2023: “No One Can Make A Governor” – Okowa On Rumours Of Him Picking A Successor From Delta North

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, says no one can single-handedly make one a governor of a state.

This is in departure of widely believed notion that Okowa rode on Ibori’s back to power and was actually made governor by the former governor of the state even against all odd.

This was also contrary to claims by Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, lawmaker representing Delta North Senatorial District, that a former governor of the state, Chief James Ibori, made governors, ministers and House Speaker while serving jail term over money laundering charges.

Nwaoboshi was quoted to have said, “There are many people who have been Governors, who have never even been opportune to make their successors, but James Ibori made his successors.

Chief Peter Nwaoboshi, boastfully said that Ibori was actually “The man that made everybody and nobody made him.” The lawmaker spoke while eulogising Ibori after he regained freedom from a united Kingdom prison in December 2016.

However, Okowa spoke amidst rumours making the round that he was contemplating picking his successor from the Delta North axis of the state.

Okowa alluded to the fact that only him cannot make the next governor of the state but there would definitely be room to play politics when the time comes.

“I know that 2023 is not so far but, it is also not too near, so, there is a time for everything and now, it is truly time as a government to work for the people; when the time to play politics comes we will play politics.”

“For those of us in government, I want to plead that the best thing for us to do now is to work.

“There will be room to play the politics and by His grace when the time comes, everything will work out smoothly; no one can make a Governor; only God can decide who becomes Governor; so, now we have to work together to achieve a Stronger Delta as we need to spend the next few years working for the people of Delta State”, Okowa said at a church thanksgiving to celebrate his Supreme Court election victory.

BIGPEN Online reports that some elements in the Okowa’s government are flying kites that the unwritten PDP power rotation pattern in the state has collapsed since the governorship seat had gone round the three senatorial district of the state.

They are also flying a theory liked to a daily thrift contribution method where the last person to receive his contribution is deem to be the first person to start receiving payment when the thrift eventually start again.

But other pundits are of the view that it is the rotation pattern of the PDP that have brought the polity under control since 1999 when Chief James Ibori first emerged under the power rotation pattern.

It is also believed in some quarters that since power rotation pattern had already succeeded through Ibori (Delta Central), Uduaghan (Delta South) and Okowa (Delta North), power should unconditionally rotate back to the central district following the previous pattern.

The Central district and North district are mainly homogeneous in nature while the Delta South that is heterogeneous in nature with different tribes of Isoko, Ijaw and Itsekiri, are in minority.

It is believed that the rotation pattern that would follow it former self is the only hope for the minority tribes to also taste power in full circle in the south.