THE ARENA: Okowa: The Power Of Silence

Words are free, talk is cheap, laughter rekindles the soul, tears humble the heart…but of all the emotions, Silence is Golden.

The Movement for Stronger Delta is in complete awe, over the power of silence  Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, ‘Ekwueme gburugburu’ evoked and exuded so calmly with the impregnable aura of an invincible inner force; so imperturbably sure, so unerringly confident, so finitely complete, in the unwavering conviction, that the PDP Governorship primary, will end in glorious praise.

If ever there was a man, and indeed a post-modern, homebred politician, so at ease with the mastery of his own astute, strategic, clinical perfection, then that politician is ‘Ekwueme’ himself; a man whose word is his bond, who proclaims and verbalizes his actions, a man who, in simple language, says and does as he has said.

He is not boastful, merely supreme in honing the finesse of his tactical maneuvres and strategems to clinical preeminence and distinction. His visionary audacity has dazzled and exhilarated his peers and at the same time, flummoxed his adversaries.

His decisive acumen has wrong-footed opponents and while pedestrian concerns dominate the vernacular and algebra of unrepentant irredentists, he always seems to anticipate measures and countermeasures before they unfold.

His navigational astuteness in the political minefield, has not only set him apart as a visionary leader, whose steering compass has already configured futuristic challenges, but it has also positioned his trajectory in such a manner that accommodates the sporadic inclemency of unfriendly elements and set a nautical course for arrival at safer, calmer climes, following the constant Northern star of his Political projections and convictions.

In all these, his metaphoric Silence, effortlessly subsumed in the cerebral eloquence of his characteristic soft-spoken charisma, releases definitive pragmatic signals and positive vibes to lieutenants and field operatives, whose understanding and translation of the General’s morse is delivered to a cinch.

‘Ekwueme’ knows how to pick and choose his political battles, as he did unerringly in 2007 and 2011. He also knows how to call his losses, relinquishes territories which ordinarily would demand unnecessary energy and distraction to conquer, close ranks and open flanks when necessary, retreat, regroup, restrategise and relaunch, as the situation demands.

The 2022 PDP Governorship conundrum was an excellent case study on political brinkmanship, threat management, and the recalibration of adversarial antagonism, to agreeable inevitabilities.

Interestingly and quite unfortunately, what must be acknowledged, is the one recurring oversight which has continued to delude and beguile his disparagers. A misnomer akin to that instructive admonition which cautions that, one must never mistake the gentility of a lion for cowardice or weakness.

From the onset, Governor Okowa made two points very clear in the determination of who will eventually become his successor in the PDP and subsequently carry the flag of the party into the Governorship election, with the sole objective of also succeeding him in Government House, Asaba.

The first was that he will seek divine guidance and put his complete faith and trust in the Lord through prayers, to reveal His choice to Deltans. He also urged Deltans to join him in prayers as the succession process unfolds.

The second which he stated categorically and unequivocally to the leaders, elders, and stakeholders of the PDP, on a number of occasions both in the Government House and elsewhere, was that in the event that the party was unable to settle for a consensus candidate, then all interested and qualified aspirants would participate in the recognized and constitutionally accepted and endorsed process of Primaries, whether direct or indirect, from which a single candidate, elected in a free, fair credible and transparent manner, will emerge and become the undisputed flagbearer of the party.

Those who know and understand even elementary politics, are only too aware that while elections are not exactly a do-or-die affair, it is however a battle of wits, for the survival of the fittest and most capable.

This of course is the demanding pleasure which every serious politician is guilty of without exception, whether it is in a delegates election or a general election.

No politician is innocent of this electoral sin, even the ones who pretend to be as squeaky clean and righteously pious as a whistle, but of course, there are always the hues and cries and bellyachings, when one politician shows greater capacity and capability in responding to the challenges that human demands pose, especially in a delegates election.

One can only conjecture the alternate scenario when delegates, often bombarded by the insufferable insistence of some aspirants who have already seen the handwriting on the wall, but believe they can rewrite what has already been determined, are now sometimes compelled by their human nature anyways, to make concessions and compromises of convenience, just to get pesky aspirants off their backs. Of course, other Delegates, cognizant of the tremendous powers they possess, may not be conscientiously or objectively charitable.

We all know these things and it is purely voluntary anyways. Only those who are willing to get converted into a particular aspirant’s movement are accommodated and of course there have been hilarious reports in this election season, where some shortchanged aspirants had engaged the services of vigilantes and bush hunters, to reclaim some of the largesse they expended on delegates who eventually betrayed them. These are our political stories.

And finally, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa made it quite clear from the very beginning and insisted consistently too, that he has not and did not endorse or anoint anybody as his successor.

Even when some others, who had audaciously gone public with their anointed choices, had frontally and surreptitiously attempted to coerce, threaten, browbeat and even blackmail him to either support their choice or pronounce his own anointed, ‘Ekwueme’ maintained his golden Silence, which completely unnerved them and propelled a frenzy of permutations, predictions, and prophecies, which as it turned out ‘las las’, were all wrong.

Infact, what Governor Okowa did, in the interpretations and analysis of the Movement for Stronger Delta, was to codify the conventional principle of reverse psychology promoted by social media cretins, charlatanic soothsayers, and false prophets. In other words, the initial mantra that resonated within the Okowa political family across the three Senatorial Zones was: “where Okowa goes, we follow”.

But seeing that the troublemakers and the agents of misleading misinformation, were going to deploy their negative proclivities in misinterpreting this simple mantra, ‘Ekwueme’ simply rested comfortably on the ultimate motto: “Party is Supreme”, which provided the convenient, logically irreversible leverage, of allowing the party delegates to decide who would be their Governorship Candidate, which simply put, translated into the phrase: “where the party goes, Okowa will follow”.

Suffice it to say that the landslide margin of victory, with which Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori coasted home to clinch the Delta PDP Guber ticket, inspite of all the innuendos, acrimonious attacks, and sickening desperation with which some people tried to stop him, is a clear, incontrovertible testimony, that this was a victory of the party and which the party delivered with resounding conviction, to compliment and collectively reciprocate the golden Silence of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.

Oborevwori’s triumph also unequivocally reaffirms what Deltans already know, which is that the PDP is one big, united, happy family and no matter what the opposition does, the PDP, under the leadership of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, will be a formidable, unbeatable force in the 2023 elections. Okowa’s silence spoke loudly and those who have ears heard clearly.

That, without doubt, is and has always been the SIMPLE Agenda.

MOVEMENT FOR STRONGER DELTA, (MSD)