₦airaland Forum

Born2Breed:
Delta is going to APC.

Great Ogboru is the man. With Uduaghan and Ayiri in APC the Itsekiri axis is a sure for APC. Ogboru has a lot of relatives in the anioma axis,Ibori is still not sure where he is now so the Urhobo axis is a sure for Great. Isokos will definitely follow their cousins Urhobo and Ijaws can vote PDP but Okowa will be a one term governor in Delta State.

Abagworo:
I'm certain Great Ogboru will oust Okowa.

Akathriel:
What exactly is wrong with these Akwa-Ibom people? Little wonder their region is so underdeveloped & rife with jobless militants looking for Oyinbo to kidnap for ramsom. Aside that, the only thing they do best is hunting innocent Ekuke (dog meat) upandan.

One native goat, One black goat. How many goats do they slaughter during their traditional wedding? No wonder GEJ couldn't move Nigeria an inch forward since he was just busy eating Asun & drinking cartons of Sapele Water in Asorock.

You better warn your covetous & uncultured village heads to desist from this dastard & impious act of subjecting your prospective in-laws to committing a broad-day robbery by putting their necks on the chopping board - Nagode!

Deltatoto:
you haven’t left ur fathers house travel you will see it’s not only delta I would have helped u by mentioning names but u need to do research bro.it will help u..you are complaining abt delta pls tell me which other states in Nigeria shoprite came and didn’t stay in the capital?they approved one for delta ur uncle uduaghan took it to warri.if I c what will kill an urhobo man I’ll do it

Deltatoto:
which state in Nigeria has two capitals only delta that’s d wickedness of an urhobo man.selfish and greeedy ppl

Deltatoto:
shut up what did Ibori do and uduaghan okowa has not stayed one term see d roads he has done.airport ur father uduaghan did with 55billion is under construction again by okowa urhobo ppl r criminals quote me and die before the end of today

Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt

The jubilation that erupted in Omoku, the headquarters of Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni local government on the earlier rumoured death of a notorious militant, cultist, kidnapper and illegal oil bunkerer, Mr. Igwedibia Johnson, (aka “Don Wanni”), who has been terrorising the peace-loving Omoku community in particular, as well as the entire people of Rivers and Bayelsa States has evaporated as the information is confirmed to be false.

Don Wanni was earlier reported dead during a gun battle involving a joint operation between Nigerian security forces and a local vigilante group in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Council of Rivers State on Sunday.

The news of the demise of the criminal kingpin led to widespread jubilation in different parts of the local government as hundreds of residents and indigenes trooped out to local government council headquarters to confirm if he was actually killed.

However, they were denied access to the local council secretariat where his dead body was rumored to have been kept. But all those who had besieged the alleged venue left one by one in disappointment as no one sighted his corpse. This raised doubts about the rumoured killing of the dreaded gang leader.

The Deputy Director Army Public Relations of the 6 division of the Nigerian Army, Colonel AMINU ILIYASU in a statement confirmed that there was indeed a raid on Don Wanni’s camp, shrines and luxurious mansion in the early hours of Monday.

The military spokesperson said items recovered during the raid included 10 human skulls, various human bones, 2 AK-47 Rifles, 1 General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG), 18 AK-47 Rifle Magazines, 4 pairs of military camouflage, 5 camouflage T-Shirts, 3 Fabrique Nationale (FN) Rifle magazines, 39 rounds of 7.62mm (NATO) ammunition, 20 rounds of 9mm ammunition and 1 round of 7.62mm (Special) ammunition.


Skulls recovered from Wanni’s mansion
Other items recovered he said, include 2 bags weighing about 25kg containing substances believed to Cannabis (Marijuana), 3 ICOM Hand-held Radios and 2 MAG ONE Hand-held Radios.

Colonel Aminu said, “after about an hour of gun fight, the gallant troops overpowered the criminal elements. Some of them scampered in disarray and are believed to have escaped with gunshot wounds through River Orashe in Omoku. The troops, however, arrested 7 others including 2 ladies while they were trying to escape during the encounter.

It is believed that the main kingpin, Igwedibia Johnson, (aka “Don Waney”), was not at the location during the encounter as concerted efforts are on by security agencies to track, arrest and bring him to justice.

Nigerian Army also thanked the people who provided the tip-off that made the raid possible and pleaded for more support through information provision until Don Wanni is finally caught dead or alive.

For now, the excitement of the people seems to have disappeared and they now appear to be living in greater fear over possible vengeance after the unsuccessful operation by his escapee gang members.

