*Okowa and his son, Jerry* ~ Truth Reporters

 _By Williams Eghebi_ 

There is no father who is not proud of the exploits of his  child. In  our clime, one must not be a biological father before referring to a child as son. Thus, a  child with sterling characters has many parents. Engr. Jerry Uwanimbiye Ehiwarior is a handy example of people with many parents. 

That Senator Ifeanyi Okowa treats Engr. Ehiwarior as his son is not news to a few like us. What is astonishing,  is that he got the opportunity to make it public. The occasion was the Delta State PDP campaign rally at Agbor, last Saturday. The environment was both convenient and fertile for such proclamation. 

Few years after graduation, he was appointed Special Assistant to the governor on students matters, a position he held for eight years. In the last Atiku/Okowa  presidential campaign, he was appointed Director of Campaigns on Students Matters. The position put him in a very good stead to interact with national party leaders and power brokers including Abubakar Atiku and PDP Governors. 

Behold the setting! The party was ending the campaign rally that traversed the entire twenty-five local government areas of the state.  With the presence of Senator Okowa at the rally, we never missed those who ought to be there but were absent. 

At the rally which turned into a carnival, Engr. Ehiwarior was officially presented as the Ika South PDP Chairmanship Candidate to the party members and followers. Barr Kingsley Esiso, Delta State Chairman of the party, led the team.  Victor Nwokolo and Festus Chukwuyem Okoh were in attendance. Ned Nwoko was not there even if he represents the area. Anyway, he will have a date with me soon.  

The podium for the comperes and news crew was not overloaded until Senator Okowa was invited. As usual, everybody, I mean everybody scampered  to join him. No bad feelings for the cult following.  After all, in Ika, nay Anioma, his imprints remain evergreen and are the sources of loud silence in the face of seemingly absence of patronage. 

Senator Okowa is not known to be a man  easily moved by secular  music in public. He does dance and sing  gospel songs. At times too, he borrows tambourine from his beautiful wife to support  sing-along gospel music. Last Saturday was a major  departure. He was visibly happy, radiating smiles, freely. 

I was there with him on the podium and so were Deacon Moses Iduh, Hon Victor Nwokolo, Dr. Martins Okonta, Chief Wilson Oni Agbobu, Hon Festus Chukwuyem Okoh, Dr. Donald Peterson,Hon Cordelia Anyagwu, Chief Peter Idion, Hon Sony Ogwu and Mr. Cosmas Igbinije. The disco jockey was very effective. As the music of Flavour came out from the boom box, Jerry found his way to a vantage position though his wife was not as lucky. 

Senator Okowa, observing the electrified audience signaling the infectious love for the chairmanship candidate, joined the dance and effortlessly sang in unison with others who took advantage of the tactical permission to flaunt their dancing talents.  When the music was stopped, the former governor looked at the DJ, to suggest that he was not done with the dance. 

With the microphone in his hands, Senator Okowa delayed. He gazed at all sides of the canopy-filled arena with measured smiles. After the choreographed party greetings, he thanked the people of Ika South for their support for him over the years. He empathized with them for the current hardship that the current government seems helpless. 

" I was aware of the initial squabble before  the choice of chairmanship candidate was made. I am glad that the emergence of Engr. Jerry Ehiwarior has brought permanent peace in the party and by extension, the entire local government area.

 

" I knew Jerry over twelve years ago through his late father at Alihame. I have observed him closely since then. I am proud to say that Jerry is my son.  I worked closely with him for eight years while I was the governor. In the last one year he served as commissioner, I understand he performed very well", Okowa noted.

Continuing, Senator Okowa alluded that his son is a special breed as he's able to relate with the young and old.  

" We know the candidate we brought. We are blessed to have a candidate like Jerry. I thank other aspirants for accepting the choice.I have the confidence he will deliver. We need somebody like him that clearly understands the terrain and locality.We will support him to succeed. There is so much the local government council can do now", the former governor concluded. 

As Senator Okowa marks his birth anniversary today, not all will gain entry to have a slice from the cake, choice wines  and chilled champagnes that may be served. For us, we can access him through Jerry, his son. When a man gradually gets older, he finds a way  to make public  his assets and estate inheritors. Jerry has been proclaimed as a Prince in Okowa's political dynasty. 

Happy birthday, Senator Okowa. 

Jerry is here!

 *Williams Eghebi is the head, PDP Media Campaign Team, Ika South*