By Festus Ahon
The political landscape in Delta Central
Senatorial District is being charged with
the caliber of persons aspiring to
replace late Senator Pius Akpor
Ewherido in the Senate. Until his death
on June 30, 2013, Ewherido, a charismatic and well-endowed
politician represented the senatorial
district under the platform of the
Democratic Peoples Party, DPP. As a matter of fact, he was the only DPP
senator in a 109-member House. For
the two years he spent in the Senate
before his painful and unexpected
demise, Senator Ewherido made the
Urhobo ethnic nationality proud with the quality of representation he gave to
them, which in appreciation, the
Urhobo Progress Union, UPU organized
a valedictory session for him. The ruling Peoples Democratic Party,
PDP, is busy putting necessary
machineries in motion to guide against
losing the seat to the opposition for the
second time. While the DPP is working
round the clock to clinch the position, the All Progressives Congress, APC on its
part is not leaving any stone unturned
to pick the slot. The aspirants: Top on the PDP list are
Chief Ighoyota Amori, Obarisi Ovie
Omo-Agege, Chief Emmanuel
Aguariavwodo, Chief Fred Majemite, Mr.
Solomon Edoja, Mr. Andrew Oru and
Chief Maxmiller Orido. The DPP has the likes of Mr. Ede
Definone, Chief Richard Odibo and Chief
Napoleon Gbinije. Aspiring on the
platform of the APC are Chief O’tega
Emerho and Barrister Festus Keyamo. For Chief Ighoyota Amori, it was an
opportunity for him to reclaim the
senatorial mandate allegedly given to
him in 2011 by his people. Amori is the
Senior Political Adviser to Governor
Emmanuel Uduaghan and National Chairman of the Urhobo Political
Congress, UPC. He was the Delta State
Commissioner for Education from 1999
to 2007 under the Chief James Ibori
administration. He was a major political player during
the Chief James Ibori’s government;
many people saw him as a king-maker
then. Today, Chief Amori is aspiring to
be a Senator at least to join his peers in
the political field such as Senators Ifeanyi Okowa and James Manager. For those supporting Chief Amori, they
are of the view that the Urhobos should
compensate him for his contribution to
the Urhobo land and very many
persons are garnering support for him
across the eight local councils of Delta Central. However, the leadership of the UPC has
advised Chief Ighoyota Amori, who was
candidate of the PDP in the 2011
senatorial election not to contest the
forthcoming bye-election. But Amori
has insisted that he would participate in the election. Amori in a text message said: “I am in
the race; the opinion of one man cannot
deter me from running: Withdraw for
who? All interested UPC members were
requested to come and present
themselves for assessment before we can choose who is more qualified
electorally.
“So, the personal opinion of one
individual who does not like my face
from the beginning of politics is
irrelevant to our collective resolve. I can
assure you I will win as we have been
asked to face the party primaries of the PDP.” Leadership of the group based its
insistence on Chief Amori’s withdrawal
from the race on the need for PDP and
UPC to present a more acceptable
candidate to reclaim the senatorial seat
from the DPP. Olorogun Jaro Egbo said the group’s
effort to prevail on Amori would not
yield the desired result, adding that
members of the group who are
interested in the senatorial seat were
asked to present their credentials for UPC to take a position on who to
support. Egbo, who is the National Youth Leader
of the group said: “We are of the
opinion that considering what have
been said and written about Chief
Amori in recent times, it may be
difficult for us to market him. And we are not prepared for another loss at the
polls. So we have started shopping for
Amori’s possible replacement within
and outside the UPC. “Our concern is the consequence of
allowing over five aspirants from the
UPC to go for the PDP primaries and the
possibility of the group losing out or
throwing up an unpopular candidate
that may not be acceptable to the Urhobo nation, which may lead to
another defeat of the PDP by the new
APC or DPP.” Even though he has not declared his
intention for the senatorial seat, one-
time Executive Assistant to former
Governor James Ibori, Obarisi Ovie Omo-
Agege is garnering support across the
