By Charles Okogene
In 2003, just four years into this political dispensation, Rt. Hon. Victor Ochei recorded an electoral feat that kept everyone in his Aniocha North Local Government Council asking who is this dark horse that has disrupted the political permutation in the LG; who is this hitherto unknown fellow that has altered the political landscape of the state constituency, that has overturned the apple cart?
That year and against the counsel of heavyweight People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains like the late deputy governor of the state, Benjamin Elue, Ochei threw his hat into the ring, contested the election with Kress Njiokwuemeni Esq to determine who represents Aniocha North state constituency at the state house of assembly.
He ran on the platform of an equally unpopular party, United Nigeria Peoples Party (UNPP) while his opponent was the candidate of the biggest party in Nigeria then, the PDP; and had the support of the then governor of the state, Chief James Ibori. They had told Ochei that Ibori will not like the idea that he will contest against Njiokwueneni because he was the chosen one for that post and that moreover, it will be a tough one for him to defeat Njiokwumenei who was by then not only the representative of Aniocha North state constituency but the majority leader in the house with all the war chests, connections and the listening ears of the occupant of Government House in Asaba and the party echelon.
That did not deter Ochei.
Instead, like the biblical Pharoh, Ochei hardened his heart and went into the election with massive support from the grassroots, rural market women/men that he lured into his side with his mass transits and when the result of the election was announced by the umpire, INEC, Ochei won.
The jubilation that followed knew no bounds just as those that initially asked him to perish the thought of going into the election could not believe it. While on his part, Ibori the master strategist of Delta State, started the process of wooing him to PDP.
And in 2006 ahead of 2007 general elections he fell for it. He joined the PDP and got re-elected for a second term and later rose to become the speaker of the assembly in 2011 till his resignation in 2014.
Generally Known and referred to then as a ‘giant killer’, all thanks to the way he emerged as Aniocha North state constituency representative, the big question on the lips of everyone in the state now that he has dumped APC for Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) is, will he repeat that 2003 feat in 2027.
Can he defeat an Ifeanyi Okowa, the immediate past governor of the state who triumphed over him at the PDP governorship primary in 2015; a defeat that drove him to Accord Party on whose platform he contested Delta North Senatorial District election but lost to the late Senator Peter Nwaoboshi at the 2015 general election.
Does he still have that grassroots support that he used against Njiokwuemen in 2003?
These and many more are some of the questions that the electorate in Aniocha, Ndokwa, Ika and Oshimili, the local government area that make up Delta North Senatorial District will provide answers to.