By Monday Uwagwu
IN ancient Africa, it was long held that no seedling, no matter how virile, became a tree overnight.
And this is true
This ancient African wise crack has an equivalent in the medieval-era saying that great oaks from little acorns grow.
The two proverbs in contention in the preceding paragraphs may have come from different climes and at different times.
However, in terms of the critical element of import and essence, they drive to one end: there is always a small, little beginning to a big, awesome story of success.
This is true of many great minds in human history; it is no less so for our subject, Senator (Dr.) Ifeanyi Okowa, former Governor of Delta State, ex-Senator, erstwhile commissioner past local government chairman and former Vice Presidential candidate of the People s Democratic Party, PDP, in the 2023 general polls.
The life journey of Senator Okowa, especially the political segment of it, did not come easy. It is a product of the inter-play of two major factors – providence and, if the truth must also be said to the eternal shame of the biblical devil as it is often said, honest hard work.
Yes, in far more ways than one, God and Mother Nature appear to have cohered to bequeath him with success, but since neither God nor Mother Nature rewards indolence, it is also only safe to assume that the bequeathal had foundation in one fact; Okowa was a ready instrument for positive use at their hands. He was a mind consistently at work on the various elements that constitute and ensure enduring all-round success.
Like all successful stories, the Okowa tale came at great price of sacrifice in due diligence, consistently applied.
Born on July 8, 1959, he Hails from Owa-Alero in what is now Ika North-East local government area of Delta State. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa attended Iroro Primary School, Owa-Alero, before proceeding to the impressive Edo College, Benin City; that was between 1970 and 1976, where he earned the Higher School Certificate (HSC). His performance in the HSC examination, (by placing second on the chart of top- flight all-round performers in all of what was then Bendel State (now Edo and Delta states), was exceptional.
With the HSC in tow, Okowa proceeded to Nigeria’s first university – the University of Ibadan – to study Medicine. In 1981, much to the positive amazement of stakeholders – on account of his age- Okowa bagged the MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery) at Just 22 years, when, in those days, his peers were either resitting the First School Leaving Certificate (FSLC) examination or, at best, taking the school leaving certificate examination then solely conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).
He later did the mandatory one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme in 1982.
On completion of the NYSC call up, Okowa went into medical practice as a medical officer on the payroll of the defunct Bendel State Hospital Management Board (HMB).
But this was brief.
Apparently, realizing that not all of his professional aspiration can readily be met in the public sector, Okowa, brimming with passion, opted for private medical practice by founding the Victory Medical Centre in Igbanke, in the old Orhionmwon local government area of the defunct Bendel State. That was in 1986. Following the success of the founding branch, a new branch of Victory Medical Centre was later established in Owa-Alero, Okowa’s ancestral home.
Without an inkling of doubt, Okowa enjoyed the vista and privilege the medical practice offered him to serve the public. This was evident in the way he related with both his patients and others.
Yet, there was something in him that kept gnawing at his conscience: the opportunity to raise the decibel of his service to the public. He was later to find this expression in politics, into which he plunged with uncommon zeal and altruism.
With an existing reputation for dexterity, due process and uncommon commitment to the public cause, Okowa, once in politics, became a reckonable brand and positive reference point for anyone interested in quality selfless service. It was, therefore, little wonder that he, soon afterwards, became secretary to Local Government, (SLG) Ika Local Government, and later, following the split of that council area into Ika South and Ika North-East local government areas, he was elected Chairman of Ika North-East Local Government. He held this position from 1991 till 1993, when the Sani Abacha military putsch of November 17, 1993, toppled the Interim National Government (ING) led by Chief Ernest Shonekan.
Even though the Abacha November 1993 coup led to the dismantling of all democratic structures in the country, the passion for partisan politics, among many altruistic politicians, including Senator Okowa, did not entirely extinguish. Infact, its flourish was only waiting for the opportuned time.
And it soon came.
As is all too well known now, the international community gave the Abacha coup and government the cold shoulder and, in the face of the integrity/legitimacy question around it within the country, it was no surprise that the administration collapsed, following Abacha’s death, thus ushering in the government of Gen. Abdulsalani Abubakar.
Learning hard from the global trend of antagonism and the growing local hostility to military rule, no matter how benevolent, the Abubakar administration moved fast to entrench and implement a political transition programme that was profiled by outright cynicism, the registration of three political parties and the ceding of their presidential flag bearers to only Nigeria’s South-West axis. This – the ceding of the presidential candidates of the three parties (Chief Olusegun Obasanjo) for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae (for both All People’s Party) (APP), and the Alliance for Democracy (AD) to the South-West – was in an attempt to assuage the anger of the Yoruba (the major ethnic group in the axis) who had been done in by the death in incarceration of the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 Presidential poll, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, the Aareonakakanfo of the entire Yoruba race.
