It has been said and agreed that the originating essence of politics is deceit. To put it bluntly, others see the idea of politics as being about lies. But this has not always been the case. There are politicians who do not lie or if at all do so minimally due to circumstances beyond their control. These are not just politicians, but statesmen and there are not too many of their kind. There are others who see politics as a game of deceit that instigates them to tell lies and win the heart of the people only to disappoint them later. These are the opposites of statesmen. They lack principles and will sell their souls to get into the chambers of power. Anything goes for them. The Delta State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege is one of such politicians who have come to embrace the political engagement with lies and deceit as the ultimate ideal in the quest for power. To Omo-Agege all is fair no matter whose ox is gored not minding scruples and reputation. This is what he has always done and this again is what he is deploying in his desperate but absolutely failed attempt to be governor of Delta State in 2023.
Somebody drew the attention of a small group to what Omo-Agege said and did around 2014 when he was questing to be governor. He gave a lecture at Ughelli Kingdom Hall and made a strong case for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and swore allegiance to then President Goodluck Jonathan assuring him that he, Omo-Agege, will lead the Delta State PDP to an overwhelming victory and that he will make sure that the APC will not get up to 25% of the votes cast in Delta State. Omo-Agege sounded like the political superman of Delta State. But he suffered a clinical defeat in the governorship primary election that took place a few months later. He then ran away from the PDP he promised to lead to victory and begged Chief Great Ogboru to accommodate him in the Labour Party. Immediately after he became a senator through Ogboru’s influence, Omo-Agege granted an interview where he described the PDP as an ATM for stealing government funds and said terrible things about the PDP that gave him political life. That was the same Omo-Agege whose only source of wealth was from a PDP-led government. It was just after that interview that he joined the APC which he had abused and castigated a little earlier that he will not allow to get 25% of votes cast in Delta. These are the lies, deceit and circus manifestation that has defined the politics of Omo-Agege.
A scrutiny of Omo-Agege’s sojourn in the Senate, contrary to what he is making the unsuspecting public to believe, will reveal a lot of deceit and failed promises. The Orhomoru-Orogun polytechnic he is now rushing to build was more or less like a dying block industry until other senators who knew that he had pocketed N100 billion threatened to drag him to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before he ran back to site. The other projects he claimed to have brought to Delta Central which are all in his Orogun clan are either failed projects or just on paper. The street lights he claimed as his projects are actually those of federal government agencies charged with rural development. The federal roads in Delta Central which are under his watch have all failed. He has also promised the good people of Aboh a federal university when he knows fully well that the federal government will not build three federal universities in one state. With the exception of Delta State no other state in Nigeria has two federal universities. Yet, Omo-Agege for cheap political points is promising another federal university in Delta State after stealing the federal polytechnic meant for Aboh and took it to his tiny Orhomurur-Orogun.
As the campaigns take shape and the election period draws near Omo-Agege like the old fake medicine seller is at it again telling lies and making promises he knows he cannot fulfill. He has become the gbogboloshe medicine seller who claims ability to cure every ailment. Omo-Agege is all about town casting aspersions on the incumbent Governor of Delta State and vice presidential candidate of the PDP, His Excellency, Senator Arthur Okowa and the Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly and the Delta State PDP governorship candidate, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori. Omo-Agege is falsely accusing Governor Okowa of poor performance and borrowing. It suits him to blind his eyes to the massive transformation and giant strides recorded in Delta State in all aspects of development. The only thing wrong in Delta State are federal roads which Omo-Agege’s APC-led government failed to fix. Governor Okowa, more than any other governor in Nigeria, has done so much to improve human capital in all ramifications.
The time has come again for Omo-Agege to lie and promise Deltans the moon. Hearing him mount campaign stands and splutter is like watching a poorly organized circus show. He has promised to build a world class hospital for Gbokoda. He promised an international airport for Osubi. He promised to make DESOPADEC functional. He promised to make sure that the Ijaw, Itsekiri, Isoko, etc are not marginalized. He promised seaports. He promised to return night life to Warri. But can a man who took money for fifty development projects in his clan and refused till date to execute such projects do these things he claims he would do? Can a man who took all the major projects of an entire senatorial district made up of 24 clans to just a small corner of the clan he comes from bring development to Delta State? He promised to pamper Burutu. He has been promising and promising. He is telling the people what he wants them to hear. Being a poor imitator, he said Warri has become the poverty capital of Nigeria the way the World Bank declared Nigeria under Omo-Agege’s APC-led government the poverty capital of the world.
He has also assembled a handful of uncritical and disgruntled pretenders to intellectual calling who help to amplify his empty and badly rendered wishes. They joined him in this cocktail of lies and absurd circus show. To make matters worse, all his leading cheer leaders, Tuoyo Omatsuli, Ayiri Emami, Omeni Sobotie, Godsday Orubebe, Bernard Okumagba, Friday Osanebi, including Omo-Agege, all were once members of the PDP and left PDP for same reason of failing to achieve self aggrandisement plus denial of opportunities to so do. This is a real circus. But Deltans are not amused because it is badly and poorly organized.
Olorogun Olori Magege writes from Asaba, Delta State
