THE MASTERCLASS PERFORMANCE BY OMO-AGEGE AT THE STAKEHOLDERS MEETING BRINGS AMITY BACK TO APC DELTA

His entry and presence animated the meeting of the Delta State APC caucus to no end, raising prospects of unity in the party ahead perhaps of the coming congresses and primaries.

For the first time in more than eighteen years, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege visited Government House, Asaba, and attended an APC meeting following the defection of Governor Oborevwori, on the personal invitation of the Governor, His Excellency, Sheriff Oborevwori. The caucusing group included the cream of APC politicians in Delta State.

The Obarisi, as Omo-Agege is titled, performed with a suave adroitness and mastery that riveted the attention and love of everyone in the hall. His presence and charm animated discussions both in the hall and across the state afterwards. It was definitely a master class performance, brief as it was.t

A content analysis of the speech delivered at the meeting will animate political discussions in the entire state in regards to the points made and issues raised and will create stories and speculations that will lead into the coming elections. First, the Obarisi was dressed for work in his half sleeved jacket, very much like the populist leaders of yore. His speech was flawlessly and fluently delivered. The speech immediately seized the popular grounds of discourse and claimed the pioneering and popular ownership of the reigns of the party that truly belongs to him and his group of loyalists.

The organizers of the caucus had planned to consign him to speak to his senatorial constituency as an Urhobo politician. But Omo-Agege recognized the reductionist trap early and chose instead to break free from that constriction and speak as a national politician and statesman who has been the deputy president of the Nigerian Senate and as a state politician who has run as governor of the state and won the endorsement of over 240,000 citizens who voted for him to be governor of the state. So the reductionist ploy was rightly and vehemently rejected by Omo-Agege, opening the way to speak to other issues, particularly the concerns of the party, the state and the federation.

His words were reconciliatory, precise and impeccably and unambiguously delivered, leaving no doubt about the quality of the man at the lectern, his strong party allegiance and his ascendant control of the now dominant APC party structures in the state. As a former candidate of the party who without government finances and structural control, garnered over 240,000 affectionate votes, two senatorial wins, membership of the House of Representatives and as many as 8 members of the state parliament, all from his own influences, finances and popularity. He and his loyalists needed to be part of and consulted in every decision making in the government that bears the name of the APC party they sweated for and popularized in the state.  

His short speech made straight for the beeline, with a subtle demand that his people be included in governance, not as pliant bystanders but as owners of the manor who worked and made the farm so attractive that others came in. That demand for the inclusion of his people in government encapsulates the realpolitik of the entire occasion.  

The “College of Leaders” who opposed and worked to undermine Omo-Agege in APC before and after the defections, were so enthused with the success of bringing in the governor to take leadership of the party in place of Omo-Agege that they didn’t know that party affiliations demanded real politics and negotiations of government composition, structure and ideological alignment. They didn’t also know that bringing in the governor did not translate to owning the government. It did not also translate to being the ruling party.  

So PDP and APC continued to operate along parallel lines in Delta until that day’s intervention of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege at Government House, Asaba. A great politician will always speak for his people. That is what defines his greatness and explain his popularity. Nelson Mandela did not become great because he got gifted by the government of South Africa but because he spoke for his people, suffered and went to jail for 27 years for them.

Omo-Agege’s loud and repeated announcement in the concession of party leadership to the governor Sheriff Oborevwori, though ordained by party rules was a very welcome development for the party hierarchy in the state. It settled the inherent undercurrent of rivalry in the state and frees the governor to take actions in the state with confidence and frees him to step up his increasingly big investments in state infrastructure.  

It shows that the state of fear and rivalry served the state's development negatively. It must be acknowledged, as Omo-Agege himself did, that it was Governor Sheriff Oborevwori's bold and conciliatory move to invite him to the stakeholders' meeting that started the process of healing and unity. It shows that the governor is finding his feet, shaking off influences that don't serve the cause of unity and amity in the state.

It is hoped that the new-found goodwill will blossom in the state and that politics and political contests continue to form the planks for a culture of Amity and fraternity even across party divides.  

@basilokoh