Aduge’s anointing as the flag bearer of the Warri North Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP in the forthcoming LGA poll in the council is victory already for the party. It suffices to say that we may just quickly begin to address him as such. Of truth, and with the political structures on ground in Warri North, it will be quicker to have a camel pass through an eye of a noodle than for a candidate of the All Progressive Congress, APC to win a single ward in that council area. No serious candidate of the APC or any other party for that matter would put his money and time in an election where the umpire was also contesting as a candidate. Notwithstanding, Warri North PDP is a nut for any opposition to crack.
Being frankly, local government elections in Delta state have never been free and fair in the eyes of parties in the opposition. Being a state sponsored election, a party in power has always been accused of improprieties by acting as both an umpire and a contestant. The aforesaid might have justified the title of this report, even though one would not pretend that a title of such semantics would provoke some kind of apathy. The reason is not far-fetched. Hon. Aduge’s triumphing over other PDP Warri North hopefuls to emerge as the flagbearer of the Peoples’ Democratic Party in the forthcoming LG.A. election may not have translated into a victory over other contesting parties since actual voting has not been done. But what caliber of party and candidate go into election with Warri North Peoples’ Democratic Party, (PDP) which has all the Francise Omatseye, Godwin Ebosa, Michael Diden and Hon. Solo Mikie and come out without bleeding? In addition, the All Progressive Party, APC in Warri North is an appendix, if not an apron string to the Warri North Peoples’ Democratic Party.
Let me quickly add here that in politics anything can happen. However, with a clear head, l am full of doubt that the All Progressive Congress, whether in Warri North or in any other local government area within the state would dislodge the incumbent Peoples’ Democratic Party, even in the smallest election in the state, not even with recourse to the fact that the All Progressive Congress is the party at the center. One is therefore not surprised why no serious candidate of the All Progressive Congress had ever dared to contest election at the local government level where an incumbent is also a judge in his matter.
WHO IS HON. ADUGE OKORODUDU?
Hon. Aduge hails from Ebohimi and incidentally, he is presently a trustee of that community. Ebohimi is in ward 3 of the Warri North local government area. Aduge was born in the early 1970s in the Benin river. Like most indigenes of the Benini river, he did not attend Ginuwa Grammar School, Gbokoda. Perhaps, because he left the Benin river for Sapele when he was 11 years old. As a graduate of political science from the Delta state university, Aduge had never been employed, nor has he been appointed into any public office. If Aduge had ever nursed any political ambition, certainly, it was not to emerge as the chairman of Warri North LGA in such a dramatic twist of fate. In the Aduge’s circumstance, one might fingered the hands of fate. Little wonder William Shakespeare says in Hamlet that “we know what we are, but not what we may be”. Aduge is comfortable by all ramifications of the Nigerian standard. Perhaps, he would have preferred to be left alone as a contractor and a representative in his community leadership. Had there not been a collusion between Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan and Hon. Michael Diden, fate would never have smiled on Aduge who hadn’t the slightest idea that he was going to be picked as a consensus candidate to run in an election where all have been settled in the favour of the PDP ruling party.
Aduge may not be as conservative and shrewd as Hon. Godwin Ebosa yet, he is nothing close to the humility of Hon. Francise Maku, even though many are of the view that he is chivalrous and convivial. He may not be the vindictive type too. But, like Hon. Michael Diden, Aduge could go ‘dirty’ to impress authority. Whether Aduge would be as shrewd administratively as Hon. Benson Asin, Late Hon. Edward Olatuliwa and the tycoon businessman Ebosa remain to be seen. The fear is palpable that Aduge may run the Koko secretariat of the Warri North LGA in the same manner Hon. Diden did. Warri North under Hon. Diden suffered untold hardship as a result of administrative clumsiness. Whether Aduge would end up as a square peg in a round like several of his predecessors is a matter of time.
ADUGE’S POLITICAL ANTECEDENT
After Hon. Aduge’s active roles in the demised Concerned Itsekiris for Ibori, (CII), he was reported to have taken a sabbatical from active politics. During those periods, Dr. Alex Ideh who, alongside Chief Francise Omatseye were the sole financiers of CII never lost sight of Hon. Aduge. But in politics, nothing is permanent. The relationship between Hon. Aduge and Dr. Alex Ideh waned considerably following the collapse of CII which coincided with the emergence of Dr. Uduaghan as the sole political leader of Warri North during Chief James Ibori second term in office as executive governor of the state.
How Aduge fought his way into the Uduaghan’s political fold could not be explained. However, this time, he was more of a politician-contractor than a political foot-soldier. But his breakthrough was the IGTL contract which he won with Richard Omare Esq. in the capacity as an indigene of an impact and benefiting community to Chevron under the aegis of Itsekiri Regional Development Council, IRDC.
As a contractor, Aduge may not have come clean. A source reported that Aduge may have severely incurred the wrath of the people by not properly executing one or two contracts he executed in Warri North. One of such contracts was the water project along Korobe road, Koko. The contract which was awarded by DESOPADEC was shabbily executed and was even abandoned midway. This is not to say that executing contracts shabbily in Warri North was peculiar to Aduge. A survey showed that 90% of government contracts executed in Warri North were either dismally executed or abandoned by sons of the soil contractors who were also political leaders in the same council area. Worse for this anomaly is the riverine area where Aduge and a majority of Warri North political leaders hail from. There is no doubt that Aduge.s recent selection to bear the flag of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP in Warri North in the forthcoming LG A poll is convincing that Aduge was still relevant politically in Warri North politics.
HOW ADUGE MAY FARE AS CHAIRMAN IN THREE YEARS.
It will be wrong and indeed an ‘heresy’ for anyone to swallow, hook, line and sinker the insinuation that the Warri North local government does not have the resources to finance grassroot projects as a result of the fact that revenue was on the fall. Warri North may not be an urban council area like Warri South and Oshimili, but as a crude oil producing area, royalties come to the council as internally generated revenue. Has anybody bothered to know what these monies so generated locally spent on? In the last 6years or so, successive chairmen of the council area had not embarked on any project. Rather they were hiding behind the veil of a shortfall in revenue from the federating account. Worse was Chief Franchise Maku’s administration that auctioned all council’s vehicles leaving the council with a few vehicles only for the principal officers. For the avoidance of doubt, Warri North is one of the richest councils in the 774 council areas in the country. It is also the only council area in the federation where the chairman goes home monthly with between N6 and N2 Million as an unaccounted security vote.
The people of Warri North might have to come to terms with the reality that Aduge may go the same way as his predecessors. But governance is about responsibility and accountability. For Warri North to work in the next three years there must be a paradigm shift in the council’s leadership. Mediocre and Sycophants must not be tolerated and imposed on Aduge as aids and personal assistants. It is in public domain that very senior council staff in Warri North, the ranks of HMP and Treasurer ruined the administrations of Hon. Michael Diden, Hon David Edun and Hon. Chief Francise Maku. To circumvent a repeat of such administrative ineptitude, the way for experienced and intelligent SLG and supervisory councillors should be paved to work with Aduge. The likes of Emmanuel Ikomi, Michael Eyide and several other Warri North indigenes irrespective of their political affiliations should be given the opportunity to serve if there must be a turn around in the political and economic fortunes of Warri North in the shortest possible time.