Delta State, created in August 1991, officially with its capital in Asaba, is a state that runs government affairs from two Government Houses - one in Asaba and the other in Warri.

Successive civilian governors beginning with Senator Felix Ibru, the pioneer governor of the state in 1993, administered the state officially from the two houses. In fact, it is on record that former governor Felix Ibru governed the state for the better part of his administration from the Warri Government House, regarded as an annex.

The reason canvassed by proponents of the dual government power base is that the Government House Annex in Warri serves “for administrative convenience” in addressing public issues, especially sensitive issues relating to the oil and gas sector that usually needs ‘prompt’ responses from relevant government authorities.

This notion is buttressed with the argument that with Warri being the state’s economic and commercial nerve centre, the presence of the state government authority base makes it easier for government to address not only issues relating to the oil and gas sector, but also issues relating to security, especially on the waterways.

However, these arguments are impaired by the fact that Delta is not the only oil and gas producing state with complex terrains and prone to coastal security issues and challenges. But the proponents further canvassed that Deltans from the riverine areas of the south for instance, would have to travel all day to the north end of the state bordering the east just to access Asaba, the state capital, to meet up with official government matters (in some cases to deliver hand-to-hand official letters that need the governor’s attention) and most often, do not catch up with official hours. This situation they say, compel the ‘visitors’ to Asaba to incur unnecessary lodging and logistics expenses.
Without prejudice, politics and ethnic interests have been the underlying sentiments that gave impetus to establishing the Government House in Warri, right from when Delta State by the military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida.

Prof. Itse Sagay, who resounded the implacable position of leaders of thought of the old Delta province, took the rejection of Asaba as capital to a ridiculous level when he accused the then military president, saying, “Babangida used the Delta State capital to pay his bride price to his Anioma in-laws.”

They insisted that in order to assuage the ill feelings of the original ethnic groups that constitute the old Delta Province, the House of Assembly should enact a law authorising the executive to establish an official residence for the governor in Warri or some other central location in the old province as an addition to the present governor’s residence in Asaba.

Five ethnic communities constituted what was referred to as the Old Delta Province namely Ijaw (western), Isoko, Itsekiri, Ukwuani and Urhobo that were brought together by British colonial rule under the Niger Coast Protectorate in the early 1890s, before the British Protectorate of Southern Nigeria was formed in 1900 and their capital then was said to be Warri.

Meanwhile, the call for the scrapping of the Warri Government House emerged as soon as the incumbent governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, took over in 2015 and immediately proposed the Delta State Capital Territory Development Agency (DSCTDA) executive Bill to the Delta State House of Assembly.

The bill had provoked an air of renewed ethnic agitations as people of the defunct Delta province suspected the executive bill was a fresh plot to scrap the Delta State Government House Annex in Warri.
At the same time some leaders in the state of Delta North (Anioma) extraction such as Senator Francis Nwajei and Prince Clement Okonjor had criticised the development of a second government house in Warri in whatever guise and called for its closure, as “the constitution of the country never made provision for two capital territories in a state.”

In a swift reaction, the Warri Government House proponents wondered why “an elder statesman like Senator Nwajei would come out to make such statements and standpoint that are capable of heating up the Delta State polity”, recalling that the Naval Base located in Warri used to be a rallying point for government officials in those days and when Delta State was created, it was easy to have an official place for the state government’s presence in Warri.

“The Government House Annex in Warri should not pose any threat to those who are today asking for it to be scrapped. From the tune of the elder statesman from Anioma, Senator Nwajei, we can deduce that perhaps, his statement is coming from the Anioma people and maybe a collective decision in this regard”, Zik Gbemre, an Urhobo interest group activist argued.
He said, “We believe that if the Anioma people feel the need to be on their own and have a state, then they should ask for the creation of their own state and channel their request appropriately, rather than making a preposterous call for the scrapping of the Government House Annex in Warri in the name of the state having two capitals”.

The tension that prevailed compelled the state governor to address a press conference to dismiss insinuations and fears on the status of the Government House Annex in Warri, as he assured that it would continue to function as it had always been under previous administrations, and that the functions of DSCTDA, among others, is to formulate policies and guidelines for the development of the state capital territory.

Governor Okowa said the bill was meant to address the peculiar infrastructure and environmental challenges of the state capital territory without prejudice to the functions of the Government House Annex in Warri or the status of Warri as the commercial nerve centre of Delta State.

In a statement signed by the Manager, Communications, Government House, Asaba, the Governor Ifeanyi Okowa implored all Deltans to ignore the rumours which described as a calculated attempt by political rumour mongers to spread falsehood, engage in cheap blackmail and cause disaffection in the state.