Olorogun Olori Magege
Olorogun Olori Magege is a chief and a key Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) player from Agbarho kingdom, Delta State. Magege, who is the chairman of the Delta State Waste Management Board, in this interview with Correspondent Felix Igbekoyi, talks about unfolding political events in the party; who succeeds Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan and other national issues.
What makes a responsible political leader?
For my Agbarho community, I bought seven cows for the people at Christmas; even if for them to have a smell of the soup, they will know that they belong to a party. You cannot be a party man without investing in the party. You must invest in the party. You say you are a leader and you don’t carry the responsibilities of the party in your immediate community. Are you a party man by coming to Asaba to look for contract? And when you get the contracts you don’t plough back some of your profit into building the party in your community, what kind of leader are you? Why must I wait for PDP money to deliver Agbarho? Why? If as you came to Agbarho now and you had problem locating my residence, will I be proud to beat my chest and say I am a party leader? I cannot. But you said the first motorcycle (okada) rider you met and told him to take you to Olori Magege house and he said enter. That’s being party man. We went to campaign during the Aguariavwodo election, we got to a village in Agbarho, one of the units in Agbarho, we were campaigning, the spokes man of the community in his response said ‘we will not vote for PDP, we will not vote for DPP, we will not vote for APC, but we will vote for our son Olori Magege, wherever he goes that’s where we will come. Can there be a better vote of confidence. And they did. That village not one vote was lost by PDP. I sent a cow to them for Christmas. Like I have been sending cows to them since; this is the third year I have been sending cows to them. When they have a problem I go down there, I participate.
What do you have to say, looking at the political process for the emergence of the governorship candidate of PDP in Delta State and other elective positions?
My boss, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, has spoken. What more do I need to add? I don’t have anything to add. Unity that my boss spoke about is unity in diversity. There are bound to be dissidents, but not the zombie kind of unity. PDP is a party of intellectuals, party of businessmen, party of politicians, and of ideology. And ideology is an evolving thing; ideology is not a static thing, it keeps evolving and being remodeled given the circumstances of the environment. So in the evolution there are bound to be dissidents. But as long as all of us agree that the interest of the party is paramount, is sacrosanct that is the only thing we are talking about. We can quarrel in our rooms, we can quarrel in our parlour, and we can quarrel between ourselves. The quarrel between a husband and his wife, they have sworn that they will never be separated, so they will quarrel to resolve issues; that’s the unity my boss was talking about. The unity of zombies cannot move the party forward that cannot move the nation forward. So I whole-heartedly subscribe to what my boss said.
Are you comfortable with the stand of the governor that the ward will be the basis for the election of candidates at all levels and that the stakeholders of the party would determine this?
You want to put me into trouble, and you want me to say something different from what my boss has said? No. Every party member has a stake and contribution to make. But there are stakeholders and there are bigger stakeholders and the biggest stakeholder in PDP in Delta State is my boss, Governor Uduaghan. He has a say and we all have a say. Do I have equal same say as my boss? No. You have answered the question. My interpretation of what my boss in government and my boss in the party said is if you want to be governor of the state, go and do your work. Don’t count on us alone; we are as much interested as everybody else, and our interest is as important as everybody else. So don’t think that my statement is sacrosanct. It is a statement of humility. But it will be naïve for anybody to think that the Pope is not interested in who replaces him.
What are the qualities you expect the next governor of the state to possess?
One, he must be a Deltan. One criterion that is non-negotiable that he must be a Deltan. It’s not about Urhobo; it’s not about Ijaw; it’s about not Itsekiri; it’s not about Anioma; it’s not about Isoko. It is about Delta. We are not looking for a tribal governor; it is about Delta State. So we are looking for the right person to govern Delta State; this is irrespective of his ethnic coloration. I don’t give a damn where the person comes from as long as he is a Deltan. And being a Deltan, then of course, you must have good idea of what governance is all about. Not somebody staying in Lagos, who can not find his way to his village, and he thinks because he is in Lagos he can come and lay claim to having had dinner with Obama, and that is a reason for him or her to be Governor. Or somebody is in Abuja because he is in the Presidency, and occasionally he goes to shake the hands of Mr. President and, therefore, he wants to be governor. Or a minister, who couldn’t complete the project earmarked for the Niger Delta and wants to be a Governor. That’s not what we are talking about. You see, Nigerians are equal but although all animals are equal but some are more equal; all stakes are equal but some are more equal; Delta is a state in Nigeria but it’s not an ordinary state; we must recognise that. It’s the basket of the nation.
You are an associate of Dr. Festus Okubor and speculation is rife that both of you are working hard towards 2015 governorship election. People say the man is on the ground yet he has not formally announced his intention. What do you have to say concerning this speculation about his governorship intent?
I won’t announce for him. He is the one who is going to contest election by the special grace of God. But let me say this: And I say it very, very clearly, and I’ve been saying it for the past two years; I had a divine revelation two years ago that Dr. Festus Okubor is the next governor of this state. I went to him and I told him so two years ago when we were still embroiled in the Ogboru legal matter in court. And people said in PDP that Magege is privy to some information and all that, I just laughed. How can you be privy to situation two years ago for replacement when the incumbent Governor was fighting a battle of his life in court? It didn’t make any sense. But I went to him and said, ‘you are the one oh.’ He shrugged his shoulders and said, “Olori please don’t get me into trouble. I am not interested.” I said okay. I went on air; I published it in the papers, that I know the person who will be next governor. I told him that I was going to tell the world that he is the one. He said ‘don’t go and put me into trouble, and don’t endanger my life.” But right now, there is no hiding place for Okubor any more. If he does not come out to contest, we will go and ‘kidnap’ him to contest. Quote me, if Okubor refuses to contest, we will go to Ika North East and ‘kidnap’ him because he is the anointed one; anointed by God to be the governor of the state.
