Delta: Amori’s cruise boat hits the rocks

Ighoyota Amori

HIS crash was least expect­ed. For t seven months, he cruised the red chamber of the National Assembly, where he was fondly called the “Cruise Boat Senator” by fellow sena­tors and admirers alike, in style,

But on December 19, the unthinkable happened. Sena­tor Ighoyota Amori, who had over the years, earned for himself the sobriquet ‘Odi­dimadi of Delta politics’ was sacked from the National As­sembly as the senator repre­senting Delta Central senato­rial district by the Court of Appeal, Benin Division.

The court in a ruling read by Justice H.A. Barka upturned the judgement of the lower tribunal presided over by Jus­tice L.I. Boufini, and declared the candidate of the Labour Party(LP), Obaisi Ovie Omo-Agege as the duly elected senator for Delta central in the March 28, 2015 general elections.

Barka had held that the ap­peal filed by Omo-Agege was meritorious, and therefore ordered the Independent Na­tional Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the certif­icate of return issued to Amori and give same to the former.

The judgement came while the sacked senator was still savouring victory, as the same court had five days earlier struck out the appeal filed by All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate in the elec­tion, Mr. Halims Agoda, chal­lenging the judgment of the lower tribunal which upheld his election.

To celebrate the victory over Agoda, coincided with his 63rd birthday anniver­sary, the Cruise Boat Senator was said to have rolled out the drums in far away United States of America (USA) for a lavish birthday party.

On a luxury cruise boat, Amori hosted his guests who donned only their finest white clothing during the celebra­tion with the least inkling that a shocker was awaiting him at the appellate court.

He had also before the spec­tacular birthday bash dragged the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, his deputy, Ike Ekwer­emadu, Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, Senate Mi­nority Leader, Godswill Akpa­bio, Senator Dino Melaye and a host of other personalities to his ancestral town of Mosogar for a thanksgiving service to mark his tribunal victory over his foes.

Amori’s rise to the position of a senator, where he has crashed like a pack of cards, did not happen over night. In fact, he had always nursed the ambition to represent the Urhobo nation at the highest lawmaking body in the coun­try.

His closeness with the god­father of Delta State politics, former Governor James Ibori as a senior member of the Odi­digboigbo political family provided the platform. For the eight years of Ibori’s reign as governor, Amori held sway as the head of the kitchen cabi­net.

First, he was Commissioner for Water Resources and later Commissioner for Education, and in both capacities, he was a super commissioner. As Ibo­ri’s man friday, his words were law in the that administration.

But Ibori’s successor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan did not allow him much freedom, even though he continued to maintain a place in his cabinet. At a point, the immediate past governor relegated him to a glorified office of the Chief Political Adviser to curtail his excesses.

Sensing that he was no lon­ger needed in state govern­ment set up, Amori decided to test the political waters for elective office. He vied for the ticket of his party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and won as the candidate of the party in the April 2011 senato­rial election.

At the general election, Amori came a distant second to the former Deputy Speaker of Delta State House of As­sembly, Pius Ewerhido who flew the flag of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP).

As fate would have it, Ew­erhido died barely two years into his tenure as senator rep­resenting Delta Central, pro­viding another opportunity for Amori to actualise his senato­rial ambition.

The electoral umpire called for a bye-election to fill the va­cant position, pushing Amori and other interested politicians into the trenches.

Although he was favored, the primary election of the PDP which was more or less a gentle man understanding however produced the former Managing Director of the Ni­ger Delta Development Com­mission (NDDC), Emmanuel Agwuariavwodo as the can­didate of the party. Agwuari­avwodo won the bye-election.

As INEC raised the curtain for the commencement of political activities ahead of the 2015 general election, the former commissioner again threw his hat into the ring. This time, he trounced every aspirant including Agwuari­avwodo in the PDP primary election to clinch the much coveted senatorial ticket.

The follow up general was not an easy task. It was de­clared inconclusive as at March 28, and a re-run was conducted in some disputed areas of the district on April 25 before INEC returned Amori as winner of the poll.

But his opponents did not stop there. They dragged him to the National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sit­ting in Asaba, the state capital alleging widespread irregu­larities.

Their petitions were how­ever dismissed for lacking in merit, a situation that sent Amori into a frenzied celebra­tion that has been cut short by the latest ruling from the Court of Appeal which unseated him.

Reacting to his sack from the red chamber, the former senator said the judgment of the appellate court was a mis­carriage of justice, describing it as strange and amounting to a judicial somersault.

“Without equivocation, I wish to state that the judgment of Saturday 19th December, 2015 marked a twist in the po­litical history of the Urhobo nation. What transpired at the court that day in all sense of purpose amounted to judicial rascality, judicial somersault and judicial award in favour of an obvious loser who came a distant second. Truly the judg­ment is a miscarriage of jus­tice.

”The Appeal Court sitting in Benin-city, Edo State on Monday December 14, 2015 further affirmed my victory by dismissing in its entirety the appeal brought against me by the APC candidate in the sena­torial election.

“Regrettably however, same Appeal Court five days after, reversed itself when it ruled in favour of the LP candidate in the election by upholding all the prayers in his petition,” he stated.

He added: “My victory in the twice conducted senato­rial election was affirmed by the Election Petition Tribunal which sat in Asaba the capital city of Delta State in two sepa­rate judgments against the op­position parties, the APC and the LP in the tribunal.”

“This judgment (Appeal Court) no doubt is a major setback to our collective will to right some of the wrongs bedeviling the Urhobo nation and forge a common front in the determination to advance the socio-economic develop­ment of Urhobo land. It has once again denied the Urhobo nation the needed representa­tion and leadership in the Sen­ate at this crucial stage of our nationhood.”

But it was a story of differ­ent strokes for different folks as the victorious Omo-Agege gave kudos to the judiciary for restoring the mandate, which according to him, was freely given to him by the people of the Delta Central through the ballot.

While describing the judg­ment as victory for the Urhobo nation, Senator-elect assured that the delay in giving him back his mandate would not affect his performance and re­solve to better the lots of the people.

He held that as a senator, he would put the issues of Urho­bo land on the front burner in the National Assembly and thereby place the Urhobo na­tion in its right place of pride in the politics of the country.

Omo-Agege, a former Sec­retary to Delta State Govern­ment appealed to all his oppo­nents to join hands with him in the task of developing the Delta Central, and promised to initiate bills that would en­gender the development of the area.

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