Tompolo’s ally among Deputy Governors in South-South

Oshiomhole’s deputy is an ex-federal lawmaker Dr Pius Egberanmwen Odubu is the deputy governor of Edo State. Dr Odubu, who has been a politician since 1999, hails from Urhomehe in Urhonigbe North Ward, Orhionmwon Local Governrnent Area (LGA) of Edo State. He attended St. Pius Primary School, Urhomehe before proceeding to Immaculate Conception College, Benin […]

Oshiomhole’s deputy is an ex-federal lawmaker
Dr Pius Egberanmwen Odubu is the deputy governor of Edo State. Dr Odubu, who has been a politician since 1999, hails from Urhomehe in Urhonigbe North Ward, Orhionmwon Local Governrnent Area (LGA) of Edo State. He attended St. Pius Primary School, Urhomehe before proceeding to Immaculate Conception College, Benin City, where he was a recipient of an academic scholarship award from the then Benin Area Joint Board.
After his secondary education, he proceeded to the United States of America (USA) in 1977 at the age of 19 to further his educational pursuit. While in the US, he attended Philandersmith College, Little Rock Arkansas; Southern University, Baton Rouge Louisiana; Southern University School of Law, Baton Rouge Louisiana; Georgetown University Law Centre, Washington D.C.
He holds a B.A. (Hons) in Political Science, Doctor of Jurisprudence Degree in Law, Master of Law in International and Comparative Law.
He returned to Nigeria in 1985 and went straight to the Nigeria Law School, Lagos and was called to the Nigerian Bar in October 1986.
After being called to bar in October 1986, Dr Odubu engaged in a private legal practice in Benin City up to 1999 when he won an election into the Federal House of Representatives to represent Orhionmwon/Uhumwode Federal Constituency of Edo State. He won again in 2003.
During his first tenure, he was a member of the following House Committees: Appropriation, Federal Capital Territory and Labour. He was a Sub-Committee Chairman in all three committees. In his second time, he was a member of the following committees: Works, Marine Transport, Commerce, Navy, Anti-Corruption and Public Account.
The two-times member of the House of Representatives on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) left for the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2007 after losing the PDP ticket.
In 2007, he ran with Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as his running mate for the governorship ticket. Since then, he has been a loyal the deputy governor. But his loyalty will be put to test later this year when the APC conducts his primary election for the 2016 governorship poll. Political analysts say he has an eye on the governorship ticket but may not get the blessing of his boss since the governor has never handed over power to him whenever he travels out of the state.

In Rivers, Deputy Governor is for women and Kalabari
Dr Ipalibo Banigo, who is the deputy governor of Rivers  State, is a grandmother. She was born on December 20, 1952 to the Harry family of Obuama in Degema LGA. Dr Banigo attended Queens College, Yaba, Lagos between 1964 and 1968. She returned to the same institution from 1969 to 1970 for higher school. She obtained division one in her West African School Certificate Examination in 1968 and distinction in the higher school result in 1970. She attended University of Ibadan College of Medicine, where she obtained the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), making her to become a qualified Medical Doctor in June 1976.
Dr Banigo was in Harvard University School of Public Health and obtained a master of public health degree in June 1981. She also attended the University of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where she obtained Post Graduate Diploma in Tropical Hygiene in 1990. She also obtained a Diploma in Dermatology in July 1992 from London University.
She worked in various health institutions such as a Senior Medical Officer in charge of Port Health Services between July 1, 1981 and December 31, 1984. She was appointed Honorary Consultant Dermatologist, University Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt.
She was an acting Commissioner for Health and Social Welfare between December 1996 and June 1997. She was a former Director General, Rivers State Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. Eventually, she became permanent secretary in the ministry on April 2, 1998.
She served as Rivers State’s Head of Service from May to October 1998. She served as the Secretary to the Rivers State Government from October 5, 1995 to July 5, 1999. She also served as Executive Director, National Primary Healthcare Development Agency and later the secretary to the board of the agency.
Her choice, our correspondent gathered, was to appease the Kalabari part of the State, who had been agitating for power shift from the Upland to the Riverine part. The Kalabari elites had been at the fore front of the agitation that power must rotate from the Upland to the Riverine. The Kalabari leaders had argued that since former Governor Rotimi Amaechi hails from the same senatorial district with Wike and of Ikwerre ethnic nationality with him, it was in the interest of justice, fairness and equity to allow other ethnic bloc from the State to produce the next governor. Some of the elders from Kalabari ethnic nationality before the governorship election gave the PDP and former President Goodluck Jonathan seven days ultimatum to withdraw the PDP ticket from Wike or lose a greater percentage of Kalabari votes to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 election.
So, her choice was not only seen as a move to please the Kalabari region where she comes from, but also a strategic plan by the PDP to get the sympathy of a teeming population of Rivers’ women who saw Banigo as their own ambassador.

