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By Olorogun (Dr) Eric Sajini
The endorsement of Chief David Edevbie, frontline 2023 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Delta State governorship aspirant, by the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) on Saturday was not only a masterstroke of focused engagement, but a testimony to the essence of the UPU being the bulwark of Urhobo interest. The endorsement has also been widely acclaimed and celebrated as the right and wise thing to do. The UPU was formed to advance Urhobo interest and right from inception, Urhobo political advancement was one of such interests. The UPU in endorsing one of her sons whose credentials, character, competence and capacity approximate global standards has done well for the Urhobo and the entire Delta State.
Unfortunately, despite the wide approbation that greeted Edevbie’s endorsement by the UPU, a few dissident voices have spoken in condemnation of the noble and courageous act. Our intention here is not to join issues with the dissenting voices, but to enlighten them by setting the records straight regarding the necessity and desirability of the UPU endorsement of David Edevbie. We are in a democracy and people are expected to hold and air divergent views. What matters ultimately is a consensus arising from an aggregation of similar and superior views.
In responding to the few dissenting voices we must state that we are aware that spoilers and mischief makers are at work to disable the Urhobo opportunity of producing the Governor of Delta State come 2023. We advise these fellows, some of them Urhobo sons and daughters, to do a rethink and look inwards enomaso and retrace and realign their steps in line with the direction the UPU is charting. They should think Urhobo and put the interest of the Urhobo nation above their personal preferences. The UPU is our umbrella body and she alone should point in the direction we should go.
We intend to engage the issues raised by the dissenters even though they hold no water when put to the test of practical logic and history. Our intention is to enlighten them and enlist all Urhobo in the struggle for 2023. One of the untenable singsongs of the naysayers is that the UPU is not a political party. They claim that the UPU is a socio-cultural organization which should not be involved in politics. This claim is unfortunate, ignorant and untrue. The UPU was formed to project and protect Urhobo interest and what could be more serious than politics in aggregating Urhobo interest? When Chief Mukoro Mowoe, the father of Urhobo nationalism, won election and make history as the first person to represent the Warri Province in the defunct Western Region House of Assembly in 1947, it was the UPU that prodded and propped him. After Mowoe’s death in 1948, his successor Chief Jessa Ogboru was also galvanized to success by the UPU.
UPU leaders like Chief S. J. Mariere, Chief T. E. A. Salubi, Chief Daniel Okumagba, Dr. Fred Esiri, Chief Felix Ibru and many others were deeply involved in the politics of the First and Second Republics. Although, some of them belonged to different political parties, the injunction then was go and deliver on Urhobo interest. And they always delivered. We are therefore wondering where this cheap and untenable talk about UPU not getting involved in politics is coming from.
When the Urhobo chance of producing the first Governor of Delta State was threatened in 1991/1992, it was the UPU that rallied Urhobo and most of Delta State behind Chief Felix Ibru who then defeated Professor Eric Agume Opia. That was UPU projecting and protecting Urhobo interest. At the moment, our opportunity is being threatened by one of our ethnic neighbours and we need the intervention by the UPU to steer us in the stormy days and months ahead as the UPU did in time past.
There is also the facile submission that previous UPU endorsements failed to yield the desired result. This is untrue and unsustainable argument when contextualized. The previous endorsements they point at were those of 2006 and 2014. If those endorsements didn’t work, it was because the political understanding and arrangement in the overall interest of Delta State didn’t concur for the Urhobo to produce the Governor then. We must therefore look at the context of previous endorsements vis a vis the present. The present endorsement is coming on the heels and reality of the turn of Delta Central to produce the Governor of Delta State.
Besides the UPU, are there other socio-cultural organizations in Nigeria? The answer is yes! Besides the UPU, do other socio-cultural organizations endorse candidates for political offices? The answer is a loud yes!! For record purpose, what became the Action Group (AG) in the First Republic began as Egbe Omo Oduduwa a socio-cultural organization founded in 1945. The same can be said of the Northern Peoples’ Congress (NPC) which began as Jamiyaar Mutanem Arewa in 1948 as a socio-cultural organization. Both groups played significant roles in the First Republic.
Coming to contemporary Nigerian politics, the Afenifere which is the Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organization had need to not only get involved in the Alliance for Democracy (AD) then the dominant party in the South-West, but also endorse Chie Olu Falae in 1998 as her preferred presidential candidate. The Afenifere has never shied away from the political interest of the Yoruba. What about the Ohaneze Ndigbo, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and our brothers the Ijaw National Congress (INC)? They have all been deeply involved to project and protect the political interest of their people.
We enjoin the few dissenting voices and agitators to ponder over their stance and return to the direction charted by the UPU. Chief David Edevbie has what it takes to be Governor and even President of Nigeria. The point should be made that the present endorsement is on the platform of the PDP. The UPU has declared that she will engage and endorse Urhobo aspirants in other political parties as well. This is just fair and creating a level playing ground for our sons and daughters. Let us rally round the UPU in the best interest of the Urhobo nation. We have no other rallying point other than the UPU.
Urhobo wadoooo!!!
