The battle for the soul of the three senatorial districts in Delta state is already on and in top gear too. The three senatorial districts are, Delta north, Delta South and Delta central. The Delta North Senatorial district comprises of the Ikas, The Ukwanis and the Ibos (delta Ibo). The Delta Central Senatorial District comprise of the Urhobos, while the Delta South Senatorial District comprises of the Ijaws, the Isokos and the Itsekiris.
The Delta South Senatorial District is unique in some ways, and one of it is that, it comprises of three tribes starting with (i), Ijaw, Isoko and Itsekiri. These three tribes make up the Delta South Senatorial District and this senatorial district is often referred to as the senatorial district with the three (i)s.
Delta South Central have produced governors of the State, Chief Ibru is from Delta Central, James Ibori is also from Delta Central, Oghara is in Delta Central senatorial District. The outgoing governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan is from Delta south, being an Itsekiri man. The only senatorial zone yet to produce an executive governor of Delta state is the Delta North Senatorial district which comprises of the Ika, Ukwani and Ibo speaking tribes.
It is clearly the turn of Delta North Senatorial district to produce the next governor of the state so as to balance the equation, in other words, both Delta south and Central have produced governors, it is the turn of Delta North to produce a governor since they are the only senatorial district yet to produce a governor.
Tony Obuh, Victor Uchei , Ndudi Elumelu, Obielum, Esther Uduehi, Ngozi Olejeme among others are gubernatorial aspirants from Delta North. Although, it has been alleged or rumored that, among all the guber aspirants from Delta North, the ukwani aspirants have been marginalized as they have not been given a level playing ground to compete and fight for the privilege of flying the PDP ticket in the 2015 Delta Guber elections.
Well, let’s leave the issue of the guber elections for another time, our focus is the battle for the soul of Delta South senatorial dictrict. who gets to represent PDP in the senate come 2015? will it be an Isoko man, an Ijaw man, or an Itsekiri man? This is the big question on ground and this is where the battle is raging actually. The old rivalry among the three tribes representing the delta south district have all been rekindled lately. If you have been following the Gas project groundbreaking ceremony that was called off and all the protests associated with it, then you just might have a bit of an idea how heated this age old rivalry could get.
Now, it is rumored that the people of the Delta South District are saying an Itsekiri man cannot at this time produce the next senator for the district and they are basing their argument on the fact that the the present governor is from Itsekiri, therefore for this reason and for fare play, the next senator from the district should come from either Isoko or Ijaw. The people from this area are hell bent on having their way in this matter, and they are saying the next senator from this district cannot and most not be an Itsekiri man at this time. Either an Isoko man or an Ijaw man should be the next senator to represent the district for fair play since the Itsekiris have produced the present executive governor of the state.
Agitations like this should not be taken lightly. The people from this area could become quite volatile overnight as they have done over the years when they have perceived any form of injustice against them. History shows that it is wisdom to let the people have their say and determine their own destiny by determining who gets to represent them in the 2015 senatorial elections.
The Gas Project in delta south is already threatening the peace of the region and the last thing the area need is addition of another community or tribal crisis. As they say, the voice of the people is the voice of God, Vox populi, Vox Dei. Let the people of Delta State determine who gets to be their next governor and let the people of Delta South senatorial district get to determine who represents them in the 2015 elections.
The Battle for the Delta South Senatorial District is on and getting hotter by the day.
