The fate of Delta State
By
THERE is an interesting discussion currently running on the pages of the Guardian Newspaper. Set in motion by one Dr Temi Akporhonor with an article "Whither Delta State? May 23, 2002, the discussion has since gathered much momentum with the contributions of several commentators like Prof. Itse Sagay "Delta State: It's own worst enemy" June 10; Joe Agbro 'Why Ogboru must contest against Ibori" June 24; Babor Egregor "Delta State: Understanding the times: July 1; Clem Okonjo "What constitutes the 'real' Delta" July 8; again Itse Sagay "Delta State: Matters arising" August 15, 2002. Dr. Akporhonor clearly set the ethnic tone and contextual focus of the discussion with his partisan, complacence ridden and less evenhanded appraisal of the current state of affairs and political direction of Delta State. Working up ethnic passions, he reveled in and craved the sustenance of the political status quo merely for its own sake, earnestly urging its retention, particularly since, as at May 2002 when he wrote, only two Urhobo sons-Governor James Ibori and Great Ovadje Ogboru- appeared poised for the state's gubernatorial duel, the outcome of which he also feels a fait accompli. Akporhonor contended in his piece that there should be a political arrangement, wherein governorship power should remain with the 'real' Deltans (read Urhobos) simply because the state capital is Asaba, in the Ibo speaking area called Anioma. Professor Sagay, an Itsekiri, shares the same view, and as it turned out, he had articulated and canvassed that position severally, repeating some again in his two contributions so far to this discussion.
As the position above truly represents the actual thinking in some quarters within the Delta enclaves, we now, inevitably, have a state at war with itself, a state endowed in all ramifications, the sort of which properly harnessed will make it the model state that Ogbemudia's Midwest State once was; a state in urgent need of growth and development, yet deliberately simulating a dichotomy, targeted at pitting one end of the state against the other, which inevitably, would lead to further conflagration in a state already noted for incessant ethnic and political violence. One of the disturbing fall-outs of this intolerance is the refusal of certain elements within the government and ruling Peoples Democratic Party, to allow Chief Dickson Amagada to take his office as the party chairman in the state as the legally elected person through a valid party congress. These problems and general lopsidedness of appointments and distribution of developmental initiatives in the state are already well publicised and documented by Barrister Fred Ajudua in several publications so far.
The surprise for followers of these discussions, of which this writer is one, is that supposedly informed persons, both academics incidentally, like Sagay and Akporhonor can hold views that are so myopic, impracticable and devoid of sophistication and political substance. It is no surprise that neither Egregor nor Agbro fell into that primitive pit as they both called for a greater opening of the political space so that the best potentials of the state can be readily realised through greater participation. Why insist, for example, that only one candidate should seek gubernatorial power and set-up a scheme to exclude other possible candidates? Or why suggest that political power should be the exclusive preserve of one ethnic group in a multi-ethnic state like Delta and resort to all sorts of manipulations and gimmickry to emasculate others so as to achieve the narrow objective?
The truth is that since the creation of Delta State, certain Urhobo elements have mistakenly seen the state as their own ethnic patrimony. Not for them the fact that aside from the Anioma Ibos, there are also the Isokos, Itsekiris, Ijaws, even other Nigerians resident in the state, all of whom have equal stake in the growth, development and survival of the state. Such elements have consistently championed a clearly divisive politics as well as a political attitude that projects a siege mentality and an imperious disposition in the conduct of the affairs of the state; especially some of the state's top functionaries. You see it in the current fixation by the cabal to completely seize and totally appropriate the political space and the bureaucracy of the state, leaving nothing but handouts to grovellers and handpicked political yes-men.
Professor Sagay is a distinguished academic, a law teacher, who made his name and gained some national prominence from his close association with the Human rights campaign industry with its attendant high media visibility in the turbulent years of military dictatorship of the 1990s, becoming a Senior Advocate of Nigeria thereafter. A major plank of the fight against the military at the time was the need to make political power at the centre more accessible to all Nigerians. June 12 and the present Obasanjo government are the victories of those collective battles exemplifying the need to remove permanently the specter of power monopoly by any group in Nigeria. It is therefore a profound irony and a serious betrayal of that entire cause that the same Professor Sagay will today be struggling to entrench and institutionalise in Delta State what has been vanquished and dislodged forever at the national level.
