For Ibori, charity begins at Oghara

Chief James Ibori has, since he left political office as governor of Delta State in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, been facing troubles in and out of the country. In the United Kingdom, he and his associates are facing charges bordering on allegations of money laundering. In Delta State where he was chief executive […]

Chief James Ibori has, since he left political office as governor of Delta State in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, been facing troubles in and out of the country. In the United Kingdom, he and his associates are facing charges bordering on allegations of money laundering. In Delta State where he was chief executive from 1999 to 2007, he was acquitted of the same charges in a controversial ruling that has perhaps smeared the image of the judiciary.  His critics, including a chieftain of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Edwin Clark, have accused Chief Ibori in several ways of allegedly looting Delta State blind and executing no meaningful projects.

But this reporter’s visit to Oghara, the country home of Chief Ibori, revealed a different image of this politician.  For anyone who has travelled from Asaba to the Southern part of Delta State, the major towns on the way to Benin include Sapele and Warri. But, the Chief Ibori administration has added Oghara, a village which used to be easily forgotten on a journey to these towns, to the distance markers on the way to other exciting communities on this route. This reporter, on a trip to the village to do this story, encountered a young man who had not travelled that way in close to a decade. “Is this really Oghara?,” he wondered repeatedly. “No, I can’t believe it. It cannot be Oghara which used to be a sleepy and remote village. It has been transformed into a beautiful city. This is unbelievable!”

The young man who gave his name as Dan Oghenekevbe, told this reporter that he is a banker in Lagos and had visited Oghara for the first time in many years. In the past, he terminated his trip to Delta State in Asaba, the state’s capital city, or in Benin, the capital city of another neighbouring Niger Delta State.

Those who have not visited the town for years, or those visiting it for the very first time, could easily take Oghara for Warri.  Asaba, the state capital, is not comparable to Oghara in terms of development.  It could not be ascertained if the funds that went into the development of Oghara were budgeted for in Delta state’s appropriation Acts since 1999, but the impact of the development is so overwhelming that his critics say Ibori may have diverted close to half of the state’s revenue to develop his village.

The first unusual sight that confronts the first visitor to the little known community is the dualised road that plies through Oghara. The well-paved road with drainage facilities, belies the state of underdevelopment in many towns and communities in Delta State. Then, there are the street lights that beautify the village and gives night time in Oghara the semblance of daylight. The electricity poles are  well arranged on the dualized road, such that when electricity is switched on the whole town is illuminated.

Another striking landmark in Oghara is a modern stadium where scores of international tournaments have been held in recent times. The huge, magnificient stadium hits the first time visitor as he turns from the main express road towards Oghara. Rubbing shoulders with the stadium is another site of a expansive swimming pool, an unusual culture in this (previously) rural setting.  However, upon inspection by this reporter, it was discovered that the  swimming pool was hosting some insects, rodentsand reptiles who play games in and around the arena because it has  been overgrown with weeds.

Other institutions that have been attracted to Oghara because of Chief Ibori’s governorship include Delta State Polytechnic, the Nigerian Navy logistics headquarters, an Electoral College set up there by the country’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and  the 51 squadron of the Mobile unit of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).

During the dispensation of Chief Ibori as governor, he ensured that a campus of the State-owned university is located in his Oghara village. The university was called Western Niger Delta University. Beside the fact that it adds colour to the community, the university has a world-class teaching hospital which is equipped with modern facilities. These modern facilities have made Oghara a town that provides such essential services for education and healthcare facilities to the people in and around the Niger Delta region.

Chief Ibori has attracted private concerns in the communications and manufacturing sectors to Oghara. There are Presco Plc, J. K. Rubber Industries Limited, Cybernetics and a host of other industries in this community. There is also a booster station of the Africa Independent Television (AIT) and Zain telecommunication Plc in Oghara. For these, people have flooded the town and commercial activities are picking up in the once sleepy village of yester-years.

The streets of Oghara are laced with international hotels and resorts, like Amena hotels, the Lord’s Vineyard, Hotel Enor Splendor, Oghara hotel, Frank Raleigh Hotel, and others. Apart from these hotels, there are cosy pubs where workers go to cool-off after the day’s job. Snack bars are restaurants also abound everywhere in Oghara, though they are expensive for such a community. But they provide the tastes obtainable in cities like Lagos and Abuja.

Oghara kingdom is ruled by His Royal Highness (HRH) Oreki II, the Ovie of  Oghara. Oghara has two sub-clans namely: Ogharefe and Oghareki. Under these two clans are sub-communities and villages. The kingship, as it were, is shared between the two sub-clans.

The 78-year-old monarch hails from Oghareki and was crowned on September 1, 1979. Oghara is one of the three kingdoms that form the Ethiope-West Local Government Area of Delta State. Its sister kingdoms include Idjerhe and Mosogar. The kingdom is ruled through a body known and called Oguedion. The Oguedion is the council of chiefs and elders and there is an Oguedion in every clan. That is Ogharefe Oguedion council and Oghareki Oguedion council. Oghara has a population close to a million. Their main occupations are farming, fishing and transportation. There is, however, a growing population of politicians, civil servants and businessmen, with the current development projects cornered to Oghara by Chief Ibori.

History has it that Oghara was derided for being host to all kinds of criminal, especially those who used cutlasses to waylay rubber merchants and other traders, robbing them of their money and other valuables. But that was many years ago. Today, Ibori has re-branded Oghara into a developing, progressive, modern society. They are no longer known for crimes.

In Oghara, there are no traffic jams and no traffic light either to control the road users, but the traffic flows like river. Commercial motorcyclists a bus drivers and commuters maintain discipline on the roads. Fleet of buses and bikes ply the roads, but there were no record of frequent accidents. The buses, painted in white colour upon blue, are owned by government and the fare is affordable.

In Oghara, Ibori’s name rings a bell.  The Ovie and his chiefs, old and young, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, sing his praises regularly for “remembering home”. To the people of Oghara, Ibori is the light with which they see far and near. He is the water that quenches their thirst.

Hon Benson Roland Igbakpa, Deputy majority leader, Delta State House of Assembly, simply described Ibori as a God-sent leader, a colossus and a political icon whom all Oghara indigenes will not forget.

 Igbakpa showered praises on Ibori for his foresight and vision to attract the myriads of projects now serving as catalysts for the rapid development of the town. The deputy majority leader’s refrain was “we love Ibori for not neglecting his home as many would have done.”

In staunch defence of Ibori’s deluge of projects in Oghara, he retorted thus: “Would you be in government and abandon your home?” He went further to ask anyone who cares. “In any case, what is in Oghara that is not found in other places let me tell you my brother. If every person can develop his or her place as Ibori did,  I assure you, every part of Delta State would become Mecca for all and sundry.”

According to him, the critics of Chief Ibori are enemies of progress.  Mr. Tony Elueno, Ibori’s media consultant and Hon. Austine Awoletum, leader of the legislative arms, Ethiope West council, agree with Ikpakpa. They said Ibori has done nothing unusual in his place to give his “enemies” a sleepless night.  Awoletume argued that if Ibori had done nothing for his people within eight years, the same people would have called him names.

But Chief Ibori’s opponents condemn him for being biased, saying, he was “planting all the trees in one farm.” But there are many Nigerian politicians facing allegations of fraud, in spite of the fact that they  did not execute developmental projects in their country homes.