OVIE OMO-AGEGE: THE NEW PRINCE OF THE NIGER DELTA

When Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu raised Senator Ovie Omo-Agege’s hands during the All Progressives Congress (APC) rally in Delta State and introduced him as the governor of Niger Delta States, many mocked while many gave different interpretations to that historic and symbolic gesture. While some thought it was an error, some thought he was making reference to the future without knowing that it was about current reality. Clearly, Distinguished Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (CFR), the current Deputy Senate President is the highest political officeholder in the Niger Delta and the whole of South-South geopolitical bloc at present and therefore the undisputed political leader in the oil-rich region. This is a feat he achieved by dint of hard work; by strategic engagement and by forging strong political alliances with others to ensure effective representation of his people whom he has the mandated to serve.

Yes, service is his passion and improving the well-being of his people his goal. He has the passion to give his people effective representation. He has the zeal to bring the dividend of democracy to his people. He has the desire to transform his community, to give the physical environment a facelift with infrastructural facilities. He wants the voice of his people to be heard. He wants to build capacity and empower the youth and the women. He wants to protect the weak and the vulnerable who survive on the vagaries of nature. He wants a fair deal for his people who have long been exploited by the warped oppressive Nigerian system.

It is a fact of life that every successful person has critics and it would be strange if a personality like Ovie Omo-Agege is without one. Some of his critics mistake his firmness and his passion and obsession for excellence for arrogance. But those who know him from close quarters know that he is jolly good fellow with a passion to serve his people. He was never uptight or arrogant as some mischief makers tend to portray him. He is humble and down-to-earth; an attribute that has endeared him to many especially his colleagues in the Senate and associates who see him as primus inter pares. Clearly, the political turf is never for the proud and the supercilious but for the humble and the astute who would stoop in order to conquer. And Omo-Agege has these attributes that have made navigate successfully the turbulent waters of Nigeria politics.

Senator Ovie Omo-Agege is a trained lawyer having practiced in Nigeria and in the United States where he had sojourned before returning to join partisan politics. He was a chip off the old block being the son of Justice Omo-Agege, the celebrated former Chief Justice of Delta State. His foray into partisan politics began in the time of Governor James Ibori who saw the sterling qualities in the young Ovie and appointed him as Executive Assistant to the governor in 2003. He later served as the commissioner for special duties and then Secretary to Delta State government in 2007 at the terminal period of James Ibori regime.

Having learnt the ropes from the masters upon his return from the United States, Omo-Agege left no one in doubt as to where he is headed to. In March, 2015 he was elected under the platform of the Labour Party to represent Delta Central in the Red Chambers and in June, 2019 he defeated the erstwhile Deputy-Senate President Ike Ekweremadu to emerge as the deputy senate president after his reelection in 2019.

While in the Senate, he acquitted himself creditably well to the admiration of all including his most ardent critics. He attracted very many lauded federal projects to his primary constituency and Delta State as a whole. He brought in the Federal Polytechnic Orogun, the Nigerian Law school campus, the Nigerian Defence Space School, numerous electrification projects, replacement of transformers, erection of solar street lights, renovation of schools, training and empowerment of youths, construction and renovation of primary health centers, road construction and rehabilitation projects among others too numerous to mention. It is estimated that the number of projects executed under his watch in Delta State is over four hundred.

The 9th Senate is rated by observers to be one of the most stable and less rancorous in the political history of the country. This is attributable to the experience, maturity and the patriotic zeal of the Senate leadership to which Senator Ovie Omo-Agege is part of. And in recognition of his valuable contributions to the growth of our nascent democracy, he conferred with the national honor of Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) by President Mohammadu Buhari in October, 2022.

It is therefore heartwarming that such a political colossus in the person of Distinguished Senator Ovie Omo-Agege has thrown his hat in the ring and decided to vie for the office of governor of Delta State. This is to put him in the right pedestal to continue to serve the good people of Delta State and to stem the tide of corruption that has bedeviled the state in recent times. And to many, he is the right man for the job. He is qualified by all parameters including zoning arrangement. Recall that Delta State has exhibited rare political maturity by seamlessly rotating power among the senatorial districts. The power rotation has gone full circle and now it the turn of the Delta Central where Omo-Agege hails from to produce the next governor of the state.

I have carefully browsed through his manifesto and felt elated by the contents which show clearly that he knows the challenges of the state and the right strategy to tackle them. He had experience, the network, the patriotic zeal and most importantly the preparedness and the wherewithal to work. And if elected, I have no doubt that he would deploy his wealth of experience and leadership skills to give the good people of Delta State the type of quality service that they deserve. He is a man of integrity and a firm believer in justice and the rule of law. Indeed, a vote for Ovie Omo-Agege is a vote for development, peace and progress in Delta State.

E. F. Anene
Investment Consultant
USA

Category:
Politics 
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