BEVERLY HILLS, April 12, (THEWILL) – An industrialist and former Minister of State for Education, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi, has called on the political class in Delta State to ensure the Urhobos of the Delta Central Senatorial district produced the next Governor in line with a 1999 zoning arrangement.
Gbagi made the call at the weekend while on a familiarisation visit to his kinsmen, the Urhobos in Bayelsa State, to solicit for their support ahead of the forthcoming governorship election in Delta State.
According to him, though he contested the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) primaries in 1999 that produced Chief James Ibori as the party’s candidate, he had stood with the party to continue to build and strengthen the party in the state.
He noted that as the main advocate of the zoning arrangement that saw the emergence of Ibori, his kinsman from the Central Senatorial District, as Governor, Uduaghan from Delta South and now Okowa from Delta North Senatorial District, it was only natural that the governorship position should now return to the Urhobos.
The former Minister who urged the Urhobos to continue to pray and support Okowa to finish well and very strong as Governor, maintained that Okowa was a very shrewd politician who knew the contributions of the Urhobos towards his emergence as Governor and that he owed them a duty to return the governorship to the Urhobos
Gbagi, while calling on the Urhobos to ensure that they actualised the agreement on the rotation of the governorship seat to the Central Senatorial zone, advised them against being influenced by politicians to mortgage their future and that of generations yet unborn by collecting money during the party primaries.
He lauded the Governor for the monumental transformation going on in the state.
Gbagi promised to sustain the legacies of Okowa if elected as Governor.
He said: “Remember, I was the main advocate of Okowa to be Governor. So we did that, Ibori finished his tenure, Uduaghan took over; and now Okowa has taken over.
“It is turn but turn, we started with Urhobo, we went to the South and we went to the North. By natural act of God, it is coming back to us now. What I want you people to do is to continue to pray for Okowa to finish well and stronger.
“Okowa is a very wise politician. Okowa knows and was a party to how we started. If I have written up to 200 articles why everybody should let Okowa continue his first tenure and second term because we have an agreement, he owes Urhobos a duty. Whilst that duty is sacrosanct, you owe yourselves a duty to actualize that promise or agreement as it was reached.”
Early in his welcome remarks, the President of the Urhobo Progressive Union (UPU), Bayelsa chapter, Chief Charles Oruru, expressed joy on the visit of Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi, whom he described as an astute industrialist and politicians who impacted the lives of Deltans across board.
Oruru assured Gbagi of the unalloyed support of the Urhobos living in Bayelsa State to ensure that he emerged as the governor of Delta State come 2023.
Also speaking, the Okobaro 1 of Urhobo in Bayelsa, HRM King Joshua Aweyu, commended Gbagi for remembering and considering the 15,000 numerical voting strength of the Urhobo that supported the victory of their host state Governor, Senator Douye Diri.
He said that Urhobos in Bayelsa were set to replicate the feat for their bonafide governorship candidate.
Aweyu said: “We have done it before during the 2019 governorship election and We are determined to do the same for our son come 2023.”
Another UPU chieftain Alfred Tafri described Olorogun Kenneth as an industrialist, business mogul and employer of labour who had impacted on the lives of many Urhobos in his chain of businesses and when elected as Governor would transform the state with infrastructure and human capital development.
He said: “Gbagi has all that it takes to develop Delta State and needs the support of all the senatorial districts to actualise his ambition. Urhobos must support one of their own.
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