By Charles Okogene
Okowa (r) and Ibori when the going was good
If fillers at the disposal of newdawnngr are anything to go by, then, there are strong indications that former Governor of Delta State, Chief James Onanefe Ibori, have begun pulling all strings within his powers to get a presidential pardon from the Federal government.
Ibori, who governed Delta State at the same time President TInubu was at the helm of affairs in Lagos, our source said, is using that link to penetrate the new president whom he was in good terms with even after they all left office in 2007.
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Ibori we also gathered had secretly worked for TInubu/APC during the electioneering campaign, especially, after his preferred candidate for Felta State Governorship, David Edevebi, was denied the opportunity to fly the ticket of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
Though, he never openly did that then or resigned from the PDP neither did he openly support the party or attend any of PDP’s campaigns but his body language spoke much as to where he truly belonged.
Although, his daughter, Hon Erhiatake, who was more than two times member of Delta State House of Assembly (DSHA), won her election to represent the good people of Ethiope Federal Constituency in the Green Chambers, the whole of Delta Central, which Oghara where Ibori hails from is a part of, fell for APC during the senatorial election. Ede Dafinone of APC is representing the district at the current 10th Senate, an indication of what Ibori did. Delta Central was solidly behind APC then despite the fact that their son, Honourable Sheriff Oborevwori, who was then the sitting speaker of the state House of Assembly and who is now the current governor was as at last March, gunning for the number one citizen of the state.
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Ibori was also conspicuously present in Port Harcourt when TInubu as the president-elect was invited to Rivers State by Nyesome Wike, the immediate past governor of the oil rich Rivers State, to inaugurate some iconic projects he completed.
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Again, the former governor who spent time in the UK prison was one of the South/South political leaders that visited TInubu in Aso Rock, less than two weeks after he took over from President Muhammadu Buhari, thus making observers wonder what an ex-convict is doing among ‘saints’ in Presidential Villa.
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Though, Ibori is yet to defect to APC, the same source told us that he seems to be calling the shots as he is said to have been assured of the opportunity to nominate people for political office appointment.
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This they claim is so because the last governorship candidate for the state on APC’s platform, Senator Ovie Omoagege, is currently at logger heads with the party’s leaders in the state.
From the look of things and all things being equal, Ibori, the once rejected stone will bounce back to be the chief cornerstone in Delta State.
