The Delta State Governor, Senator (Dr.) Ifeanyi Okowa, has revealed his links with former governors, Chief James Ibori, and his predecessor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan. In an interview with VANGUARD, Okowa speaking on how he became close to Ibori, said: ” I think he found in me, somebody that is ready to work very hard at every point in time. Everything I want to do, without trying to praise myself, I think I am always very committed to it, right from my youth. I know I was very committed in the campaigns through the GDM. When we came to the PDP, I was very committed. However, one thing too, he also saw in me somebody who will fight injustice at every point in time. The thing was showing at the beginning of PDP when he had already promised that he would make me Deputy Governor then.
“However, I just found that some people are oppressing others in my constituency, they could not speak their minds and people could not rise up to contest. They wanted to anoint people and I rose up against that and when the party did its manoeuvring, I turned my back and said no, you cannot do this, and that was what led to the emergence of people like Nduka Irabor. Because they did not give him a chance to come in and I felt he was a strong character and someone that could represent us, in that process of fighting the authorities then, it became an issue. Therefore, he (Ibori) saw in me someone with a very strong character. So I think that warmed us up because at every point in time, I always offered him the truth and told him what I thought was right and when things went wrong, others may speak politically, but I will speak based on the facts.”
On his relationship with Uduaghan, Okowa said, “Generally, people want to cause disaffection between people, but as far as I am concerned, he was my friend when he was commissioner, he was my friend when he was Governor and I was SSG and when I was in Senate and he was Governor, we remained friends. We remain friends despite whatever that may have taken place in the cause of the primaries, we remain friends but that was all politics and until today, we remain friends. Many people that they will call “his men” are in government, because I do not know whom they call his men because I am one of his men. He was my Governor and I was the SSG, so I do not know how close you can be to somebody. As Secretary, beyond the fact that we are family friends, I was Secretary to the Government of Delta State and when I went to the Senate, he was supportive of my cause in the Senate.
“We only disagreed going into the primaries and thereafter we agreed, we worked together to move on. We relate very well, we talk to each other but he has not been essentially very much around, so you cannot see him all around me but when you look at the government, you will see his key men. They may not be directly commissioners but they are also playing special roles as Special Advisers handling one post, because commissioner-ship cannot be about one person continuing to hold the office. If somebody has stayed eight years in his own cabinet, if you begin to recycle that same person all through it becomes a problem. However, I do not really know what they want to see. Today, his younger brother is in my cabinet, I am sure you are aware of that, his younger brother is in my cabinet as a commissioner.”