This is the point made by Clem Okonjo which was missed by Professor Sagay who would have us believe amongst other things that Asaba, as capital city, was the bride price paid by Babangida to his in-laws, a line of argument more fitting for ordinary folks still in want of enlightenment, certainly not from an eminent professor of law. You then ask: what price was paid in the case of Awka as against Onitsha in Anambra State, Oshogbo as against Ilesha in Oshun, Umuahia rather than Aba in Abia, Dammaturu instead of Potiskum, in Yobe, Lokoja as against Okene in Kogi, Dutse as against Hadeija in Jigawa State? The examples are countless which of course shows the poverty of thought of those who have continued to cry, after all these years, over Asaba. What really is in a name? Is Delta an indigenous name of any people in Nigeria? What is called 'Delta State' today could easily have been called Lower Niger State, Upper River State, Delani or Anidel State; the name possibilities are equally limitless. Nothing should be taken away from Warri as a city fit for any administrative assignment, but if such was ever the consideration for Delta State, we should remember also that Sapele, Ughelli, Oleh, Ozoro, etc were no less qualified for the same role.
The problem with Professor Sagay's thesis is that he stands on a false ground, which is, that Warri is a city around which a state must be created. It is a very weak case because neither our experience nor any expediency compels such, for which reason, many other cities abound in Nigeria today not as capital cities e.g. Ijebu-Ode, Oyo, Onitsha, Aba, etc whose strategic importance and viability in other spheres remains unchallenged. The Learned Professor had wished for Warri as a state capital where, in settled perpetuity, the Itsekiri monarch shares political influence with an Urhobo governor-a perfect arrangement - leaving the Ijaws, Isokos and the Aniomas as mere appendages. In response to Professor Ayua's "In defence of the Supreme Court", (Guardian, July 1& 2, 2002.) Professor Sagay himself, wrote about a certain 'Lakayana syndrome' (Guardian July 22, 2002). Was he then giving vent to that same syndrome for the Urhobos, one wonders, since even the President of Urhobo Progressive Union, the much respected Chief Okumagba proved more accommodating of other groups in his appraisal of the politics of Delta State today, (see "Urhobo, Niger Delta minorities struggles in the evolution of Nigerian nation", Guardian, August 20, 2002.)
The Professor finds the non-realisation of that arrangement in Warri, totally frustrating and his needless bitterness is a product of the fact that he seems to see power and politics everywhere and in Delta State purely from an ethnic give and take prism. Not for him it would seem, the duty and ennobling imperative of using political authority for the transformation of society for the good of all; all that matters, as an end in itself, is 'let an Urhoboman occupy government house, Asaba and all is well.' He complained that it takes two hours from Warri to get to Asaba for which reason a distinguished Professor, Austin Egborge died travelling. Sad as that is but what an argument! Did people not die going from Asaba to Benin, Warri, to Benin in the old Midwest/Bendel State? Will Warri as a capital city obviate all future accidents/deaths travelling to that city? Look at the location of Jos in the map of defunct Benue-Plateau State and the current Plateau State and see the limits of the argument with regard to a state capital's location.
There is no possibility, except in the realm of fantasy, that this people-the Anioma Ibos-who have always held their own politically and played major roles right from the days of Western Region- will suddenly become intimidated or acquiesce to an arrangement intended to make them play the second fiddle in any political arrangement. Therein lies the vacuity and futility of Messrs Akporhonor and Sagay's thesis since they took the situation today in Delta State for granted. Further, by not reflecting a little on the political history of the Anioma people they have completely misread the shape of things to come. Treated all these while with obvious condescension, the point then is that the mind of the people is settled on power shift and they are set, working with others, to make it a reality.
To be sure, Governor James Ibori who began his regime with all good intentions may have always tried to live above this troubling spectre of ethnic machinations that has taken hold in the state; he may have unwittingly become captive to these ethnic interests in the state despite all efforts to the contrary. If that is really the case, he must now be finding the consequences of all that, that is, a fully divided and disaffected polity, an administration practically grinding to a halt from loss of espirit d'corps and oneness of purpose, whose actions and inactions are laced with ethnic suspicions and air of partisanship because of the activities of a capricious ethnic cabal- quite embarrassing and a very poor legacy to bestow finally, what with all the opportunities at the disposal of his government. Yet there must be something in Delta state's current politics which is somehow bringing out the worst in all of us, making each of us to begin to yield, as it were, to primordial concerns, which is perhaps the only explanation for Professor Sagay's very surprising, out of character, partisan views in all of these, far from his usual urbane, liberal, objective and cerebral self that we have known and cherished most of these years. Much of the blame for all that is surely Governor Ibori's.
Nov 2002