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Sheriff Oborevwori is the governor of Delta State. In this interview monitored on Arise TV, he speaks on his achievements in three years, why the President’s reforms and programmes are working very well in Delta State. The governor explains why his priority is to deliver President Bola Tinubu in 2027, stressing that the exit of former Senate Deputy President, Ovie Omo-Agege, is not a threat to the All Progressives Congress (APC), among others. JOY ANIGBOGU brings the excerpts:
Three years into your administration, you have repeatedly said that you have gone without borrowing a single kobo. Can you tell Deltans what it is that you have actually done, so that they can actually fact-check or verify by themselves?
When we came in, it was a bit tough. But, you know, we have to start planning in line with the MORE agenda, which stands for Meaningful Development, Opportunities for All, Realistic Reforms, and Enhanced Peace and Security. And I’ve told Deltans, I will listen to them. In economics, you have a scale of preference. I look at what the people actually want, and what is more important for them, and we look at infrastructure.
Some of the roads are roads that people thought were impossible. For instance, the Effurun roundabout, the TSE roundabout, the PTI junction are some of the projects. When you pass through that place, going to Port Harcourt, people spend like three hours there. And they said it’s a federal project. But the question I keep asking is: Who are the users? Deltans are the ones using the place more than others.
There’s no local government in Delta State that we have not touched in terms of road projects. We are also doing that in the education sector. We have built new campuses. We have built a technical college. We are building hostels. There are a lot of things we are doing in the state owned universities. Delta is the only state in Nigeria that owns four universities, fully funded. In secondary school education, we’re doing a lot and we have a lot of secondary schools in Delta State. We’re also doing very well in the health sector.
Now, these three years, what has been your hardest moment going into these key development areas in Delta State?
Well, I didn’t talk about security. Without security, there’s no development. It’s tough because in Delta State, we have different ethnic nationalities. To be able to manage them, you must have to be neutral. You must carry everybody along. So, when you say the hardest moment, it is how to manage the people.
So, managing the people is the hardest…
Managing ethnic nationalities is a very hard time for me. It’s tough, but I’m doing that and the people have trust in me. That’s why I said, I’m a governor, who listens to all. I’m a governor for all.
We recently saw police officers killing civilians through jungle justice. We’ve seen senior officers being redeployed to other states, and obviously, we’ve also seen stories of gang raping in Delta State. How are you handling all of these?
Let’s talk about the issue of police brutality. You can see the action that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) took. That also helped us. The people were arrested and they have been dismissed and charged to court. You can see the action and it did not only stop at that, several officers have been transferred from the state. The rank and file; over 1,000 have been transferred from the state.
What else do you want the IGP to do again? He has done what is necessary and what they needed to do. They are trying to sanitise the police, so I think the police have done very well on that aspect. On the issue of what they call rape festival and all that; we condemed it and we took action.
The traditional rulers also took action; the DPO took action. People were arrested immediately. The police stepped in immediately. In just less than a few hours, over 10 persons were arrested, and they were charged to court. The police here are proactive. The security agencies are proactive. That’s why you see the success we’re having here.
Former Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, has just joined the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), announcing that he will team up with Peter Obi and contest the Delta Central senatorial election. His exit alongside Victor Oche’s signals a growing opposition in Delta State as we speak. Are you concerned and how strong is the APC in the state?
I will not use the word pretentious because we saw it coming. Before he left, all his people had left over three months ago. So, we all are aware and that was why he was not serious in the contest for tickets during the primaries because he never consulted anybody. He never consulted me. He never consulted leaders of the party.
APC is a big party and even as a governor, I met with people to say, I want to go back for a second tenure but he never did that. I did that and that’s why nobody even indicated interest to contest with me, because we believe in the zoning arrangement in the state and it is the turn of Delta Central. So, Omo-Agege is not a threat.
Again, the man who has the ticket for our party is a gentleman and he has a good reputation. Ede Dafinone is a big name in Urhobo land because his father was a senator, and he has contributed to the development of Delta State. So, that legacy is there. We did a free and fair primaries and Omo-Agege lost. It’s for him to embrace the winner because the process was transparent.
I’m a democrat but we were aware that he wanted to leave. It’s only some people who didn’t know that he wanted to leave. He’s not somebody to be trusted. I don’t like talking about people, but I need to state it here, Omo-Agege came into politics in 2002 with nothing. This state made him but he fought those who made him.
Who made him?
Chief James Ibori made him. He betrayed Chief Ogboru Ogboru. He betrayed O’tega Emerhor. So, if you say he wants to betray me, it’s not a threat, because we are doing well as a state. What would make people support your party is what you are doing. In terms of infrastructure, we are doing well. In terms of security, we are doing our best. So, you must have something to campaign with.
On Ochei, he is my friend. He came and told me that he’s leaving. He’s in a different party. I don’t want to speak on that. I will speak about my party. When the time comes for a campaign, we will campaign. But he’s sure that the people love me and they will also show it to my party. So, that is in that aspect and should not be a threat to us.