district. Top politicians in the area are dragging
him into the senatorial race, arguing
that he has all it takes to go to the
Senate. He was also a Commissioner for Special
Duties (Government House) and
Secretary to the State Government, SSG.
He was appointed SSG after he lost the
PDP governorship primary to Governor
Emmanuel Uduaghan in 2007. In the last few weeks, over three
political pressure groups have been
urging him to join the senatorial race.
They believed that it is time to
appreciate him and his father, Justice
James Omo-Agege (rtd) for their contribution to the political
development of the district. They said he and his father were
instrumental to the creation of new
wards in Urhobo land. Beyond that,
they said Obarisi Ovie Omo-Agege, who
was a member of the Chief James Ibori
kitchen cabinet, influenced many projects among other things to the
district. Chief Emmanuel Aguariavwodo, former
Managing Director of the Niger Delta
Development Commission, NDDC and
former member of the Federal House of
Representatives is also reaching out to
political leaders and getting support of the people. His supporters see him as one politician
that has attracted development to the
urhobo nation when he was NDDC boss
and they are of the view that it was
time to pay him back. Another strong contender is Chief Fred
Majemite, Political Adviser to Governor
Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta Central)
and one-time commissioner for Lands,
Survey and Urban Development in the
State. He ran for the Senate in 2003 but lost in
the PDP primary to Olorogun Felix Ibru.
His ambition stemmed from his desire
to be voice of his people in the Senate. Strong force in the race
Also in the race is Mr Solomon Edoja, a
member of the Federal House of
Representatives. Edoja, a one-time
Special Adviser to the Governor on Inter
Party Relations and Commissioner for Special Duties to Governor Emmanuel
Uduaghan, is also a strong force in the
race and Urhobo politics. His campaign
is being championed by market women
and okada riders. Mr. Ede Definone of the DPP, an
accomplished Accountant, lost his party
primary to late Senator Pius Ewherido
in 2011. He is spreading out his dragnet
to woe all supporters of the party to his
side. Also struggling for the DPP ticket is Chief Richard Odibo, a grassroots
politician and mobilizer. Chief Odibo has lived all his life in Udu;
so he is well known and grounded in
Delta politics. Chief Napoleon Gbinije, a former
member of the House of Representative
under the platform of the PDP, left the
PDP in 2007 after losing the House of
Representatives primary to Mr. Joyce
Overah and joined the DPP in protest. The business mogul and politician is
working hard to clinch the Senate
position. Chief O’tega Emerhor of the APC is
moving day and night to solicit the
support of the electorate. Emerhor, a
guru in the insurance and banking
industry is a force to reckon with in the
senatorial race. Another contender that cannot be over
looked is Barrister Festus Keyamo, a
human rights lawyer and activist. With this caliber of persons in the Delta
Central Senatorial by-election, the
electorate may have a tough nut to
crack in picking the best man to
represent them in the Upper Chamber. The underlying truth is that, the Urhobo
nation is blessed with patriotic and high
profile politicians who are committed
to the well being of their people. None of this array of politicians can be
wished away as far as the senatorial
race is concerned.
www.vanguardngr.com/2013/09/delta-central-by-election-intrigues-re-alignments-trail-contest/

From left: Keyamo, Amori, Majemite,
Omo-Agege, Emerhor

Urhobo Wadoo mini wadoo. This is simply a race between DPP and PDP, with advantage PDP. The glamorization of DPP has worn off in delta central. Also, PDP has done a very job, making peace with most members since 2007/2011 civil war.

I don't knw keyamo but his face looks gud n I perceive him to be goin dia out of service n "NOT REWARD". omo-agege n amori ar d worst sons d urhobo nation has eva produced, they av bin used to orchestrate division witin d urhobo nation for selfish interest, btw, y shud d urhobo see d senatorial seat as a reward to des con men? Gbinije is my broda but he has outlive his usefullness n sacrificed his priorities on "bear bear bank". Let d one hu d cap fits don it.