In Cross River, Professor queues behind Professor
Professor Ivara Esu, who is the deputy governor of Cross River State, is a one-time Minister of State, Culture from 2006 to 2007.
The former Vice Chancellor of University of Calabar is a Professor of Agriculture. Pundits see him as a political strategist and silent technocrat. The quiet academic is a loyal deputy to the governor, Professor Ben Ayade, who is almost half his age.
Professor Esu was born on May 3, 1951 in Agwagune, Biase LGA. The soil scientist has always been a university teacher and administrator.
He started his basic education at Presbyterian Primary School, Itigidi, from1957 to 1963.  He continued his education at Presbyterian Secondary Grammar School, in Ugep from 1968 to 1969.  He also attended the famous Mary Knoll College, Ogoja, 1970; University of Ife, 1970 to 1974; University of Minnesota St. Paul, USA, 1976 to 1978; Ahmadu Bello University, 1978 to 1982; and College of Soil Physics, International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy, 1983.
Professor Esu started his career as Assistant Farm Manager in Malumfashi, Katsina State, where he did his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). Thereafter, he was engaged as Assistant Lecturer, Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna, 1975 to 1976; Lecturer, Kaduna Polytechnic, 1978 to 1984; and Lecturer, Ahmadu Bello University, 1984 to 1992.
His political journey began when he accepted to serve as Commissioner for Agriculture, Water Resources and Rural Development in Cross River State between 1992 and 1993. Thereafter, he moved back to the ivory tower as Reader at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria between 1993 and 1994.
He was a Professor of Soil Science, University of Calabar, 1994; Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Calabar, 1995 to 1998; Deputy Vice Chancellor, 1998 to 2000; Vice Chancellor, University of Calabar, 2000 to 2005.
Before he became a running mate and deputy to Professor Ayade, he was Chairman of the Governing Board, Federal Medical Centre, Owerri.
He is married to Omotunde. The marriage is blessed with many children.  He has so far published 67 books, articles and commissioned reports.

Bayelsa deputy governor is a war ship designer
Retired Rear Admiral John Gboribiogha Jonah, who is the deputy governor of Bayelsa state, is believed to have been nominated to serve as Dickson’s running mate by former President Goodluck Jonathan to appease the Nembe people after former governor Timipre Sylva was prevented from getting a second term ticket from the PDP.
The retired naval chief had never participated in politics before he was asked to serve as Dickson’s running mate. He became deputy governor from February 14, 2012. He has been a loyal deputy governor.
Pundits say the deputy governor cannot be said to be a political tactician, but rather an “establishment man” who is too “straight forward to be a politician”.
He is said to have brought the culture of military precision and discipline into office as deputy governor as he keeps to the scheduled time at any events, especially when he is presiding.
Retired Rear Admiral Jonah was born on March 6, 1954 at Nembe in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. He attended St. Luke’s Primary School Nembe, 1959 to 1965 and Nembe National Grammar School Nembe, 1969 to 1973 before joining the Nigeria Defence Academy Course 16 in June 1974 as a Naval Cadet. He passed out of the Academy in December 1975 as the best Naval Cadet and was awarded the silver medal. He later proceeded to the Britannia Royal College, Dartmouth in England, where he did the Internal Midshipman Course 1976/77 and passed out in first class (Academics). He was commissioned in July 1977. He, then, went to the National Engineering College India to study Naval Engineering from1977 to 1980 and later specialized in Marine Engineering between 1981 and 1982 at the same establishment.
He served as the Engineer Officer of Nigeria Naval Ships. He was also part of the Nigerian Navy Engineering Team that took part in the construction of the Mines counter measures Vessel Squadron in Italy. The Admiral later pioneered the local construction of the history-making ship by the Nigerian Navy which has since been commissioned into the service as Nigerian Naval Ship ANDONI.
Retired Rear Admiral Jonah was, thus, the first Nigerian Navy Engineer Officer to have successfully conceptualized and managed the construction of a war ship locally in Nigeria. He has also been a teacher.
The Admiral’s last appointment before retiring from a distinguished service to the nation in June 2010 was the Commandant National Defence College, Abuja.
He was awarded Distinguished Service Star (DSS) in 2001. He is a member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers. He has the Nigerian national honour of Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON). He was also the President of the International Association of Peace Training Centres 2008/09. His hobbies include; sailing and reading. He is married to Seleipre (nee Bonnie). They have 5 children (Opuene, Aboye, Tonye, Daukoru and Lelegite).

