“THE SUFFOCATION OF OBOREVWORI BY OKOWA SHOULD BE SUSTAINED” - OLISA IFEAJIKA

Basil Okoh

Anybody who doubts Victor Ochei ‘s assertion that Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa is not allowing Governor of Delta State Sheriff Oborevwori to breathe should look back in time to 2010-2011 when Hon. Sam Obi was appointed acting governor of the state by court for a little more than two months. Ifeanyi Okowa became a permanent fixture in the office of the acting governor every working day of those two months. 

Every politician and government operative knows that Okowa was all over Sam Obi in that period of two months. In the office, at home, inspecting government projects, Okowa became a permanent interloper around Sam Obi and would not leave the acting governor or give him a chance to breathe.

So when Okowa’s old and faithfull Chief Press Secretary Olisa Ifeajika goes public to deny what is evident in the media to everyone, people laugh in derision. They see the invasion of every public function in which governor Oborevwori features by Okowa as he is positioned next to the governor all the time. 

The accusation that Okowa is all over Governor Sheriff, overwhelming and harassing him with his presence is public knowledge and talk everywhere in the state. Hon Victor Ochei just put another credible voice to what the entire state knows to be true.

Okowa’s unceasing efforts to control a grown man and governor of the state is a constant source of fear in the state that the governor is not his own man, that he has no capacity to rule without Okowa’s guidance. Ifeajika’s unconvincing denials will not change public perception of this low estimation of the governor.

We have had two previous ex-governors before Ifeanyi Okowa, James Ibori and Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan. At no time did these former governors become leeches preying on their successor governors. Okowa has been different: restless and insecure. He demands to interfere into every activity of government even after years of leaving the seat of power. 

Okowa’s constant visits to Government House Asaba, not counting the daily calls to the leading officers and the governor himself is known and complained about by the many government workers and visitors who have to deal with the disruptions caused by the ex-governor. So it is sheer futility to deny Okowa’s desperation to always tie himself to government and constantly be in a position to dictate government actions and policies. It has become sickening to those who are forced to obey instruction from a man who should no longer be exercising power. Many have been forced to question if the ex-governor is well and does understand the implied rules of succession. If he can reach the governor everyday by phone, why bother to go to government house or crash into every ceremony?

Olisa Ifeajika should know that as a publicist, there are things that he should just let pass like this subject of Okowa’s restless and unceasing interference in Sheriff’s government. Everyone knows it to be true. Hon. Victor Ochei saying it only reinforces what everyone knows to be true. All the evidence to prove the attendant facts are in the public domain. 

Many top level Urhobo personalities and elite groups have condemned it publicly and warned Sheriff on the dire consequences to his government. Many have expressed anger and frustration to Sheriff for accepting such unwarranted interventions from Okowa as a master would a servant.

Victor Ochei has done well by highlighting and bringing to public discourse a major challenge to governance in Delta state. Sheriff Oborevwori was elected as governor, not Ifeanyi Okowa whose tenure has passed. To continue to cling to government makes Okowa a meddler, an interloper without respect for the intelligence and capacity of the man who is presently there as governor. A medical degree does not avail him any claim to superiority in public management.  

The intrusions of Okowa is disrespect arising from an assumption of innate superiority to Sheriff, the false belief that he is better talented at governance when he is obviously not, as the state did not record any remarkable strides or achievement during Okowa’s regime. 

While we blame Okowa for his meddling, we must also recognize that it is the unceasing demonstration of Sheriff’s inability to project confidence that invariably invites Okowa’s intrusions. Early in 2025, PDP was bleeding membership like a bad wound and Sheriff was disoriented until the defection into APC.

Olisa Ifeajika for all his grandstanding, travelled all over the state to fetch evidence to prove that indeed Victor Ochei was right that Okowa is meddling in and harassing the Sheriff Oborevwori government. He did this by showing that the recorded successes of Sheriff’s government are attributable to Okowa. His essay drew examples from the nooks and crannies of Delta state to provide evidence from projects and policies that Okowa’s meddling influence helped to implement to completion.

“If it takes Okowa not allowing the governor to breathe for him to record these successes, methinks the suffocation should be sustained.” Olisa Ifeajika writes.

That false sense of superiority is seen in the blatant arrogance also displayed below: 

“And, if Okowa’s refusal to allow the governor to breathe has engendered the extension of the frontiers in education facilities in the state with the establishment of Orerokpe campus of Southern Delta University, then that is the kind of interference that the state desires - one that benefits society”. 

This clearly demonstrates the low regard for Sheriff Oborevwori by Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa and his publicist. Ifeajika says clearly here that Dr. Okowa’s interference in Sheriff’s government is what is bringing development to the state. So Sheriff should be regarded as an uninformed and immature infant that must be guided by Okowa. Without Okowa’s constant intrusion, there would be no progress coming from Sheriffs government. 

In fact, Olisa Ifeajika’s thesis is not to deny Okowa’s interference but to assert that it is Okowa’s guiding hand that is bringing the progress recorded by Sheriffs government.

So It is not Ochei’s postulations that should bother the Sheriff government. Ifeajika did well to provide the proof to support Ochei’s warning to the state. Ifeajika has given evidence to prove Okowa’s meddling and intrusions but he should not be denying the conclusions that should be drawn from the evidence he himself provides. It is Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa’s very public display of paternalism to Sheriff Oberovwori and his government that should bother everyone in Delta state.

“If such results stem from Okowa’s alleged meddling in governance in the state, I am certain that many Deltans would want it to continue”

So the impression is created by Olisa Ifeajika that the Sheriff government could not have recorded any achievements but for the meddling and interventions by Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa.

It is because of Okowa’s interferences that Sheriff’s capacity to govern Delta state is being now questioned and doubted. 

“If he has capacity to govern why does he allow Okowa to intrude in his government in almost everything, one man asks? 

Urhobo opinion leaders believe that Sheriff is a placeholder in government house Asaba for Okowa, that the real power in government is exercised by Ifeanyi Okowa. They believe that the real decision maker in politics and political choices is Okowa, and the real reason for the defection of the PDP ruling party to the opposition APC is to protect Okowa from the wrath of the law arising from the alleged humongous theft of DESOPADEC funds meant for the development of mainly their region. 

This is the major reason for the rising expectation for a true Urhobo governor in Deacon Chris Iyovwaiye of the NDC. The Urhobo believe that as the dominant ethnic group, they deserve to assert their majority by providing leadership to the state, as expressed by having an independent minded Urhobo governor for the remaining tenure of four years.

@basilokoh.