What are those attributes that qualify him to be governor?
I will throw it back at you, you are a pressman; tell me apart from being deputy governor and governor, what positions has Okubor not held in Delta state in the past 12 years? Caretaker committee chairman, director of Protocol, commissioner two times, today he is Chief of Staff. But most importantly, he is a detribalised Deltan. A man born in Agbor, grew up in Emevor, grew up in Otokutu, his father was the first principal of Otokutu Grammar School. Otokutu is not in Delta North, it’s in Central, it’s Urhobo. Emevor is in Isoko, Delta South. Okubor is as Urhobo as myself, he is as Isoko as myself, a completely detribalised man. So what more do you want me to say? Okubor told me that if Deltans want an Igbo governor he would not go; if they want Urhobo governor he will not go; if they want tribal governor he will not go because he is not a tribalist. I am close to the man, we discuss in his bedroom and I have seen tears falling from his eyes when we discussed issues of Delta State; I have seen tears falling from his eyes when people are injured in Delta. Look I can’t talk about this man because when I talk they say eh he is your friend.
Let me also observe that some people have said that he is loyal to the party and he has no blemish. Are you recommending him as the Governor of the State?
God has recommended him; you want me to undercut God? I said two years ago it appeared to me in a revelation; I was not having malaria; in 2007, I said the election of my boss would be annulled; I published it in the papers. I said Oshiomole would be the governor of Edo State when he was still in court; I said Fayemi would win in Ekiti State and that Mimiko would win in Ondo, that Amaechi himself would win his case in court. They thought I was joking. Theses were published in Urhobo Voice front page. You can verify this for yourself. If you want the number of Urhobo Voice editor, I will give it to you.
Now how do we resolve the issue of many aspirants that are jostling for the position?
Oh, they are helping the party. Is it not a selection process? If you have an ambition to be “A”, you work for “A”. If you can’t achieve “A” you get “B”. All these aspirants are making their own contributions to the development of the party. They are important; the governor is as important as the senator; the senator is as important as member of the House of Assembly, the House of Assembly is as important as the councilor. So we must all jostle. Every good thing must be fought for, otherwise you become lackadaisical; you become complacent. You must struggle for it; you must know that people are interested, and that they picked you is an honour. So they must jostle for it. And they are important, they are very important. And I commend them. But only one person will be the governor, and that person is Okubor.
Why did DPP and APC candidates go to court to contest PDP victory at the Delta Central Senatorial bye-election won by Aguariavwodo?
Let Emheror tell us who were the chairmen of ward one and ward two in Agbarho?. He was begging PDP to give him party agents in Agbarho. Who is the chairman of APC in Delta State? Let him tell us. Who is the secretary of APC in Delta State? Let him tell us. You want to drive a car and the car has no tyres, where will it get you?
Some PDP Governors have left to APC. Don’t you fear the negative implication of this development on PDP?
When the governors were in PDP, did Jonathan win in their states? The governors won their elections and Jonathan won in their states. What kind of PDP members are they? The biggest challenge in PDP is the degree to which we compromise; at a point we compromise all nonsense. If you are a party man you are a party man; if you are not a party man, go somewhere else. Don’t start using PDP to negotiate your preferred position in another party. If we don’t grow PDP, if people are not making sacrifices for PDP, if you are not willing to make your own contribution to make sacrifice, leave. PDP will not die. Those people are looking for automatic tickets and they want to hold Mr. President hostage. And Mr. President said ‘No! You can’t hold me hostage. Individuals don’t just contest elections. That’s what the constitution says; it is the parties that contest elections. That has been made very clear in the Supreme Court decision on Amaechi. Did Amaechi contest the governorship election? How then did he become governor? He became the governor on the premise that it is the party that contested the election, and, therefore, whoever was the flag bearer of the party given the rules of the party as enshrined in the party’s constitution, whoever emerges under those conditions becomes the party’s candidate. But first and foremost it is the party that contests elections. So as a gentle man when you are dissatisfied with your party and you are running on the platform of the party, you have been elected on the platform of the party and you are dissatisfied with the party, you should resign. That is the hallmark of a gentleman; you don’t cross, you don’t carry the mandate of the people, a mandate given to PDP, you don’t carry it to another party. Step down and you now say I am going to contest on APC platform. And if APC wins and if it says you should go you go; you don’t carry the mandate… it’s like a woman married to Chief Magege; and bearing my name as Mrs. Magege, and all of a sudden without divorcing me she wants to marry somebody else. Is that not bigamy? Is that not an offence punishable by imprisonment? We must begin to get things right.
Let me ask you, what does this type of action speak about the intelligence of the cross carpeting governors; middle way into the PDP mandate they are carrying are now jettisoning the party and carrying that same mandate to another party?
It is part of our selection process in PDP. We pick every Dick and Harry; every stupid person that comes in we pick without thinking of their integrity; that’s the problem. But it is a matter of evolution; we will get it right. The governors have jumped the gun, let’s see how they can come back.