By: Ifeanyi Izeze
Ordinarily, the callous indiscretion and blurred observations in the press interview by the Secretary to Delta State Government, Ovuozorie Macaulay, would have been ignored as inconsequential personal opinion if not for the exalted office he holds in the state and his closeness to the state governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan.
For sure
argument in anger risks missing the real point in Macaulay’s smear campaign as it is already doing. For sure, the SSG’s comment was not because he hates the Anioma people. No! He is also not pushing the Isoko agenda in any colouration at all.  The question should be: What could have been the driving force that suddenly gave the otherwise well-demeanor SSG some new -found boldness and crude audacity? Could it be that Macaulay is outrightly on a mission of his narrow selfish interest in the political calculation and power- balancing equation among the different sections of Delta state and decided to drag the Aniomas, Urhobos and Isokos along his journey?
Is it not
glaring that there is a hidden line of mischief in Macaulay’s sudden erratic disposition and attack on the governorship aspirations of politicians of the Delta North stock. Beyond the feigned concerns expressed in his interview, the Delta State SSG seemed set on a vengeance and spoiler mission not against the Anioma people or their aspirations for whatever reasons, but against his boss, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan. This is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Mark my words!
It’s all
about what happens to ‘me’ (Macaulay) beyond 2015. In his appearance on Channels television on the night of Sunday January 26, the Isoko-born SSG emphatically said he was never bothered by whatever was said by governorship aspirants from Anioma until “my people called me back home for consultation.†The question is: what did his people tell him? And who are these “his people�
Unfortunately
for the state, Macaulay’s audacity is obviously hinged on the fact that he knows fully -well that Uduaghan cannot sack him except the governor wants to be totally messed up. For sure, haven held several sensitive positions in Uduaghan’s cabinet before now becoming the SSG both men must have done things together that the governor would never want to be made public. The SSG must be sitting on secrets that can ruin the governor’s political and ordinary life and even send him to jail. So he cannot be sacked. And this is the tragedy of the blackmail situation in Delta.
Was it not
absurd for Macaulay who was a commissioner in the Ministry of Inter-Ethnic Relations and Conflict Resolutions; commissioner for Power and Energy and now SSG in Delta state to be so careless with his comments not even as a politician outside government but as the number three in terms of hierarchy in the state executive. The question
is: why suddenly is the SSG trying to attract attention to himself not minding the dire consequences of such indiscretion even to the governor that appointed him?
Hear him:
“There is no need for this strident cry of marginalisation. This smacks of an intention to engage in vendetta against the people of South and Central districts should an Anioma person become governor in 2015. But I am afraid that they may not get the support of the other districts if they don’t change their style. It is a pointer that the Anioma are out for a revenge mission against the other parts of the state should they win in 2015.†Macaulay knew that ofcourse he cannot take-over from Uduaghan as the next governor of the state since he is from the Senatorial District with the incumbent. And since
2007 he has held almost all the exalted and highly lucrative positions in the Delta State Government under Uduaghan. He was appointed a commissioner in the Ministry of Inter-Ethnic Relations and Conflict Resolutions. He was also a commissioner in the Ministry of Power and Energy before taking over as the Secretary to the State Government, a position he still holds.
So those who
think Macaulay does not quite appreciate the enormous public trust inherent in his office as the SSG “for no one expects that an SSG could descend to such an acrimonious level to disgorge the bottled-up feelings he seemed to now have for a section of Delta state,†are getting it all wrong.
Even when Governor Uduaghan, at a State
Executive Council meeting in Asaba ordered all his commissioners and other political appointees to refrain from making further comments on the matter or any other political issue relating to 2015 general elections until the appropriate time, Macaulay was on Channels TV few days after (Sunday 26 Jan
2014) still chanting the same war songs in total defiance of his supposed boss.
Now, this is
the real issue: Macaulay’s sudden indiscretion is at best a mischief and protest directly linked to Governor Uduaghan’s declared ambition to run for the Delta South Senatorial seat. Is it not absurd that Macaulay’s bottled opinion suddenly bursted only after Uduaghan recently said in Asaba at a press briefing that “there was an unwritten agreement in Delta south for the Itsekiri ethnic nationality to produce the next Senator for the district in 2016 since it had been held previously by Isoko (Omu), now Ijaw (Manager).
What is
beginning to play out in Delta is exactly what is playing out in Rivers state between Governor Chibuike Amaechi and the Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike. It’s all about ambition. In plain language, Macaulay in his calculation had schemed to go for the Senate and never expected any serious opposition from his district not to talk of it coming from his boss- Uduaghan, who hitherto had vowed that after his tenure as governor, he would return to the hospital to practice his medical profession.
When it
became very clear to Macaulay that his senatorial ambition has been botched even before it was openly declared, he deliberately set out on an irresponsible mission to pitch the different sections of the state against each other with a view to creating a crisis situation for Governor Uduaghan who then will be expected to come on his knees to appease his estranged political ally. As the power equation changes in the state and now Macaulay cannot go to the senate because his boss has confiscated the slot, his plot is that whosoever will be the next governor of Delta must negotiate with him or else, he may opt to pursue his ambition under another platform- either APCÂ Â Â Â or DPP.
You see politicians and their selfish calculations.
The outburst
and at best another erratic reaction of the Delta State PDP Chairman, Peter Nwaoboshi to the SSG’s indiscretions played exactly into Macaulay’s game plan. Now they can enter and discuss behind closed doors since it is “a family (PDP) affairs.†Abi no bee so? But the end result of this single misstep by Macaulay-someone who can rightly claim to be a chieftain o f the PDP in Delta will shock the party to its soul.
Is it not
surprising that since the SSG granted the interview and Nwaoboshi replied no single day passed without two pages or four of advertorial running side by side in some national dailies using fictitious Isoko, Urhobo and Anioma names and non-existent professional groups? No descent Isoko, Urhobo or Anioma person can use the level of offensive and incitive languages (at least publicly) we’ve seen in almost all the advertorials. The truth is that third party hackers definitely from the opposition and disgruntled PDP members have since hijacked the crisis and are now turning it to their advantage and this is going to get worse. Mark my words!
Is it
possible that everyday a group from Delta Central places advertorial, another group from the North District will reply and the two adverts carried in the same paper on the same day most times running side by side? Who is sponsoring these advertorials? It would shock the PDP to know that APC, DPP etc. are now helping them to finally destroy and bury the tattered umbrella in Delta state.
(IFEANYI IZEZE is an Abuja-based Consultant and can be reached on: iizeze@yahoo.com; 234-8033043009)