PROFESSOR UYANWANNE.Dr Ifeanyi Okowa – one of many aspirants from Delta North and a stock of Ika North East LGA, Senator (Dr.) Ifeanyi Okowa, a medical doctor cum politician is probably the biggest casualty in this chase-game of political permutations. There are so many odds against Okowa’s candidacy. Firstly, his list of enemies continues to grow by the day, particularly in his LGA because of his desperate, selfish and dastard schemes. The idea of grabbing everything, including political offices meant for distribution across his LGA has placed him at daggers-arm with other leaders. Only recently, he used the LGA Party Chairman – Chief Godwin Ogadi (his crony) to thwart the decision reached by the Leaders of Ika North East LGA that every leader should produce the counsellorship candidates in their Wards for the forthcoming LGA elections. This type of scheming can only increase his enmity base and would almost certainly edge him further away from actualising his gubernatorial ambition.
Two, Okowa has not been able to convincingly refute or address the allegation of harbouring a killer squad across the state. The murder of the young Author Agbe, the un-explained deaths of Mr Uzorka (a young aspiring politician), Mr Buzugbe (the former LGA Council Chairman) and the sudden death of former LGA woman Leader -Mrs Nwanneri, the attempted assassination of Sunny Okonye (whom Okowa allegedly bribed to disappear from the scene), are just a few of the many cases pinned to Okowa’s killer squad – operating with guns, witchcraft and poisons. This is bad news for a man who wants to occupy the highest and exalted position of a Governor. And now instead of producing convincing evidence to clear his name, Okowa has instituted a laughable twenty billion Naira (N20B) litigation against a poor man whose son he allegedly murdered in broad-day light.
Thirdly, most Deltans are insisting that Okowa had the opportunity of becoming the Governor of Delta state in 2007 when he went into PDP primaries with aspirants from other senatorial districts. But as a re-run primary election was being scheduled, he shocked everyone, especially the people of Delta North who were overtly behind his candidature, when he cheaply gave up the fight. This was at a time countless number of people, including the other defeated aspirants were backing him for a re-run primary election, but he rather secretly entered into a deal to become Secretary to the State Government (SSG); a decision that is still haunting him till date. He was paid with the appointment as Secretary to the State Government (SSG) at the expense of Delta North. And that was when his Governorship ambition died.
A majority of Deltans interviewed believe it is in the best of interest of Delta State that Okowa is not selected to fly the PDP kite. The story making the rounds is that Okowa and another controversial son of Ika Nation-Dr Cairo Ojougboh (a former member of the House of Reps) are bitter enemies and choosing any of them to rule Delta State will be tantamount to putting fire in a gun powder that would engulf the entire State. Both Dr Cairo Ojougboh and Dr Ifeanyi Okowa (medical doctors), are in a strict political rivalry that could explode into a full blown war, and put the entire region in a state of anarchy, should any of them become Governor. This is probably why the presidency rejected the overture by Chief E.K Clark (Cairo’s godfather) that Ojougboh should be considered as the PDP flag bearer. He was discouraged ab-initio from going into the race.
Even as the rumour broke out that Tony Obuh (from Delta North) may be the candidate of PDP, Okowa and his group quickly asserted that Governor Uduaghan will be defeated in the field if he chooses to support a novice like Obuh as PDP flag bearer. They are insisting that Okowa is the most senior politician in the state and is therefore the rightful person to fly the PDP flag. “When you talk of Delta North, you talk of the indomitable Okowability,” they are quoted as saying. Okowa has personally bragged to his confidants that if Uduaghan imposes Obuh, he will make Delta State ungovernable and ensure that the opposition wins. Analysts are now worried that if Okowa is not crowned as the PDP candidate in the primaries, Delta may be edging toward a looming disaster, because he indeed has a formidable killer squad that could actually carry out his instructions to the letter. Our investigations have revealed that Okowa has a small dedicated team of internet warriors making a lot of noise in the internet. Going by the noise in the internet, it would appear that Okowa is the most viable candidate, but the reality on the ground tells a different story. This is probably why a majority of Deltans are celebrating the wisdom of Uduaghan in choosing level headed and non-controversial persons. It is generally perceived that if someone like Okowa becomes Governor, Delta State will become a killing field because of his unforgiving spirit, and Deltans will never forgive Uduaghan and Jonathan. Training terror gangs for political gains as Okowa has been doing for years, is the most absurd thing any political leader could embark on, because at the end of the day, these hoodlums become uncontrollable, and ultimately pose major security challenges to society. This was how BOKO HARAM was breaded.
STRENGTH – Quite polite, he has the disposition of a good fellow and has used this deceitful posture to draw a lot of people to his side. He is also blessed with the skills to keep his supporters together.
WEAKNESS – Very vengeful, he has an unforgiving spirit, harbours bitterness and seems very uncomfortable with great guys.
VERDICT –He is confirmed as a very violent man: Destined to lose both the Governorship and Senatorial positions.
