The newly elected chairman of Eleme Local Government Area that is landlord to over 120 companies, Philip Okparaji, a lawyer, has vowed to throw everything into the ring to ensure that investors and their assets were protected in the area.
The one-time caretaker committee chairman of Eleme said he trusted God to win and is now determined to address the challenges confronting the Eleme ethnic-nationality and restore the dignity of Eleme people without fail.
In an exclusive interview with BDSUNDAY, Okparaji said: “I repeat, power comes from God and I have what it takes. I have an agenda, a vision for the Eleme people, not just Eleme people but also to non-indigenes doing business especially the teaming investors”.
The lawyer said he has his uncompromised agenda to protect lives and investments and to deliver robust governance to Eleme people, stressing that the Eleme-industry-rich land should be a secured zone where lives and property are sacrosanct.
A cross section of the community who commended Okparaji for his articulation and preparedness to tackle insecurity now that he has won recalled how mysterious assassinations in Eleme in recent times by unknown assailants had heightened unabated.
A couple of killings still fresh in Alode community include killing of a female lawyer, Mary Obe, and her senior brother, Isaac Obe, the then Eleme Council Youth president, who were murdered in their cold blood. Also in March 2018, one Wuwu Ejire, 43, a carpenter by trade and father of four children was shot in Alode around 6.45pm by yet-to-be-identified gunmen.
Several other innocent persons had gone down in communities like Ebubu, Alesa, Aleto among others, through killings that had posed a challenge to the past council chairmen and Divisional Police officers and other security operatives; which now demands a holistic measure by Okparaji.
This is seen by many as the greatest challenge before the new council boss, but every visionary leader is seen to be armed with his or her agenda and mission for the people he wants to lead in governance.
The barrister in his mid-40s hails from Aleto Community in Eleme and from his leadership antecedents is likened to a child of destiny who enjoys his masters’ reward as fall-outs of his unalloyed loyalty to them. These are his political leaders and fathers in the persons of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State; Felix Obua, Rivers State PDP chairman; Ejor Ngowa, former chairman Eleme Local Government Area, and an Eleme PDP chieftain, Olaka Nwogu, as well as other PDP chieftains in Eleme.
As a sitting Eleme PDP chairman as one who served one term as Eleme Care-Taker-Committee (CTC) chairman under Governor Wike, he is now desirous to not only deliver PDP in Eleme to the governor in the 2019 coming election but also to take the mantle of leadership as the Area council chairman.
In the PDP chairmanship primaries across the state, Okparaji won the endorsement of his party leadership including Governor Wike’s who ensured that other co-aspirants from Eleme stepped down for him. From available records, he has proven to be a tested political figure that could deliver the governor in his domain as over 100,000 voters across the Eleme 10 communities or wards are already rooting for him and the governor.
Apart from his total loyalty, he is a well-baked academic with enviable credentials from prestigious institutions in the country. A peep into his academic journey has revealed that the young politician is a holder of Masters of Science degree in International Relations; Masters in Public Administration, a post Graduate Diploma (PGD) in Journalism; and he is rounding off his doctorate degree in International Law/Jurisprudence and Human Right at the Rivers State University.
The unassuming lawyer while responding to a question in an interview that despite those qualifications, he has remained humble and loyal to his political leaders in both his public and private life, said: “There is no doubt about my loyalty to my masters and leaders alike in the course of my political career and service to humanity. Even a wife and husband are loyal to each other because it is a pre-requisite to success of individuals in life”.
Some political analysts in Eleme are of the opinion that the chairmanship position Okparaji has clinched was an opportunity for other Eleme PDP members from other communities other than Aleto. Their argument is that the lawyer had enjoyed caretaker chairmanship once and also was the PDP chairman in the local government area.
Many however, said what is going for the politician was destiny, endorsed by God Himself otherwise, the PDP leaders in the state could have easily told him to drop the ambition for the sake of equity, fairness and justice to hold sway for other eligible contestants.
However, the new chairman, who says he was not losing sleep over his critics’ opinion said: “My aim and objective as the chairman of the party is to make sure by 2019, Eleme should be able to deliver PDP to Governor Nyesom Wike unlike what happened in 2015 when PDP was defeated in Eleme. We are still carrying the shame. But I want to say by 2019, we will deliver Eleme for PDP, so there is no rancour or division”.
The chief of Ewuu in Aleto Community, Emere Joseph Oluji who also spoke with our correspondent on Okparaji’s emergence as chairman said the candidature of Okparaji was not foisted on Eleme electorate but his antecedents as a one-time CTC chairman endeared him to both old and the young, especially the youth bodies across the Eleme ten wards.
Oluji enumerated or attributed Okparaji’s acceptance to honesty, God-fearing, cult-free, loyal and magnanimous, pointing out that when he was office as CTC chairman, he was frugal with all financial allocations coming to the Local Government by ensuring prompt payment of salaries and wages to workers, payment of allowances to all ex-chairmen and councilors of the local government until he left without a record of embezzlement or misappropriation of funds to himself and affiliates or cronies.
The Ewuu chief further attested that Okparaji’s loyalty to PDP chieftains, members and supporters in Eleme coupled with his sound political office management, Governor Wike believed in him as an Aleto-Eleme choice to deliver the PDP in 2019 elections.
“As an in-coming executive chairman, cultism in Eleme could be brought to zero level because when he, Okparaji, was on seat as CTC chairman, activities of cultism were brought to a low level because he was touching their lives psychologically through empowerment and to bring them to normal life; these and many more are the reasons he has won the people’s support,” Oluji said.
Godwin Egba, Port-Harcourt