You know that Peter Obi is the presidential candidate of the NDC and Ochei as well as Omo-Agege would be contesting senatorial election on the platform of the NDC. With the duo in another party, what are your chances in the governorship election, and are you confident that the people of Delta State will vote for President Bola Tinubu?
First and foremost, the Igbo community in Delta State did that in 2023, they never did it during my own election and we are on the same page. I’ve told them to vote for a party this time. This time, they will not vote for candidates, they will vote for parties. Because of the love they have for me, I have that confidence they will vote for the APC.
There are two factors responsible for what happened the other time – the Christian community and the Igbo – the non-indigenes. But I’ve been able to manage them because we are working together with the non-indigenes in the interest of the state and I also believe that what happened that time will not happen again.
Also, the religious leaders, before I moved into the APC, we notified them to pray for us. You cannot pray and curse. They have prayed and when the time comes for election, we will still go back to them and say: Fathers of faith, when I moved to the other time, you prayed for us to succeed. Pray again for us to be victorious. So, I don’t think it will be stressful this time.
So, prayer is your strategy…
I’m an Elder in the church and I believe there’s nothing God cannot do. My duty is to talk to our people; to deliver Mr. President and other candidates of the party.
You don’t think the NDC is a threat?
I don’t think any party is a threat to the APC in Delta State.
You were returned unopposed as the APC governorship candidate with 345,000 votes. But your own Delta Central backyard is heating up at this moment with your brothers holding forth. One of Delta’s greatest, Chief Ogboru, has emerged as the African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate and there’s Peter Mrakpor, who is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) standard bearer. How do you hope to manage this fight?
I don’t see any fight. I was born and raised here and I live with the people. Sometimes when they say a man with street credibility or a man who is street smart; I am all of them. These people you’re talking about; I know them. Ogboru is my elder brother. I have respect for him. He knows that coming to the contest at this time, nobody from Delta South or Delta North will vote for him because we’ve agreed that when power moves from Delta Central, it will go to Delta South.
We have established rotation of the governorship in the state. So, the governorship contest is not an issue. We should talk about how to deliver the President, not the issue of governorship. The people have seen what I’ve done in Delta State without borrowing, so the governorship contest would be an easy one for me and my party.
I was the speaker of the state House of Assembly but I defeated the Senate deputy president (Omo-Agege) that had everything in the 2023 election. He was able to get just four local government areas, while I got 21, but now, I’m a sitting governor of Delta State. I’m a free man; all my elections, I always go to the field. So, it’s not an issue. What I’m begging people to do is vote for President Bola Tinubu.
That’s my number one project because that project is bigger than any other project, so that the burden I’m carrying will be light for me. I’m carrying a lot of burden as a governor. People are just depending on the state. So, by the time we deliver we’ll be able to at least export some people to the national level, I will have a voice because the report card that I will show will give the state a lot of opportunities for appointment.
Are you saying that you are confident that Delta Central votes are yours?
The votes of Delta Central! That somebody will come and take them? To where? To which place? I don’t know where they will take them. Look, some of them, they do social media but I talk less. Do you see me granting interviews? The projects I have to commission, if I start commissioning them every week, I will not be able to finish them before the election because there are too many things that we have done.
You haven’t spoken since Delta became an APC state. Delta has always been a PDP state but you are now saying that you want to deliver President Tinubu. Can you tell Deltans why and how you would achieve that?
Among the candidates that have emerged; President Tinubu is the only one who has affiliation to Delta State. People don’t even know that he is an in-law here. So, it will be evil to vote against your in-law. It’s a family affair. In the South-South and particularly in Delta State, the people are saying that President Tinubu is their own.
The people were deceived in 2023 but they can’t deceive them again. The First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has affiliation to Isekiri. So no Isekiri person will vote against Tinubu. No Urhobo man wants to vote against Tinubu because their son is governor and they are stakeholders.
We have leaders in Delta North and Delta South. Even the Isoko, they will not. So, we’re very sure. The confidence we have is the people we have. The President’s reforms and programmes are working very well in Delta State. I don’t know of other places but I’m telling you about Delta State.
Sometimes, when I do commissioning of projects and I tell people that we have money, the question they usually ask is: Where is the money coming from? It’s all about the reforms. If the reforms are not working, we won’t get more money to execute our projects. So, for any contract we are giving out, the money is already there and for the first time in the history of this state, no contractor is being owed.
We don’t owe any contractor. I beat my chest to say that. We don’t wait for allocation to pay contractors. We don’t do a cash budget on a monthly basis. No. We decide to take it. In one week, we pay. As it comes, we pay. As the job is going on, we pay, and the impact is trickling down. If other people are not speaking, I’m just saying it.
So, I have confidence in my people because anywhere I go to commission projects, I tell the people that money is coming in though it’s our right as the highest oil producing state. That motivates them to continue to do their work. We mobilise contractors with 40 per cent. We want to work, so that we can get the reward in our state and those rewards will come. They are not far.