Delta South Seat: Isoko Nation Endorses Joel-Onowakpo for Senate

Sylvester Idowu in Warri

The Isoko Development Union (IDU), the apex socio-cultural organisation of the Isoko nation, has endorsed the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta South senatorial zone, Mr. Thomas Joel-Onowakpo, as its preferred candidate for the zone in the 2023 general election.

It noted that the Isoko people had been supporting other ethnic nationalities in the senatorial district to hold various political offices in the last 20 years, saying it was only fair and just to give room to them to produce the next senator for the district.

The endorsement was made yesterday at the annual conference of the IDU held at Oleh, Delta State, during which Isoko traditional rulers gave their blessings to Joel-Onowakpo and the House of Representatives candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the Isoko federal constituency, Mr. Johnson Ukodhiko

Speaking during the conference, the President-General of the union, Prof. Chris Akpotu, noted that the Isoko people had agreed on the senatorial seat “and we have continued to pursue that vision irrespective of political party affiliation.”

He described Joel-Onowakpo as a very competent and strong personality, saying: “l can assure you that by the time the Senate is put together, Joel-Onovwakpo will rank top even though he is going to be a first timer.”

Thanking Isoko indigenes, DESOPADEC and other organisations who provided relief materials to victims of the recent flood, he said the Light Up Isoko project had “attracted much attention, and we have been involved in multi-level discussions with an international firm of turbine power from the United States.”

While expressing worry about what he described as the “under tapped potential” in the Isoko nation, he noted that the people were yet to optimise the gains that should ordinarily come with their “barrage of personalities and this to my mind is borne out of systemic bickering laced with the pull-him-down syndrome and the satanic dosage of egoism.”

Akpotu advised the Isoko people to “resist any uncivilized approach that defies the essence of democracy” in the forthcoming polls, saying: “A sure mix of your functional conscience and your thumb will do the magic of electing service-oriented leaders and not “Mafiosi’ leaders who will not have anything to do with his electors after declaring them winners.”