It was a sweet victory for the Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, on Monday.
Okowa beat his closest rival in the contest, Chief Great Ogboru of the Labour Party, and Olorogun O’tega Emerhor of the All Progressives Congress, who came third.
Okowa polled 724,680 to defeat Ogboru, who scored 130,028 votes, and Emerhor, who garnered 67,825 votes.
Out of the 25 Local Government Areas in the state, Okowa won in 21, leaving four to Ogboru.
Since December 8, last year when Okowa emerged as the governorship candidate of his party, Ogboru and Emerhor have engaged him in fierce battle over who succeeds Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan.
Monday’s victory however confirmed that Delta State is a PDP-controlled state, having delivered over 1.2 million votes to President Goodluck Jonathan on March 28 and then going ahead to win the governorship election.
Besides Okowa, PDP candidates across the state have won over 25 out of the 29 constituency seats in the state House of Assembly.
The jubilation that erupted across the state, especially among PDP supporters, after Okowa was pronounced as the winner of the election, also confirmed that he is a pan-Deltan man.
In preparation for the return of the country to democratic rule in 1998, Okowa, who pitched his tent with the Peoples Democratic Party, coordinated the Grassroots Democratic Movement for Chief James Onanefe Ibori, a former Governor of the state.
Owing to his unbroken service as the council chairman of Ika North-East Local Government Area of the state and later Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Water Resources Development, Health, under Ibori, he was appointed by Governor Uduaghan as the Secretary to the State Government in 2007, a position he held until 2011 when he resigned and picked the party’s ticket for the Delta North Senatorial District race to replace Senator Patrick Osakwe, who spent 12 years in the Senate.
As the outgoing Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, he is viewed in Abuja and across the three senatorial districts of Delta State as someone who has a clinical understanding of the state.
Prior to his appointment as SSG by Governor Uduaghan, he contested the 2007 governorship election in the state but out of loyalty to his party, agreed to step-down for the incumbent governor when he was to engage him in a run-off, having been prevailed upon by his boss, Ibori, and other well-meaning Deltans.
His “prosperity for all Deltans” campaign however paid off on Monday when he was declared the winner of the governorship contest in Delta State, having polled the highest vote count.
Before Okowa was declared winner by the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Aniedi Ikiowak, the total valid votes in the election were put at 931,808, rejected votes at 24,913 and total votes cast at 956,721.
Meanwhile, the Director of Media and Publicity of the Okowa Campaign Organization, Hon. Funkekeme Solomon, described Okowa’s victory as ‘expected”.
According to Solomon, Okowa is generally acceptable to Deltans.
He said he had carved a niche for himself in the surprises that are associated with partisan politics in the state.
He urged Ogboru and Emerhor to take a cue from President Goodluck Jonathan who conceded defeat and congratulated the President-Elect, Geneal Muhammadu Buhari, after he was defeated during the presidential race, assuring them that his principal would run an all-inclusive government.
But Ogboru has since rejected the results and the declaration of Okowa as the winner of the contest, alleging fraud.
This is the fourth time Ogboru will contest governorship race in the state and lose.
Between 2003 and now, he has contested three times.
His political career started in 2003 when he slugged it out with former Governor Ibori, who was then seeking re-election.
He dragged Ibori to the Election Petition Tribunal, having cried foul over what he termed the fraud that characterized the exercise.
He refused to accept defeat until his petition was committed into the dustbin at the Court of Appeal in Benin, Edo State, two years after.
Ogboru took up the challenge up against Ibori’s successor, the incumbent Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan in 2007.
Immediately the Independent National Electoral Commission, chaired by Prof. Maurice Iwu, declared Uduaghan as the winner of the contest, Ogboru fiercely raced to court.
The profound manner in which pursued the case to the Court of Appeal in Benin saw to the ousting of Governor Uduaghan from office on November 9, 2010 when the court declared a rerun election within 90 days.
He soon lost again when the rerun was conducted on January 10, 2011.
He vied again for the governorship seat during the April 24, 2011 general elections when Governor Uduaghan was seeking re-erection.
It was not until last year that the Supreme Court in Abuja threw out his case that Ogboru stopped laying claim to victory.
He has lost again.
He has threatened legal fireworks.
Meanwhile, an highly elated Okowa has since dedicated his victory to God.
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