Under the political transition programme of Gen. Abubakar, civil rule rebirthed in Nigeria in 1999, by which time Senator Okowa, just as some of his contemporaries in the Grassroot Democratic movement (GDM) which was established under the aegis of the ill-fated political transition programme of the Sani Abacha, had significantly honed their political skills. It is in eternal tribute to his acquisition of this level of efficiency that he was later to play an active role in the subsequent political activities in the state.
With the return of civil rule in 1999, Okowa’s pedigree stood him out as a worthy leadership material with particular slant on organizational prowess, even among his co-founders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State. Given his resourcefulness, it was little suspiring that Okowa was named Coordinator, Delta North Senatorial District, for the then fledgling party and its gubernatorial candidate, Chief James Ibori, then a private security consultant to the Federal Military Government.
In that poll of 1999, Chief Ibori beat Engr. Moses Kragha of the All Peoples Party (APP), to be elected Governor of Delta State, and the second after Chief Felix Ovudoroye Ibru, now late.
Following Chief Ibori’s success, Okowa was named Secretary of the Transition Committee to lay the foundation for the incoming administration of Chief Ibori. He was later appointed Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources when Chief Ibori constituted his Executive Committee (EXCO) and held that position from July 1999 to April 2001, when, following a reshuffle of the EXCO, he was assigned the portfolio of Water Resources. He held that position from April 2001 to May 2003, when the first-term of office of Gov. Ibori ran full cycle.
During Ibori’s second term as Governor, Okowa was made Commissioner for Health and he held that post until October 2006, when he resigned to vie for the gubernatorial ticket of the state on the ticket of the PDP.
However, this was not altogether the success that Okowa had envisioned. He lost the race to Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, who eventually won the 2007 governorship poll in the state on the PDP ticket.
Uduaghan beat Chief Great Ogboru of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) to become successor to Chief Ibori, and the third elected Governor of Delta State, after Chief Ibru and Chief Ibori.
In spite of his loss and subsequent inability to actualize his 2007 governorship dream, Okowa never said die; he kept the faith, and in what has become a positive reference point in politics of the state, helped Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan – who beat him to the PDP gubernatorial ticket in 2007 – to win the governorship poll. This trait – and perhaps many related others – helped him (Okowa) become the Director-General (DG), Uduaghan Campaign Organisation, and, arising from the subsequent election victory of Uduaghan, was named the Secretary of the incoming Uduaghan administration.
In Africa, it is said that the good wine needs no bush; Okowa’s many virtues, like ubiquitous air, soon earned him the post of Secretary to State Government (SSG), under Governor Uduaghan, but he resigned the position to contest for the ticket of the PDP for the Delta North Senatorial seat for the 2011 general elections.
With regard to the primary for the PDP Delta North Senatorial Zone ticket held in January of that year, Okowa, in the rerun, beat Dr. Mariam Ali, wife of the former National Chairman of the party, by 1,446 votes to 108. He went on to beat the candidate of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP), Barrister Ned Munir Nwoko, by 98,140 votes to 67,985 votes. Following this victory, Okowa was returned to the Senate, the upper chamber of Nigeria’s bicameral legislature, for a four-year term that was to consolidate his political experience and imbue him with the repertoire of legislative experience that later proved strategic in his administrative arsenal.
In the Senate, Okowa’s pedigree won the hearts of not a few, and made its leadership to name him head of the strategic Senate Committee on Health. As head of that committee, Okowa, in collaboration with other stakeholders, held the first and second National Summits on Health in Asaba and Benin, in 2013 and 2014, respectively. This is aside of the legion other revolutionary bills introduced into the health care system of the country, including the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
Inspite of his spectacular performance in the Senate, Okowa never lost his focus on the ultimate political trophy in the state – Government House, Asaba – and worked stridently towards that realization. Like the experienced hunter stalking his prized game, Okowa kept his political gunpowder dry, while awaiting the big game, which eventually came on a day he shone in full political radiance.
As is now history, Okowa, in spite of all odds, won the December 8, 2014 PDP gubernatorial primary in Asaba, beating all others in a packed field. Following that victory, he mounted a high-heel campaign that capped in his victory in the April 11, 2015 governorship poll, beating resilient ubiquitous candidate, Great Ovedje Ogboru of Labour Party, and O’tega Emerhor of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Okowa’s victory in the poll was historic in several ways: It defied the bandwagon effect conventional with Third World politics by the overrun of the APC (which candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, had won the March 28, 2015 presidential poll over the PDP’s flag bearer and subsisting President, (Goodluck Ebele Jonathan) as well as veteran gubernatorial contender, Great Ogboru, and equally confirmed the political sagacity and resilience of both Delta PDP and its candidate, Okowa. Such a feat is not common place, except among the truly smart; Okowa, by that victory gave vent to his effective representation of his SMART development agenda.
