Democracy, at least, to me, is all about trust; the electorate decides whom to trust with positions of authority, hence those who are holding such positions see themselves as messengers, servants, representatives of the people depending on individual’s perception or view.
In Delta State, there is relative peace because the people believe that they made the right choice by electing Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, former Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, their Governor, and an educationist and tax czar, Sir Monday Onyeme, as his Deputy.
With such confidence, democracy is running smoothly in the state, with all arms of government ( the Legislature, Executive and the Judiciary) playing the roles expected of them without significant hitches.
All over the world, having a trusted and dependable deputy is quite important; this is because, without a trusted deputy, the governor will be very uncomfortable and will always want to watch his back at all times – he will be afraid. That is why Rt. Hon. Oborevwori can comfortably do what he is doing – travel to any part of the country and beyond because he has a reliable deputy in the person of Sir Monday Onyeme, FCA.
On several occasions, the governor has come out openly to proudly describe Onyeme as “my reliable, dependable and very loyal Deputy Governor.” To some pundits, the governor’s statement was initially seen as political but few days ago, he made it quite clear by his action, that he has implicit confidence and trust in his deputy; he made it obvious that he and his deputy are on the same page, working for the good of Deltans.
To drive home his conviction in this regard, Governor Oborevwori wrote to the Delta State House of Assembly (DTHA) seeking permission to go on annual leave, during which period, his Deputy, Sir Monday Onyeme, will sit in as the Acting Governor.
The letter reads, “I bring warm greetings to the Right Honourable Speaker and the members of the Delta State House of Assembly and inform the Honourable House, that I would be proceeding on two weeks vacation leave from Monday, 7th October 2024.
“In accordance with Section 190 of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, His Excellency, Chief (Sir) Monday Onyeme, the Deputy Governor of Delta State, shall perform the duties of my office as Acting Governor during the period of the leave.
“I will greatly appreciate if the foregoing is placed before the Honourable House for their information.
“Please, accept the assurance of my high regard and best wishes for you and the Honourable members of the House.”
In most states of the country, such an action is rare; even at the Presidential level, it is very, very rare to hear about the President transmitting power to the Vice President for a period of time, may be simply to avoid a situation where they may have to eventually lament, “et tu Brute?” Yes! “also you, Brutus?” In the famous William Shakespeare’s ( real name Francis Bacon) work, Julius Caesar, where the issue of power play was prominent, Brutus was seen by Julius Caesar as his most loyal follower, but it was Brutus who stabbed him (Caesar) on his back when the issue of power tussle came up.
To most analysts, Julius Caesar was too tough to have died from such wound from the sword of Brutus but when he turned to see who stabbed him, realising that Brutus was behind him, the shock of seeing Brutus with the sword dripping with blood must have caused him a heart attack, leading to his eventual death.
So, trust, which begets loyalty, is everything in politics. When President Bola Tinubu was the Governor of Lagos State and he was at daggers drawn with his Deputy, Sen. Kofoworola Akerele-Bucknor, one politician, advised that ‘as a politician, let your loyalty not be in doubt.’
In Delta, one can feel the breath of fresh air as the people are happy with the government which is delivering on the MORE Agenda.
Being Acting Governor, certainly is not an easy job,; on the first day in office as the Acting Governor of Delta State, (that was on Monday, October 7, 2024), Sir Monday Onyeme, FCA, had a full dose of engagement by commencing work from the Government House Chapel at 8 am and at 9 am, he inaugurated the Commission of Inquiry for the Boundary Disputes and Communal Clashes in Ogwashi-Uku Kingdom. As he was completing that inauguration, he moved straight to Emmanuel the Saviour’ s Catholic Church, Asaba, for Thanksgiving Mass for the opening of the 2024/2025 Legal Year in the state and from the Church, he moved straight to the Delta State High Court Complex for a Special Court session to mark the commencement of the Legal Year.
At the Special Court session, the Acting Governor said, “as a government, we have put premium on maintaining a free and independent Judiciary and it is pertinent to mention that Delta State is one of the first states in the Federation to pass the Judiciary (Financial) Autonomy Law, which was passed into Law under the watch of our Governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori as the then Speaker of the State House of Assembly, and since then, the state has ensured that the Law is fully implemented.
He added, “We have also, taken necessary steps to ensure that our judges and other personnel involved in the dispensation of justice, operate in conducive and enabling environments by providing necessary tools and infrastructures that befit and complement the functionality of their offices.
