The good people of Delta State have come to see through the sham and scam that the All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship candidate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege truly is. Although, the majority of the people didn’t take him seriously at any point they now marvel at the ridiculous manner he has played politics making childish promises and telling lies that an averagely intelligent fellow will not tell. We have it on good authority that even those close to him who still have a little tinge of honour have advised him to minimize his lies but he will not listen. He has become a pathological crisis waiting to happen and people are wondering how he will relieve all of these after he must have lost the election in less than two months.
Those who know are of the opinion that his followers and friends should organize a therapy for him to cure him of post-election grand delusion trauma.
Omo-Agege’s lies are many and they have reached the level where they can be called uncountable. He has lied against the incumbent Governor of Delta State Senator, Dr. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa who is also the Vice-Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He has also lied against Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, the Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly and Delta State Governorship candidate of the PDP. He accused Governor Okowa of so many things including misappropriation. He accused Hon. Oborevwori of so many things including being a stooge of Governor Okowa. Yet, Governor Okowa’s achievements as Governor of Delta State remain unparalleled and these have earned him awards across the world. Governor Okowa is one of the most strategic politicians in Nigeria today and the records are there to speak for themselves. Hon. Oborevwori has emerged to become an astute politician, grassroots mobilizer, loved by the masses, and a consensus builder who enjoys the distinction of being the only Deltan to be elected Speaker of the House of Assembly twice and also enjoys the credit of being the State’s longest serving Speaker. These are the political sui generis Omo-Agege is abusing and telling lies against.
The more worrisome lies have to do with his promising Deltans the moon when in truth he knows he cannot even deliver on basic things. Omo-Agege’s antecedents depict him as a scoundrel who comes pretending and then shows his true colour after getting what he wants. He did it to our former Governor, Chief James Ibori and he also did it to Chief Otega Emerhor and Chief Great Ogboru. Omo-Agege returned from the United States of America like a beggar in 2003. He contested the primary election for the Federal House of Representatives and failed woefully. Then Chief Ibori rehabilitated him. He became a wolf as soon as he got into Government. The rest is history. After failing in over six elections he cried to Chief Ogboru who offered him the Labour Party ticket. He was even waiting on Ogboru and eventually he won the Senate election. He went on to stab Ogboru in the back and he also did the same thing to Emerhor.
Omo-Agege’s tools are blackmail and lies. He sees running down opponents and promising the people what he cannot deliver on as political virtues when indeed they are vices. He doesn’t care about principles and the consequences of saying what he cannot do. What he is after is raw power and the wicked and vengeful use to which he, can put it. So far besides the lies he told against Governor Okowa and Hon. Oborevwori, Omo-Agege has promised Deltans too many things that he actually told some of his friends that he has forgotten many of the things he promised. Omo-Agege is acting true to type. It was the same way the APC promised Nigerians a lot of things in 2015 and today the party has not been able to fulfill them. The APC is leaving Nigeria far far worse than it met it. This is the line Omo-Agege is toeing. To him, the APC did it in 2014 and it worked and he is doing it now.
Omo-Agege told his friends that since there are twenty-five Local Government Areas in Delta State, he was going to tell fifty lies with each Local Government receiving two lies. This is actually what he is doing right now. Omo-Agege has so far promised three universities, he has promised four polytechnics, he has promised to turn Delta State into Dubai. He has promised to build three sea ports while the one he promised for Okwagbe as far back as seven years ago is still a mirage. He has promised bridges, roads, electricity, free education, free healthcare and so many other free things that he has truly lost count. The man has abandoned his poorly written manifesto to making promises he knows he cannot and will not fulfill. The truth is that he has actually told more than fifty lies given the fact that each community he visits now must receive a lie.
Is this the kind of man that wants to govern Delta State? Deltans must think and look well so that what the scam APC got away with in 2015 will not repeat itself here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ewiwilem writes from Asaba, Delta State
