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Delta North 2027: Why Senate will not return to Aniocha-Oshimili,says Okoh

grassrootspublishers.com 2025/2/7

By: Benson Nwoko

Nigerian elections are some of the most turbulent in Africa. Deep ethnoreligious differences between the country’s diverse nationalities often rear their heads during elections, sometimes leading to overt violence resulting in loss of lives and property. The precipitates of such violence include flawed electoral processes and longstanding feelings of relative deprivation and exclusion. These contestations, according to Labinjo (2007) and Adebayo (2016) have always been due to the propensity of certain ethnic and geographical parts of the country wanting to hold on to political power in ways that undermine the political aspirations of other groups. These feelings have historical antecedents.

Thus, expectedly, shortly after Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999, there were calls for a renegotiation of the country’s political landscape, vis-à-vis the contestation of power. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) adopted a rule on a rotational presidency to mitigate the feelings of marginalization to foster national unity. The arrangement saw the emergence of Olusegun Obasanjo, a Christian from Nigeria’s South West, and Atiku Abubakar, a Muslim from the North East as the President and Vice-President, respectively. The ‘agreement’ meant that the next President after Olusegun Obasanjo would be a Northerner and probably a Muslim, who would be expected to choose a Southerner as deputy. Interestingly, although there were no provisions under the Nigerian constitution for the rotational presidency, the arrangement also considers, in some instances at the state level, candidates’ religious beliefs before pairing them to run for office (at the state and federal levels).

It was based on the above supposition, that a strong Chieftain of APC and Ndokwa Liberation Front, President, High Chief Dennis Okoh,aka Denco has call for a the rotation senate seat in Anioma nation to mitigate the feelings of marginalized Ndokwa people to foster national unity, he insisted that the next senator from Anioma in 2027 must come from Ndokwa nation.

Okoh made this statement on Sunday during an interview with newsmen in Kwale, while responding to calls for Aniocha-Oshimili to produce the next senator in the upcoming electoral cycle. He said, “Those who have controlled the affairs of this Anioma nation, in terms of politics, have historically been more interested in the national interest than sectional interest.

He went on to state unequivocally, “For 2027, I, as a politician, authoritatively say—without any fear of contradiction or equivocation—that senate will not return to the Aniocha-Oshimili in 2027. This is not how we do it.”

Okoh said desperate people are the ones saying that the Aniocha-Oshimili has to continue in 2027. It is on record that since 1960,Anioma Nation has produced eight senators and from the statistic, since 1960 only eight (8)senators have represented the Anioma nation and out of the eight representatives Aniocha/Oshimili has produced five (5)Senators, Ika axis produced two(2) while Ndokwa produced only one(1) Senator in the person of Chief Patrick Osakwe. Below are the names of the eight senators and years of representation:

1) Chief D.C. Osadebey 1960 – 63  Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency and became the Premier of Midwest. Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency
2) Mrs Kerry. 1964. Nominated . Ika Constituency
3) Nosike Ikpo 1979 -1983. Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency
4)Francis Nwajei elected during Babangida. Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency
5) Chief Patrick Osakwe 1999-2011 Ndokwa Constituency
6) Arthur Okowa 2011-2015. Ika Constituency
7) Nwaoboshi Peter 2015-2023. Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency
8) Ned Nwoko 2023 till date Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency

Okoh explained that in Nigeria’s 64 years as an independent nation,the Aniocha / Oshimili Constituency has been in total dominance and control of the senate power for five times out of the total of eight senators that represented Anioma nation since 1960. He said that the Aniocha / Oshimili Constituency has had a better share of the senate more than any other blocs in Anioma Nation.

Aniocha / Oshimili Constituency must not allow itself to be goaded into actions that could have serious ramifications for its political stability. The Ndokwa axis is the most pro-Nigeria region of the Anioma and the most cheated since 1960,If Aniocha / Oshimili Constituency makes that mistake of holding on to senate power ,they would have inadvertently created a perfect storm that could lead to the disintegration of Anioma unity and zonation.

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