SUNDAY 30th June did not begin as an ominous day. However, by the time the day drew its curtains, it had become ominous and tragic as it went with Senator Pius Ewherido, who until that black Sunday represented the Delta Central Senatorial District at the National Assembly.
Senator Ewherido’s death is a devastating blow, which diminished all of humanity. Ewherido to his Urhobo people was akin to an only palm fruit that must not be lost in the fire. He was an Uloho (Iroko), which provided shelter and succor to all and sundry. To Deltans, he was a voice of courage with a regenerative vision. He carried with him a redemptive charisma for a people and state in search of new and alternative political possibilities. He was an apostle of a new value system.
Where now is Ewherido, who gave scholarship to over two hundred students? Where now is Ewherido, who gave jobs to the jobless? Where now is Ewherido who built roads and bridges, where the people had given up? Where now is Ewherido, who built schools and health centres in remote and almost forgotten parts of Urhoboland? Where now is Ewherido, who gave economic empowerment to two hundred women and numberless youth? Where now is Ewherido, who almost singlehandedly sponsored the project to get Urhobo language into WAEC/NECO examination syllabus? Where now is Ewherido, who brought light and water to places that had given up on electricity and pipe-borne water? Where now is Ewherido, who mourned with the bereaved and danced with celebrants? Where now is Ewherido, who bestrode Delta State like a colossus? Where now is Ewherido, who in less than two years in the Senate sponsored four Bills and over ten motions, a feat some twenty Senators could not achieve in twelve years?
Born fifty years ago as Pius Akporokena Ewherido, he was popularly called Gogorogo. He attended primary and secondary schools in the defunct Bendel State, before going to read Philosophy at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, where he finished as the best graduating student in his class. He later read Law at the University of Benin and was called to the Nigerian Bar. He burst on to the political stage in 1998 and for eight years he bestrode the Delta State Legislature like a colossus.
Senator Pius Ewherido was neither a run-off the mill politician, nor a political hustler. He never believed in the politics of the stomach. Ewherido’s politics was motivated by ideals and not hunger, greed and personal aggrandizement. He was until his last days a refined politician who saw politics as a means of getting power for the good of the people. He was first an Urhobo, but he had dreamt of a pan-Delta platform through which he could have launched the state onto the path of progress. When he made a go at the governorship in 2006, he came up with a development blueprint that awed everybody who cared to study it. While the other contenders were busy mouthing promises and devising schemes, Ewherido toiled for many nights trying to evolve a blueprint that would have been the equivalent of a Marshall Plan for Delta State.
The intrigues, which robbed him of the governorship ticket during the primary election have now become common knowledge. After that fiasco, he retreated with uncommon dignity to Ewu and went back to his business. He took everything with philosophical calmn. He read books, worked on his farm, took time to think and reconfigured his political future. His education in Philosophy came handy for him during this period. I remember spending many hours with him during which we discussed the politics of ancient Rome. At intervals he would dash into his well-stocked study and bring out one book after the other. We talked about the many troubles with Nigerian and the lackluster governance that became the lot of Delta State. He gave hints of attempts by the powers that be to woo him to the corridors of power and how he resisted each attempt. He talked about principles; he talked about a viable opposition platform and how the generality of Deltans will be disappointed were he to yield to the advances of those in power. He kept his cool and bid his time.
The opportune moment came with the October 2010 Supreme Court ruling, which ordered a re-run for the Delta State governorship election. An alliance between him and the leading opposition figure Chief Great Ogboru came to be. Ewherido proved to be a political game changer. He revived his intimidating political structures across the state and the result was the Ilalaja (pineapple revolution), which shook the Delta State to her very roots. Ewherido rode to the Senate on the crest of the Ilalaja wind of change. Although, a first timer in a Senate of political denizens, although he was a lone party Senator, Ewherido stood tall in tandem with his appellation gogorogo! Each time he spoke his voice and opinion were golden. He brought an uncommon intellectual insight into his legislative responsibilities while he was in the Senate. He was oratorical and spoke with the same courage the Roman Senators he studied in his Philosophy course spoke. He once told me that he painstakingly researched almost everything that came to the floor of the Senate.
It was not too long before the Urhobo people saw in him a redeemer figure. In a landscape full of wily, crafty and selfish politrickcians, Ewherido stood out to be counted as different. He soon became a beacon of hope and the Urhobo people and Deltans began investing their political hope in him. When he was first approached for the governorship race last year he did shrug it off. However, pressure upon pressure came and he yielded after he discovered that the party that he helped stabilized for a remarkable outing in two elections in 2011 had suddenly become hostile and cannot even guarantee him a return ticket to the Senate.
He was one politician who put the people above every other consideration. It was for this that he became an unparalleled mobiliser of people. The fact that his moniker, Gogogoro, is well acknowledged in every home in Delta State attests to his rating in the public space. He always thought of the people. His ultimate vision was pan-Deltan.
