Delta Guber 2015: Tony Obuh, a tasteless joke taken too far

Politics

Tony Obuh and Uduaghan

Barr. JESUTEGA ONOKPASA

Recent political developments in Delta constitute a most unpalatable cocktail of impudence and insolence which leave a sour taste in the mouth. The ambition of Tony Obuh to become Governor of Delta State is a tasteless joke taken too far. Tony Obuh is not one of us and has never been one of us. We are nevertheless a party that welcomes new comers and in that context Tony Obuh may become one of us as long as he does so according to our rules. What he is not entitled to do is to be opportunistic in a manner that amounts to political parasitism.

There are those of us who have paid our dues to the party with little or nothing to show for it. We have remained loyal and will continue to be loyal. We are neither hungry men nor hustlers and it is our sense of principle that continues to power our loyalty to our party. An outsider wishing to join our ranks is welcome but he must take his proper place, pay his dues and not seek to become our master overnight. By the grace of Almighty God, it will not happen.

If those projecting Tony Obuh think that this is 2007, they are sourly mistaken. By 2007, our amiable Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, CON, had already been both a Commissioner and an SSG for a period of approximately eight years. Governor Uduaghan had thus paid his dues, truly become one of us, emerged as a leader in our midst and acquired the requisite background to become our Governor, a role he has played to the delight of many of us who, though having been loyal to our party, have not benefitted like the likes of complete outsiders like Tony Obuh.

Delta State is not some backwater enclave that a Tony Obuh will emerge from nowhere and bestride like the colossus he should be aspiring to become rather than the one he has been deceived into believing he already is. With due respect to our brother and friend, Tony Obuh, he may have made his mark in the civil service but in the politics of Delta, he has just been enrolled as a student. Tony Obuh has never been a member of our party, the People’s Democratic Party, PDP and cannot arise overnight to lord it over us in Delta. Indeed, he is a complete outsider and a total stranger to our party. We are not slaves in Delta and will not succumb to an outsider.

If Tony Obuh were to emerge as our flag bearer for the Governorship of Delta, it would have the effect of infusing the party with unprecedented acrimony, disunity, factionalisation, division, and bad blood. It would constitute an infernally untoward invasion with the consequence of entirely destroying our party and compromising our ability to deliver our President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR. Delivering Mr. President come 2015 is our inescapable mandate and we shall not endanger it simply because a freeloader has emerged from nowhere, hungry to reap where he didn’t sow. Tony Obuh cannot and will not capture our state more so when the riotous crowd promoting him is being led by a man of questionable loyalty to President Jonathan.

Those dropping the names of our leader, Governor James Ibori should desist forthwith. We invite them to come to their senses and discard their infantile obsession with Tony Obuh. If they fail to tow the part of reason, Deltans will write them off as political jobbers and daily bread politicians not to be taken seriously. It is certainly not at a time at which we are all praying earnestly for our beloved Ibori to be reunited with us that political school boys should be dropping his name in a fresh and infernal controversy as the sponsor of a political neophyte like Tony Obuh. They should leave our leader alone.

Those claiming to be ‘Ibori’s first son’ can run their mouths. We are Ibori’s brothers and if anyone may speak for him we should be the ones doing the talking. Governor James Ibori has not and will not endorse Tony Obuh as our next Governor.

Those dropping the name of our amiable and performing Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, CON, should immediately comport themselves or they will be politically humiliated. Our Governor has not endorsed anyone and if and when he does, it cannot be a stranger like Tony Obuh.

If we want to concede the Governorship to Delta North and treat our Anioma brothers and sisters as our flesh and blood – which they ancestrally are – we must be honest about it. The people of Delta North are one with us. One way or the other, we mostly hail from Benin. At any rate we are all bona fide citizens of our dear state and entitled to be treated equally under Divine Law, Natural Law and the Constitution. The man who discriminates against his brother, discriminates against himself. The one who treats his brother as a slave is himself a slave, for a freeborn cannot have a slave as brother or sister.

We cannot be talking of power shift and talking of Tony Obuh in one breath. Tony Obuh cannot fly and introducing him into the equation of power-shift amounts to deceiving our brethren from Delta North. We know those from Delta North who have paid their dues in the politics of Delta and can go to Delta Central and Delta South and be accorded a red carpet reception anytime, any day. They are pan-Deltan leaders who feel right at home amongst us and we are proud of them. They have been part of our political family even before 1999.

Throwing up Tony Obuh amounts to discriminating against the people of Delta North and treating them as second-class citizens in a state they are equal stakeholders in. It is only if we didn’t intend to concede the Governorship to them in the first place and have been deceiving them all along that we would field a Tony Obuh who probably does not even know his ward. Thankfully, the rabblerousing crowd seeking to force this outsider down our throats are neither elders nor leaders of note in our party. We have nothing personal against our brother, Tony Obuh. Nevertheless, he must get it loud and clear that he is a newcomer and will not become our boss overnight.

Presenting Tony Obuh as our candidate would amount to an unconscionable insult on the entire political class. It would have the effect of telling the whole world that no member of our political class is mature enough to take over from Dr. Uduaghan. THAT IS A VERY BIG LIE AND WE REFUTE IT WITHOUT FEAR OF CONTRADICTION.

If Tony Obuh will not behave himself, show respect for the party hierarchy, prove his loyalty to party elders, pay his dues to the party rank and file, earn his place within our party, follow due process in becoming a leader in our midst, and wait for his turn, he will be put in his proper place politically. We demand that he immediately stops using our party logo in his infuriating advertorials and call on the party leadership to call him to order.

If he insists on ruling over us without our permission as the political schoolboy he is, no problem. He must however seek his ambition under the APC or some other obscure political party. As of now, there is no place for him in the PDP to fly our flag.

We are not slaves in Delta. We are Urhobo, Ijaw, Itsekiri, Isoko, Ika, Ndokwa, Aniocha and Oshimili. Indeed, we are DELTA UNITED AGAINST TONY OBUH, and Tony Obuh WILL NOT BE OUR GOVERNOR. Case Closed

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *