By Austin Ogwuda
CONTROVERSY raging since Senator Ned Nwoko made public his intention to propose a Bill before the Senate calling for the creation of Anioma State to become part of the South East has continued unabated.
The latest was Professor Godini Darah’s response to Zik Gbemre over his writeup that condemned the proposal.
The Prof came hard on Gbemre, called him unprintable names (withheld by The Townhall), insisting that his write up was justified.
Sarah in a statement said, “This is the background: Last week Sen. Ned Nwoko of Delta North Senatorial District addressed an open letter to his constituency appealing to them to support the cause. Sen Nwoko gave the impression that he could single-handedly pursue the creation of Anioma State. His letter was published in several social media.
“As usual, Zik Gbemre cloaked his vituperation against me under the guise of defending Sen Nwoko. At the 2014 National Conference, I was Secretary of the sub-committee that worked on the Delta requests for the creation of States. All the delegates from Delta State and Niger Delta unanimously supported the creation of Anioma from Delta State. I explained this process in a post on this platform about a week ago.
“First, I was the only UPU-endorsed Urhobo delegate to the 2014 National Confab; there were two other Urhobo persons in the Confab, one lawyer and a journalist who represented the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) respectively. Neither of them presented a memo on Urhobo matters. I presented the UPU-approved memo for the Urhobo. Therefore, Gbemre should swallow his verbal Pidgin vomit in saying that “Urhobo no send Darah message”.
“The Urhobo mandated me to represent them and I did so to the best of my ability. The UPU was satisfied with what I did on their behalf. This explains why the UPU Convention of 2017 adopted the positions I advocated at the Confab, endorsed them and published them in a two- page advertorial in the Vanguard Newspaper of February 28, 2018. This can be verified”.
On the issue of non accessibility of Esaba town, Darsh said , “Zik Gbemre is not from Owahwa or Jeremi Ward 4 of PDP. (Owahwa people are grateful to Almighty God for sparing them the birth of a character like Zik Gemre).
“…We compiled a list of eleven projects/requests for the eleven communities in the Ward. The list includes a request for the completion of the Okwagbe-Otutuama-Esaba-Ophorigbala-Ighwreogun Road that was started by the Gov Ibori regime in 2006, neglected by Gov Uduaghan from 2007-2015, and revived by Gov Okowa in 2019. On the Owahwa-Otor campaign grounds, we urged the Delta PDP government, not the LGA chairman as Gbemre misrepesented, to complete the project. It is our legitimate right to make the request.
“It is, therefore, rude and reprehensible for Gbemre to have impugned that ‘today Esaba town can’t be accessed on land with cars during the raining season. A man who couldn’t use his closeness to Ibori and later Uduaghan to construct the Okwagbe-Otutuama-Esaba-
Ophorigbala-Ighwreogun Road to his community is expecting an LG chairman to turn his community he abandoned to eldorado’.
You have been attacking me and James Ibori for nearly 5 years
“It is now nearly five years that Zik Gbemre has mounted a campaign of calumny against me because I served in Gov Ibori’s government for four years (2003-2007). The achievement of the Ibori administration are yet to be equalled by any State in Nigeria. In spite of this glaring fact, Zik Gbemre has persisted in raining abuses at Chief Ibori and me. But I know that all Gbemre’s pugnacious jibes at Gov Ibori are clear signals of cowardice. I can bet on it, if Zik Gbemre meets Ibori “live” Gbemre will quake and will lose courage to look at him and ask questions. (The Urhobo express this in figurative language thus: odidi je mu obi: fright disables one from clutching a black mamba).
“If Gbemre”s unprovoked anti-Darah diatribes were in the context of the legendary Udje satirical songs, then we can regard them as part of an artistic game. Unfortunately, he pretends to be throwing missiles at the hats of Ibori and mine. His real intention is to destroy our hard-earned public image. Gbemre’s mission will end in fiasco like that of the proverbial dog hoping to overthrow an elephant.”
“My final note is a lament for the ruin that Gbemre’s senile tantrums portend for the survival of UHS as the global intellectual platform of the Urhobo. Whenever Gbemre plans his media assaults he never uses his personal platform; rather he pollutes the universally acclaimed UHS platforms. Members of the Editorial Committee ought to worry about this matter more than they have cared to do thus far. I don’t think this was what Professor Peter Palmer Ekeh intended for the UHS”, the statement added.
Source: Oasis magazine