His passing shook the State, but the loss is more telling on his immediate constituents, the Urhobo people. Folks who are old enough to know say that the tremor and cold occasioned by Ewherido’s death were only comparable to those of Chiefs Mukoro Mowoe and Samuel Jereton Mariere in 1948 and 1971 respectively. The Urhobo nation will now have to brace up to the anxiety of political orphanage as her political wagon has plunged into a blind alley. The people are unsure of the present crop of politrickcians who are used to horse-trading.
However, as painful and as irreparable as the death of Ewherido is, the people should pray and be consoled that God will bring another who is greater than him and who will bring them succor. The gloom shall not be long. Senator Ewherido, unknowingly consoled the Urhobo people about his imminent passing on. On the 27th of April 2013, he stood before his constituents to render a report of his two-year sojourn in the Senate at Uvwiamughe-Agbarho. The event was attended by over twenty thousand people. He appealed to the celebratory crowd to join him in singing his favourite song: ‘‘Owan bruduu/ owawan ghogho/ fiki ri Jesu Olori oko/ Oke sua avwanre tu uleruru/ We ju udu owanwan toto’’. Translated into English the song reads: ‘‘Let not your heart be troubled/ You all should rejoice/ Because Jesus the Leader is in the boat/ He will lead us to the shore/ Let your heart be at rest.’’
Senator Ewherido did several encores and the crowd followed suit. Nobody had the inkling that he was giving his last address to the Urhobo people and telling them to remain strong and face the future without him with fortitude. He took his exit two months and three days later.
Senator Ewherido led a distinguished life. He was distinguished not because he was a Senator, but because of the choices he made in life. He distinguished himself as a university scholar endowed with a formidable intellect, a philanthropist, a legislator and a lover of humanity in which he had faith. He was a profound thinker, a master strategist and a great mixer. He was a charismatic leader and his followership was intimidating. He loved his wife and love of his life Doye, and their six children. Ewherido had consoled the Urhobo people and indeed all Deltans with the song referred to above. It is well. I am still unable to come to terms with his death, because we spoke on phone the Tuesday and Wednesday preceding his passage. And how difficult it is to say my farewell? I am shuddering with cold. Farewell Distinguished Senator Pius Akporokena Ewherido. Farewell Gogorogo…It is well. Akpokedefaooooo…..
Dr. Awhefeada teaches literature at the Delta State University, Abraka.
SUNDAY 30th June did not begin as an ominous day. However, by the time the day drew its curtains, it had become ominous and tragic as it went with Senator Pius Ewherido, who until that black Sunday represented the Delta Central Senatorial District at the National Assembly.
Senator Ewherido’s death is a devastating blow, which diminished all of humanity. Ewherido to his Urhobo people was akin to an only palm fruit that must not be lost in the fire. He was an Uloho (Iroko), which provided shelter and succor to all and sundry. To Deltans, he was a voice of courage with a regenerative vision. He carried with him a redemptive charisma for a people and state in search of new and alternative political possibilities. He was an apostle of a new value system.
Where now is Ewherido, who gave scholarship to over two hundred students? Where now is Ewherido, who gave jobs to the jobless? Where now is Ewherido who built roads and bridges, where the people had given up? Where now is Ewherido, who built schools and health centres in remote and almost forgotten parts of Urhoboland? Where now is Ewherido, who gave economic empowerment to two hundred women and numberless youth? Where now is Ewherido, who almost singlehandedly sponsored the project to get Urhobo language into WAEC/NECO examination syllabus? Where now is Ewherido, who brought light and water to places that had given up on electricity and pipe-borne water? Where now is Ewherido, who mourned with the bereaved and danced with celebrants? Where now is Ewherido, who bestrode Delta State like a colossus? Where now is Ewherido, who in less than two years in the Senate sponsored four Bills and over ten motions, a feat some twenty Senators could not achieve in twelve years?
Born fifty years ago as Pius Akporokena Ewherido, he was popularly called Gogorogo. He attended primary and secondary schools in the defunct Bendel State, before going to read Philosophy at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, where he finished as the best graduating student in his class. He later read Law at the University of Benin and was called to the Nigerian Bar. He burst on to the political stage in 1998 and for eight years he bestrode the Delta State Legislature like a colossus.
Senator Pius Ewherido was neither a run-off the mill politician, nor a political hustler. He never believed in the politics of the stomach. Ewherido’s politics was motivated by ideals and not hunger, greed and personal aggrandizement. He was until his last days a refined politician who saw politics as a means of getting power for the good of the people. He was first an Urhobo, but he had dreamt of a pan-Delta platform through which he could have launched the state onto the path of progress. When he made a go at the governorship in 2006, he came up with a development blueprint that awed everybody who cared to study it. While the other contenders were busy mouthing promises and devising schemes, Ewherido toiled for many nights trying to evolve a blueprint that would have been the equivalent of a Marshall Plan for Delta State.