Tompolo’s ally is Delta’s deputy governor
Barr. Kingsley Burutu Otuaro is the deputy governor of Delta State. He hails from Ogbe-Ijoh-Warri Kingdom.
One year after his graduation from the university, he was elected Chairman of Okerenkoko Federated Community in Gbaramatu Kingdom in 2000.
His six years’ tenure as chairman of the Ijaw community ushered in peace among the riverine communities, especially between his Ijaw ethnic people and other ethnic groups like the Itsekiris, Urhobos and Ukwuanis, culminating in the resolution of the protracted Warri communal crises.
Around this period, Barr. Otuaro, Dr. Bello Oboko and Chief Government Ekemukpolo (aka Tompolo) among others, pioneered the formation of the Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities (FNDIC), a pan-Ijaw pressure group.
FNDIC became the umbrella platform for non-violent and peaceful negotiations for Ijaw ethnic nationality under the leadership of the trio, Dr. Oboko (National President), Barr. Otuaro (National Secretary) and Tompolo (National Mobilisation Officer).
Barr. Otuaro’s commitment to peaceful coexistence among the various ethnic groups in the riverine, endeared him to former Governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori, who appointed him as Special Assistant on Community Affairs in 2007.
When the immediate past governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan took over in 2007, he appointed him as a member of Delta State Technical Support Committee, with Prof. Sam Oyovbaire as Chairman.
Dr. Uduaghan later elevated him as Chairman of Delta State Rehabilitation Committee for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
As chairman of the committee for IDPs arising from the Military Joint Task Force’s bombardment of Niger Delta Militants Camps in 2009, his committee acted as mediator and forerunner for the eventual disarmament of militants in the Niger Delta.
In Uduaghan’s second tenure from 2011, the governor appointed Barr. Otuaro into the Board of the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Commission (DESOPADEC) as Commissioner representing the Ijaw Ethnic Nationality.
He was reappointed by Governor Uduaghan  in 2012 in the same capacity and continued after the Board was reconstituted in 2014. This same year, he bagged Masters Degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Ibadan.
His principal, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa recently assigned to him the task of communal conflicts resolution and peace building across the state.
Recently, he brokered truce between the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) and aggrieved president generals of host communities.
Barr. Kingsley Burutu Otuaro was born in Oporoza town, Gbaramatu Kingdom of Warri South West local government area on April 16, 1968.
His father hailed from Obotebe in Burutu local government, while his mother was a native of Okerenkoko in Warri South West LGA.
He went to Asoro Primary School, Benin City (1980). He started his secondary education at Immaculate  Conception College, Benin City and finished at Isaba Grammar School, between 1981 and 1985.
He worked with Nigeria Dredging and Marine, Warri as a Deck-Hand in the Marine Department before he gained admission to Edo State University, now Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma to read Law.
He graduated with an LLB Hons. Degree in 1999/2000 session, but was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2005.

Akwa Ibom dep gov was once VOA, BBC correspondent
Chief Moses Frank Ekpo is the deputy governor of Akwa Ibom State, who was drafted by the PDP leaders to stabilise the Udom Emmanuel administration.
Chief Moses Ekpo, who is from humble background, was born in December 22, 1941 into the royal house of Ekpo Ukwak and a devout Christian parent, Deacon Frank Ekpo Ukwak of Obiodo Village, and Madam Maggi Umoh Akpan of Uruk Uso Village, Abak Local Government Area.
He began his primary education at Government School, Abak where he obtained First School leaving certificate before proceeding to the prestigious Holy Family College, Abak for his secondary education.
He later proceeded to the London Polytechnic, UK and later the prestigious University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA and the World Intellectual Property Organisation Academy (WIPO) Geneva, Switzerland.
Moses Ekpo holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communication and WIPO Academy Diploma as well as certificate of the United States Patent Academy in addition to strings of certificates and diplomas garnered from many International workshops and seminars.
He worked as Nigeria’s Deputy High Commissioner to Britain; pioneer Commissioner for Information in Akwa Ibom State, Director General, Nigeria Copy Rights Commission, member, Governing Council of Akwa Ibom State University and later Board member, National Population Commission (NPC).
As a reporter with the defunct Daily and Sunday Express Newspaper in the ancient coal city of Enugu, where he cut his teeth in journalism, Moses Ekpo’s devotion to duty, hard work and humility  earned his rise in the profession. He joined the West Africa Pilot and served in the management and senior editorial positions in the Morning Post, from where he moved to the Eastern Nigeria Broadcasting Service as Editor. Later, he became the country correspondent of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Deutcsche Welle (Voice of Germany) and the Voice of America (VOA).
He also had a brief stint with the Nigeria Chronicle as its pioneer Editor and later rose to become the Sole Administrator of the Cross Rivers Publishing Corporation, publishers of the Nigerian Chronicle.
His incisive and analytical features, commentaries and objective reporting are what distinguished him as a journalist who earns the respect of practitioners and the reading public.
His foray into the political life was not without blessings and exploits. Moses Ekpo’s sense of partnership in political life also explains his very cordial and peaceful relationship with major stakeholders of the ruling PDP in Abak, like the  member representing Abak in the State House of Assembly, the Local Government chairman and the Commissioner for Information and Communications.
During his diplomatic practice in London, Chief Moses Ekpo was flamboyant in dressing, witty in speech and reasoning.