For every community or environment, certain people are able to coagulate into a pool of social interaction. You notice that in such places, once there is a need for representation, certain individuals are consulted as it is transcribed that they represent the general views or opinions of the individuals in that society. People are able to attain these levels of recognition through social, economic or political responsibilities over time as they commune through life's timeline. In gaining influence or affluence through possessions, such persons become entities or movements on their own. If as a virtue, generosity is always a drive in these cases, because individuals are naturally wired to follow their interests which constitutes their allegiance and once they find a leader who gives freely, they can commit their entirety to such persons course or goals without worries on the limits they can over shoot.
In the South South, the Influence of Chief James Onanefe Ibori can be said to be a force or a movement. However such influences can be shared with other figures like Elder Statesman, Edwin Clark, former President Good luck Jonathan and a few others. For James Ibori, before having to be in the UK for some years, his role in the political scene of the South South cannot be overlooked. Becoming the PDP governor of Delta State with our return to democracy, James Ibori became a lifeline for many billionaires in the state. Apart from embarking on massive road construction, he also empowered contractors with little to mid range contracts that they used to build themselves up. For example, there were contracts from amounts as five hundred thousand to a million naira which covered rehabilitation of schools, health centers, building of drainages and the likes and these contracts were given to contractors in different localities. The idea was to use these local contractors so they can therefore use local labourers thereby sharing the resources in their locality. This system worked tremendously as the Delta State IGR grew excellently. It also was a mechanism for poverty alleviation as the resources flowed from house to house. Once you're able to complete these contracts, bigger ones come and that's how you grow up the chain. After doing eight years, he handed over to Emmanuel Uguaghan who was said to be a cousin or a distant relative of James Ibori.
With James Ibori's financial charges summing up and his subsequent absence, Emmanuel Uduaghan was charged with the responsibility of running the state with his own blueprint or ideas. Majority of the contractors that had finished up their projects right before Ibori left office were said to be owed by the Uduaghan adminstration. These political issues arise as every governor majorly focuses on a section of people they want to empower during the course of their administration, so I will say, as much as there are people who complain about certain government policies, there are also some that enjoy them. In the case of Uduaghan, the road networks that were built by Ibori suffered in large proportions, but Mr Emmanuel Uduaghan focused on schools and hospitals in his eight years as governor of the State. Going forward, he handed over to a governor from the Delta North axis, Mr Ifeanyi Okowa, who is currently on his second term as governor of Delta State.
As one will love to ignore this fact, it is known that all that personality selection for governorship candidates was arranged by James Ibori even when he was away in the UK. He had Emmanuel Uduaghan as his SSG during his tenure and Mr Emmanuel Uduaghan had the current governor of the state as his SSG as well. This plan has seen a consistency in the PDP always winning the governorship sit from the onset. In the last elections, we however saw something to highlight, Mr Uduaghan ran for the elections for the Delta South Senatorial seat under the APC. This came as a surprise to me because he joined the fold of his former political competitors like Great Ovedje Ogboru and Ovie Omo-Agege. This is the present day scene with James Ibori returning from the UK back to Delta State but keeping a low profile.
In my thoughts, I'm trying to draw the connection between his loyalty to James Ibori, who we thought was his political god father and even to the PDP, the party he had been with for so long and occupied several positions with in the past. As we constantly note, politics is a game of interests and these can change anytime.
However even with Emmanuel Uduaghan joining forces with the APC, the PDP was able to win the governorship seat and Governor Ifeanyi Okowa retaining his seat. I won't fail to note that, on that particular election, James Ibori must have played his own roles in the background even though Emmanuel Uduaghan's allegiance was now with the APC. Going forward, we are aware that the two major figures in the South South now are, James Ibori and Goodluck Jonathan. With the recent results in the Bayelsa elections and the roles Good luck Jonathan played, it is clear that his affiliations with the APC has grown stronger. With a large number of people following with decamping from the PDP into the APC, we must note the relevance of His influence. Also noting the likes of Emmanuel Uduaghan, Ayeri Emami and some others who have also declared their allegiance to the APC, it is clear that the only person still strongly affiliated to the PDP is James Ibori.
If going by these figures now in the APC, is the South South going to be swept into the APC fold as the next elections get close? This kind of question arises because we understand the roles and influence these key figures always play in elections due to their mass use of financial and political standings in the society. Is James Ibori the Last PDP Patron in the South South? if the answer is Yes, this totally means the PDP may be played out of relevance in the elections to come as their foundational structures seem to be tilting towards the ideology of the progressives. Let's have a conversation below and tell me what you think of James Ibori being the last man standing in the PDP South South.
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