Why I Stand With Sheriff (OPINION)

By Fred Edoreh

In their flurry of political propaganda against him, someone wrote a piece titled “The Rise of Sheriff Oborevwori: From The Streets and Garage To Speaker And Now To Governorship Aspirant.”

His aim was to spite and discredit him and his argument was that Sheriff transformed from the street into the personality he has become today, therefore he should not be allowed to rise to greater heights.

In backgrounding his story, he told us how the Uvwie/Effurun community was not benefiting from the NNPC and oil establishments, leading to the protestation of the indigenes which gave rise to the emergence of Friday Ani and Uvwie Youth Movement to which Sheriff allegedly belonged.

In his words: “The people of Uvwie (capital Effurun) were not benefiting from the NNPC and other oil companies in that community. Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbos were the ones employed to neglect of the youths. There were those days when there were no militants or resource control. The positions left to Urhobos and Uvwies were laborer positions. As the wealthy boycotted the indigenes in their land, a young man called Friday Ani rose. Amongst the youths that were Friday Ani’s main men were Ghadafi, Newton, and a certain SHERRIFF OBOREVWORI.”

If the story is true, it only justifies the protestations of the Uvwie people and it should be a credit to Sheriff that he was part of that movement for the defense and assertion of the rights and privileges of his people.

Their action reminds us of the same actions by the likes of Isaac Adaka Boro, Ken Saro Wiwa, and political leaders like Diepreye Alamiesegha, Chief James Ibori, and Tompolo.

It is instructive that while they were struggling to assert the rights of their people, the children of the rich and affluent cared less, in their comfort.

However, from the streets, Sheriff transformed to acquire education to the level of Msc in Political Science and grew into political leadership, starting as Supervisory Councilor for Works covering Okpe and Uvwie areas, to Chairman of his Osubi Community, to Senior Special Assistant to Governor James Ibori, Special Adviser to Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, member and two times Speaker of the House of Assembly, Treasurer and later Deputy Chairman of the Conference of Speakers of Nigeria State Legislatures.

Some things speak for themselves. I see that if he had nothing to offer in knowledge, character, and capacity, Ibori wouldn’t have appointed him, Uduaghan would not have retained him, Osubi would not have made him their community leader, Okpe would not have elected him to the House twice, the House would not have elected him their Speaker twice and the Conference of Speakers would not have made him their treasurer and Deputy Chairman.

In his story, I see the resolve, determination, and strength of an ordinary man to rise above whatever social, economic, and political circumstances constrain many.

To reject such a one is also to reject all men who have risen from the slums to become great leaders of society. It is also to say that all the youths who had been involved in the struggle for the liberation and emancipation of the Niger Delta, including Militants who have been retrained under the Presidential Amnesty Programme, deserve no place in the system and in our governance. This stands against my principle of logic and natural right.

The writer also revealed that: “Sherriff Oborevwori who grew up as an Uvwie boy, saw that Shell was developing the Osubi Airport and with the demise of Friday Ani and the realization that Osubi was Okpe land and not Uvwie, he was to say his dad is really from Osubi and not Alaka (Uvwie) and so he raised his own army of boys and “negotiated” with Shell and then with Ibori and Uduaghan governments as they tried to build Delta a befitting airport. He (Sherriff) had to be compensated for the landing planes and “disturbance to the environment.” lmao. He was also to get all the contracts and he supplied workers to the companies trying to site companies near an airport. He (Sherriff) became the first Agbero of an airport in the universe.”

If “negotiation” means official, civilised and organised bargain or transaction with the authorities that be, then rather than vilify Sheriff, I would instead commend him for his smartness in recognising opportunity in the process leading to the bulding of the airport and mustering the courage to “negotiate” with almighty Shell and the governments of Ibori and Uduaghan.

The writer only cunningly failed to add that Sheriff was the President of Osubi Community and  had a right to ask for his people and for himself.

Or, should the Osubi people not have had a stake in the siting of an airport in their community? Should Sheriff also have denied himself and left all the contracts to other persons?

What was wrong with him making lands available for the realisation of the airport and charging for it as the writer said Sheriff did? What was wrong with him also asking for compensation from the community for noise pollution?

I am aware that as far back as 1990, the International Civil Aviation Agency endorsed charges against airlines for noise pollution. If that was obtainable at the international level, why not at the local level?

The criticisms against Sheriff only go to show that he is a very well-informed person, a dogged fighter, and a shrewd negotiator for his person and community. What you may want to call “streetwise,” and I see no wrong in that.

This is proven in the fact that, by his insistence, his native and local Osubi is now the gateway to Warri and its environs. The community is clean, progressive, peaceful, and ethnically united.

The reality in Osubi that he leads is that there can be no fighting unto bloodshed and the chairmanship of the quarters are held by various non-indigenes without discrimination. This resonates with his characterisation as a Pan-Deltan and a Unifier. Perhaps, the reason why he has been able to lead the House of Assembly successfully for two terms without rancour among members nor upheaval among the workers for several years.

True, Sheriff did not go to Harvard University, he grew up in the streets, but he has been able to relate with the real issues of development with an eye for opportunities for himself and his people, the resourcefulness to engage institutions and the acumen for the management of men and material.

He has been able to transform himself from the “Agbero of Uvwie Garage” that some wish to call him, by proceeding to acquire needed education with specialist certificates in leadership, governance, and legislative service with which he has projected himself and translated his struggles into meaningful leadership of community and state.

This transformation speaks to every Warri and Sapele boy, every Okere, Udu, Uvwie, Ekpan, Agbarho, Ughelli boy, all rural, slum, or swamp dwellers in Ijaw, Itsekiri, Urhobo, Isoko, Ndokwa, Ukwani, Ika, Oshimili and Aniocha lands, that we can all aspire to rise from our little, low, rough and tough beginnings to conquer the odds of our circumstances and achieve great heights in society.

He thus personifies the mutual aspiration of all persons to grow from grass to grace and in him, we find the assurance that any Deltan can be if he aspires to be.

If we reject that then we are rejecting the place of millions of common folks in society and advocating a system in which only the privileged children of golden spoons should thrive.

No doubt, the high and mighty are in conspiracy against him but I hope Deltans can see through the class war.