By Hon. (Chief) Evance Ochuko Ivwurie
The push from certain Okpe advocacy groups for Senator Ede Dafinone’s re-election in 2027, despite a lack of effective performance and service to the people of Delta Central Senatorial District, seems to be a call for the continuation of mediocrity and failure.
The heart of their argument rests on Dafinone being promoted to ranking senator, with the assumption that this newfound influence and power will somehow make up for his lackluster representation. Yet, his poor track record raises serious questions about his ability to deliver real results, no matter what title he holds.
While this advancement might give Dafinone a boost in his career, it’s hard to see how it will actually help Delta Central. What the district truly needs are leaders who can spark real change and genuinely serve the community—qualities that have been noticeably missing during Dafinone’s time in office.
When we examine Ede Dafinone’s performance in the Senate over these past two years, a crucial question arises: can we truly trust that he’ll improve in the future? Assessing his past actions is essential to determining whether he can follow through on his promises and meet the expectations that come with a more significant role and added responsibilities as ranking Senator.
Senator Ede Dafinone has proposed nine bills and 11 motions in the Senate, but none of these have been followed to passage into laws through effective lobby. These bills therefore remain just paper files left in Senate records. More intriguing is the senate bill for the establishment of a Federal University of Education, Isiokolo and later another bill for an Act to establish the Federal University of Agriculture Technology, Orerokpe. These two bills clearly represent diffuse and conflicting interests in one senatorial district and a legislative overreach which of course could not travel the distance to passage because they were handled with sloth and lethargy.
It is this sloth and lethargy that has characterized Ede’s performance in the Senate these past two years. It appears evidently that the senator was just going through the motions of writing bills to fulfill obligations of office in the senate without following through on the work required for their passage.
So the advocacy for his return to the senate becomes an apologia for failure of a politician who could not build networks among his peers to see his work done. Dafinone has been unable to stamp his presence in the senate through organized thoughts, productive lobby and noteworthy achievements. The senator has been recessive and unable to build interpersonal relationships among his peers for democratic dividends to his people.
These are the reasons why Ede Dafinone has so far been unable to create affection and positive impression on his voting public in the Delta Central constituency, but he has two years to make amends and reverse these evident failures and make himself re-electable for 2027.
Unfortunately he is not doing that but instead soliciting for pressure groups to plead his cause for re-election based entirely on the arcane arguments that his re-election and elevation to the status of a ranking member of the Senate will be good for Urhobo land. These arguments reinforce failure and plead the cause of non-performance as justification for re-election. This will not be acceptable to an electorate growing in awareness in the face of competitive electoral choices.
If ranking is the key consideration for reelecting a senator, then Ughelli North/Ughelli South/Udu and Ethiope Federal Constituencies boast capable candidates among current and former federal legislators who could potentially become a ranking senator.
The writing of his supporter, Ufuoma Egbo is quite telling in its plaintive entreaties to explain away Ede’s failures and refusing to plead performance as a basis and guarantor for re-election of senator Ede Dafinone. To Ufuoma Egbo, the Urhobo should be made to accept Ede Dafinone because they have a need for a ranking senator no matter the performance and also because he is Okpe and Okpe needs the justice of completing two tenures just like Ughelli/ Udu just did with Ovie Omo-Agege.
Dafinone should also be returned as senator in order for him as a ranking senator, to be able to chair better committees and secure appointments and development projects, not only for Okpe but for the entire Urhobo. Such self-serving arguments never answer the important question: the Senate office you occupy now, how effective has been your service to Urhobo people to warrant giving you another higher office?
It’s glaring that the imbalance in representation is unjust, with Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and Senator Ede Dafinone both hailing from Okpe in the same federal constituency, which represents only two out of nine local governments in the Senatorial District. Ufuoma Egbo’s concerns highlight the need for Urhobo people in the other areas, particularly those in Ughelli North, Ughelli South, Udu, and the Ethiope Federal Constituencies, to scrutinize this anomaly and demand fairness in representation.
Ufuoma Egbo in his essay 2027: Why The Urhobo Nation Must Root For A Ranking Senator” says: “Senator Ede Dafinone has done well in his first two years in the Senate”. “Let us unite behind a clear, strategic agenda. Support equity. Support continuity. Support Okpe to produce the first ranking senator from their axis in this current democratic dispensation.”
Egbo therefore makes a call to Urhobo to unite and return a senator because of tribal obligations to equity as distinct from distinguished service to the senatorial district.
This is a dimwitted plot to blackmail the Urhobo and benefit a non performing tribesman politician, an argument to serve a lazy and non-performing politician.
Over the past two years, Ede Dafinone has struggled to transcend the ordinary and provide leadership and direction as the highest-ranking elected federal politician in Urhobo land. Despite his privileged upbringing and education, he has failed to inspire and guide his people, who elected him based on his distinguished ancestry, good breeding, and youthful energy.
Notably, he has not emulated his father David Omueya Dafinone’s exemplary Senate performance in the Second Republic, marked by knowledgeable contributions, equanimity, and solution-driven discourse. It’s regrettable that the younger Dafinone, also an accountant, has been unable to match his father’s influential presence in the Senate, instead appearing tame and tepid in comparison.
To re-elect Ede Dafinone to the Senate solely for the purpose of advancing his ranking position, despite his lackluster performance, would validate Gabriel Igbenedion’s assertion that poor performance in office is rewarded with re-election. In contrast, his father, David Dafinone, made a lasting impact in just one term, earning national acclaim and re-election. So too was Omo-Agege, the only other Urhobo senator to be re-elected. Ede Dafinone’s constituents should consider whether they want to reward underperformance or demand accountability and effective representation.
Advocates of second tenure for Dafinone should adjust their expectations to his underwhelming performance, rather than seeking higher Senate rankings that won’t improve his representation. Significantly, despite serving as Vice Chairman of the Local Content Committee, Dafinone was overlooked for the chairmanship when the incumbent was removed. Instead, a junior colleague in the Committee, Senator Joel Onowakpo-Thomas, was elevated to the position. This snub highlights Dafinone’s ineffectiveness. Given that many first-term senators, Onowakpo-Thomas included, have secured committee chairmanships, it’s clear that Dafinone’s ranking wouldn’t necessarily translate to better representation for Urhobo.
Nobody is going to lower performance standards to give Ede Dafinone a pass key for re-election. Let his work speak for him.
Evance Ivwurie, a former Member, DSHA and former Commissioner for Special Duties, writes from Abraka.