The intrigues, which robbed him of the governorship ticket during the primary election have now become common knowledge. After that fiasco, he retreated with uncommon dignity to Ewu and went back to his business. He took everything with philosophical calmn. He read books, worked on his farm, took time to think and reconfigured his political future. His education in Philosophy came handy for him during this period. I remember spending many hours with him during which we discussed the politics of ancient Rome. At intervals he would dash into his well-stocked study and bring out one book after the other. We talked about the many troubles with Nigerian and the lackluster governance that became the lot of Delta State. He gave hints of attempts by the powers that be to woo him to the corridors of power and how he resisted each attempt. He talked about principles; he talked about a viable opposition platform and how the generality of Deltans will be disappointed were he to yield to the advances of those in power. He kept his cool and bid his time.
The opportune moment came with the October 2010 Supreme Court ruling, which ordered a re-run for the Delta State governorship election. An alliance between him and the leading opposition figure Chief Great Ogboru came to be. Ewherido proved to be a political game changer. He revived his intimidating political structures across the state and the result was the Ilalaja (pineapple revolution), which shook the Delta State to her very roots. Ewherido rode to the Senate on the crest of the Ilalaja wind of change. Although, a first timer in a Senate of political denizens, although he was a lone party Senator, Ewherido stood tall in tandem with his appellation gogorogo! Each time he spoke his voice and opinion were golden. He brought an uncommon intellectual insight into his legislative responsibilities while he was in the Senate. He was oratorical and spoke with the same courage the Roman Senators he studied in his Philosophy course spoke. He once told me that he painstakingly researched almost everything that came to the floor of the Senate.
It was not too long before the Urhobo people saw in him a redeemer figure. In a landscape full of wily, crafty and selfish politrickcians, Ewherido stood out to be counted as different. He soon became a beacon of hope and the Urhobo people and Deltans began investing their political hope in him. When he was first approached for the governorship race last year he did shrug it off. However, pressure upon pressure came and he yielded after he discovered that the party that he helped stabilized for a remarkable outing in two elections in 2011 had suddenly become hostile and cannot even guarantee him a return ticket to the Senate.
He was one politician who put the people above every other consideration. It was for this that he became an unparalleled mobiliser of people. The fact that his moniker, Gogogoro, is well acknowledged in every home in Delta State attests to his rating in the public space. He always thought of the people. His ultimate vision was pan-Deltan.
His passing shook the State, but the loss is more telling on his immediate constituents, the Urhobo people. Folks who are old enough to know say that the tremor and cold occasioned by Ewherido’s death were only comparable to those of Chiefs Mukoro Mowoe and Samuel Jereton Mariere in 1948 and 1971 respectively. The Urhobo nation will now have to brace up to the anxiety of political orphanage as her political wagon has plunged into a blind alley. The people are unsure of the present crop of politrickcians who are used to horse-trading.
However, as painful and as irreparable as the death of Ewherido is, the people should pray and be consoled that God will bring another who is greater than him and who will bring them succor. The gloom shall not be long. Senator Ewherido, unknowingly consoled the Urhobo people about his imminent passing on. On the 27th of April 2013, he stood before his constituents to render a report of his two-year sojourn in the Senate at Uvwiamughe-Agbarho. The event was attended by over twenty thousand people. He appealed to the celebratory crowd to join him in singing his favourite song: ‘‘Owan bruduu/ owawan ghogho/ fiki ri Jesu Olori oko/ Oke sua avwanre tu uleruru/ We ju udu owanwan toto’’. Translated into English the song reads: ‘‘Let not your heart be troubled/ You all should rejoice/ Because Jesus the Leader is in the boat/ He will lead us to the shore/ Let your heart be at rest.’’
Senator Ewherido did several encores and the crowd followed suit. Nobody had the inkling that he was giving his last address to the Urhobo people and telling them to remain strong and face the future without him with fortitude. He took his exit two months and three days later.
Senator Ewherido led a distinguished life. He was distinguished not because he was a Senator, but because of the choices he made in life. He distinguished himself as a university scholar endowed with a formidable intellect, a philanthropist, a legislator and a lover of humanity in which he had faith. He was a profound thinker, a master strategist and a great mixer. He was a charismatic leader and his followership was intimidating. He loved his wife and love of his life Doye, and their six children. Ewherido had consoled the Urhobo people and indeed all Deltans with the song referred to above. It is well. I am still unable to come to terms with his death, because we spoke on phone the Tuesday and Wednesday preceding his passage. And how difficult it is to say my farewell? I am shuddering with cold. Farewell Distinguished Senator Pius Akporokena Ewherido. Farewell Gogorogo…It is well. Akpokedefaooooo…..
Dr. Awhefeada teaches literature at the Delta State University, Abraka.
No comments:
Post a Comment