“All those involved – the Bar, the Bench, and the security agencies – must see to it that the wheel of justice runs smoothly and in a timely fashion. Let us bear in mind that justice delayed is justice denied.
“We should always be conscious that our society can only be great when the rule of law prevails, and it is my earnest expectation that we put our hands on this deck to make things work as they should.
“I pray that God will grant you the enablement to discharge your responsibilities as Ministers in the Temple of Justice, without fear or favour.”
As someone who is working closely with the Deputy Governor, we were at the High Court sitting patiently, waiting for the Judges and Lawyers to complete their rituals, and it took hours, but one attribute of a good journalist, is patience and if your Boss, the Acting Governor, could sit all through, paying attention to the proceedings, who are you to complain? So, we were there, taking our notes when news filtered in that the Minister for Women Affairs and Social Development, Hon. Uju Kennedy Ohanenye, had arrived Asaba and would be paying a courtesy visit on the Acting Governor by 4 pm.
As at 4 pm, the special court session was still on and when it eventually ended, we moved straight to the Delta State Government House for the courtesy call by the Honourable Minister who, again, took time to explain why she was in the state.
It was,indeed, a busy day, but no one can take away the fact that God has endowed the Acting Governor with knowledge; so, at each of the events, he represented the state and her people diligently; again, God also gave him a lot of stamina as the Acting Governor Onyeme can work all day and into the night and the next morning, and still be the first person to wake up, at dawn, to the extent that those who stayed with him will be wondering if he slept at all.
His civil service background must have prepared him for the role he is playing now in the state as he can treat files till late in the night if time did not permit such during the day. Ordinarily, the man is a workaholic; so, his becoming an Acting Governor means more work and that is what he is doing.
Few days ago, he went for an on-the-spot assessment of the Nnebisi road, Dennis Osadebay Way, Ibusa road and other internal roads within the Delta State Capital City that have been damaged as a result of heavy trucks making use of them following the collapse of sections of the Asaba end of the Benin-Onitsha Expressway, a Federal Government road.
The Acting Governor walked and personally saw the damaged portions of the roads and also inspected the failed portions of the Benin-Onitsha Expressway where he heaved a sigh of relief that the Federal Government had finally heard the cry of the people and moved in to remedy the situation.
During the inspection of the roads, the Acting Governor told Journalists in an interview that, “as you can see, we have gone round the entire length of Nnebisi road and Dennis Osadebay Way and we have inspected the failed portions of the road, including the areas that are failing on the Ibusa/Asaba road towards the Koka Interchange.
“Fortunately, some measures to remedy the bad spot where a truck fell on two smaller vehicles is ongoing; we have also, taken note of the other failed sports and our technical team will do their paper work and we will return to those sites as fast as possible to ensure that those bad spots are fixed.
“These roads have been there for us over the years, and I think the contractors who executed the projects did a good job. The problem, as I learnt from my technical team, is that these our internal road network were not meant for certain class of vehicles, but because we have failures on the Federal road which were nor attended to on time, commuters resorted to using our internal roads and the pressure on these our internal road has caused some portions to fail as we have witnessed, but we are on top of the situation, and we are going to make sure that we repair all the failed portions of the roads within Asaba.
“We also thank God that today we passed through the major failed portions of the expressway, and we saw that the Federal Government has listened to the cry of the people and has mobilized workers to work on the road.
“We asked the constructor some questions and he promised that within a week or thereabout, the first lane will be remedied and they will move to the other lane, and after the rainy season, they will come back to site to do proper work.
“So, we thank the Federal Government for responding because, fixing the federal road will reduce pressure on our internal roads; so, I am happy that within the next few days, the problem associated with the failed portions of the road will become a thing of the past.”
The days ahead will be more busy for the Acting Governor and his experience has also, buttressed the point that Deltans did well by choosing Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori and Sir Monday Onyeme as their Governor and Deputy Governor, respectively.
One more thing, as Deltans who have asked them to work for us, let us continue to remember them in our prayers and support them by our actions for them to succeed knowing that their success in government will translate to better state for all of us.
Certainly with Rt. Hon. Oborevwori and Sir Onyeme on the saddle of leadership, by His grace, Delta is in safe hands.
COMRADE FIDELIS EGUGBO is the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and Chief Press Secretary to Deputy Governor Monday Onyeme.
