by the APC, noting that the weak membership and political structure of APC in the State, occasioned by prolonged factionalization and leadership tussles cannot produce the kind of result that was ignorantly predicted by Oshiomhole.
The second reason adduced by PDP in Delta has to do with the enviable performance of Governor Okowa, in job and wealth creation, massive roads infrastructure development, giant strides in primary healthcare, the reintroduction of Technical Education to further boost the YAGEP and STEPpreneur programmes; sports infrastructure development as can be seen from the construction and commissioning of the gigantic Stephen Keshi International Stadium, the standard upgrade and recertification of the Asaba International Airport, blockage of financial leakages and prudent management/application of state resources for the benefit of all Deltans, security and peace building efforts/ accomplishments, etcetera.
In all of these, Governor Okowa remained calm and calculated; forward-looking and ensured that the implementation of the first tenure SMART agenda tailored to facilitate “Prosperity for All Deltans” went well and unhindered.
And in the nick of time, the results of the 2019 governorship elections in Delta, Rivers and Ekiti were announced one after the other at various times.
Unfortunately, Ekiti State was heavily coerced and criminally subdued through planned misuse of federal might and PDP subsequently lost to the APC. In Rivers, Governor weysom Wike and Rivers PDP structures shamed Oshiomhole and ridiculed him via undisputed landslide victory like never before in the history of Rivers elections.
Nigerians will not forget in a hurry how federal Transport Minister and former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi was empowered and used tremendously to thwart the efforts of Wike and PDP, but failed woefully and in the same token President Buhari became politically handicapped in the political affairs of Rivers state, due to the solid resolve of the Rivers electorates to reelect their performing governor and PDP.
In Delta, the youths in their thousands, women and party faithful gave Oshiomhole the greatest shock of his life. His empty boasts and verbal diarrhea at Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in 2018, played out against him in 2019. The APC was banking on the already deflated and worthless political popularity of Chief Great Ogboru, a serial “contest and fail” politician who have been rejected and abandoned politically by the good people of Delta State.
The Holy Bible has it that God warned Satan thus; “Touch not my anointed, and do my prophet no harm.” Psalm 105:15. Despite this divine warning, Satan worked through Oshiomhole to nurse the idea of touching the Lord’s anointed, in the person of the platinum governor of Delta State, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa, wherein he (Oshiomhole) planned to sack Okowa and PDP during the 2019 governorship election.
Guess what; the APC governorship candidate in Delta, Great Ogboru, wept like a new born baby after the results of the elections were declared and officially announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in 2019. It has been recorded in history books as the worst appearance by Ogboru in any election spanning nearly two decades.
Oshiomhole could neither deliver APC in Delta, nor fulfil his promise to Mr President in Rivers State, except in Ekiti where brut force, open harassment and acute intimidation were deployed by APC national government to oppress governor Fayose, the PDP and Ekiti people.
In fulfilment of the divine principles of “touch not my anointed” and the sanctions therefrom, it has become crystal clear that Oshiomhole’s complicated political misfortunes will keep multiplying until he sees the compelling need to ask God for forgiveness over his failed calculated attempt and coded efforts to sack God’s anointed in Delta State.
Oshiomhole’s woes must of a divine necessity continue to rear its ugly head, and torment him consistently until he publicly apologise to the performing governor and the good people of Delta State. The government of Delta is planted on the solid Rock of Christ, which is why mere mortals like Oshiomhole cannot and will never be able to stop the move of God.
The exciting good news in the entire sxenario is that Edo State that Oshiomhole governed for eight years under APC has been delivered to PDP in a plater of gold; at a time Governor Okowa oversees the affairs of PDP South-South Governors Forum, as Chairman. I feel like breakdancing, once again. To God be the Glory!
When we say our God is a Good God, and when we also say that our God is Awesome; what we are simply saying is that our God can do anything and no body, including Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, can question the actions and/or the inactions of our God. Baba God, you too much!
Today, governor Okowa is surrounded by PDP States of Edo, Bayelsa and Rivers States. He now have free access to Edo State Government House and may decide to pass a night there with his amiable, Evangelical and spiritfiled wife, Dame Edit Okowa, inside the first class VIP Guest House previously reserved exclusively for the ousted national chairman of APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
My humble request to my boss the vindicated governor of Delta State, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa, is that he should kindly loan me to Gov Obaseki’s 2020 Reelection Campaign Council, as one of the Media and Political Communication Strategists, for the sole purpose of dealing exhaustively with some thought provoking “facts in issue” in APC, during and after Oshiomhole’s tenure, to consolidate on the existing hyper information flow towards September governorship election.
The loan, if granted by HE Okowa, shall expire immediately after the announcement of the reelection of governor Obaseki by INEC, as the Governor of Edo State under PDP, and the Pen Eagle, shall bounce back to Governor’s Office Asaba, to continue doing what he enjoys best to do 24/7 – strategic communication for a Stronger Delta under Gov Okowa.
We, in the media and communication units of PDP in the South-South geopolitical zone, must of a necessity deploy our individual and group’s talent, time and treasure to boost the much needed political communication fireworks for PDP/Obaseki landslide victory, come September 2020. This is my humble appeal, this is the way to go!
If you see Oshiomhole, tell say Gov Okowa nor bi yah mate ooo, Hosanna!!!