Okowa, Ibori On “Thank You” Visit To Urhobo Monarchs, As Royal Fathers Agreed On Power Rotation

Delta State Governor, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa and erstwhile predecessor, Chief James Ibori on Wednesday made a thank you visit to traditional rulers of Urhobo ethnic extraction from where they agreed that Delta Central Senatorial District should produce the next Governor in 2023 after Okowa’s eight years tenure.

BIGPEN NIGERIA reports that the position of the traditional rulers is however at odd with Chief Great Ovedje Ogboru, APC governorship candidate who is from Delta Central senatorial district and currently in the race with Okowa who is from Delta North senatorial district.

Ibori who has been pushing for Delta North to complete eight years term accompanied Governor Okowa on the visit barely 48 hours to the 2019 general elections.

At the meeting held at the Palace of the Ohworode of Olomu Kingdom, HRM Ogbon Ogoni-Oghoro and witnessed by all Urhobo traditional rulers, Governor Okowa was said to have entered into an agreement with the monarchs that power would return to Urhobo in 2023.

Both Okowa and Ibori emphasized that the people of Delta North Senatorial District, otherwise known as Anioma should complete two terms of eight years after which, the Urhobos will produce the next Governor in 2023 in line with the rotation principle of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.

Governor Okowa is seeking re-election as Governor on the platform of the PDP. 

According to Okowa, “Our next Governor will come from Urhobo land after my tenure in the spirit of equity,” Governor Okowa said, asserting, “by the grace of God, I will support the course of the Urhobo land producing the next Governor after me because, God has made it possible that our leader, Chief James Ibori had eight years in office and our brother, Dr Uduaghan also had eight years in office as our Governor and by divine providence, I am the Governor and because of the roles you are playing as respected traditional rulers, the trend should continue.”

The Governor listed his achievements within the last four years and thanked the traditional rulers for contributing to the success story of his administration through advise and making of their kingdoms peaceful which has translated to a peaceful state, assuring that more projects would be executed in the next four years. 

“I am glad that I have the cooperation of Your Royal Majesties; through you, I have the cooperation of your subjects and I want to say thank you; you have always believed in the peace of this state, you have always believed in equity which means you want us to succeed as a people; the level of cooperation has been very high and that has built the confidence of our people; for the unity of our state, we need the cooperation of all our Royal Fathers,” the governor stated. 

Speaking at the occasion, Chief Ibori said, “I am accompanying my Governor to pay this courtesy call and thank you visit to the traditional rulers of Urhobo land for allowing us to campaign round Urhobo land; the Urhobos support for Governor Okowa’s re-election should not be taken for granted, let us keep this commitment strongly; we have to support him strongly because, we will need the Anioma support for Urhobos to produce the Governor in the next four years, 2023.

“Let us support him (Governor Okowa) so that he can mobilise the Anioma people to support us in the next four years, this is important so that we can have a pact that will be actualized in the next four years,” Chief Ibori stated, observing that Governor Okowa has done very well by spreading dividends of democracy across the state and having genuine respect for the traditional rulers. 

The traditional rulers prayed for the Governor, asking God to grant his request for second term in office. They also, prayed for peaceful elections.