I’ll Always Maintain Bond of Friendship with Okowa, Says Edevbie

Omon-Julius Onabu in Asaba

 Delta State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship hopeful, Olorogun David Edevbie, has said that no factor, not even politics could come between him and the State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa owing to the bond of friendship between them.

Edevbie disclosed this during a consultative meeting with delegates of Ika North-East Local Government Area, Governor Okowa’s home place, yesterday.

Describing the governor as “a good man” who bore no grudges against him for running against him in the PDP gubernatorial primary in 2014, he urged the delegates to discountenance any rumour of disagreement between them as unfounded and merely born out of political sentiments as they had no quarrel whatever.

“I was here in 2014 and some of you might remember what I said then. If you recall, I talked about us as a football team and I said your son is Number 9 and I am Number 10; that if your son scores, we will all support him; your son scored and I supported him fully from day one. And, that is why he appointed me his commissioner of finance for four years. You don’t put someone you don’t trust to be in charge of your money.

“Your son is sensible, so he picked somebody he trusted to manage the state funds for him. After I did four years on that, he picked me again to be his Chief of Staff for two years. And I have given him my full support since he became governor in 2015.

“This is an opportunity for me to ask you to thank him on my behalf. He appointed me even though I ran against him in 2014. Throughout the time I worked for him, he didn’t treat me like a subordinate. He treated me like a friend, like a colleague. That is unusual in Nigeria.

“Anything you hear today is politics. He is my personal friend and if you ask him, he will confirm it. We are friends. There is no enmity between us, none at all. You know, in the court of the king, the king doesn’t have enemies. It is the courtiers, the people who don’t really know the history, those who got into the court through talks and tricks, they are the ones who say, ‘Oga and that man are quarrelling.’ But it is lie, there is no quarrel at all, there is nothing like that.  You know, in the same court you have jesters and clowns. There are plenty. They are the ones that talk nonsense, those who don’t know but claim to know. They are like somebody listening to a football commentary on radio but claims to be more conversant with the match than the players on the pitch. We have come together and we will always be together, forget anything to do with politics.”

Edevbie, who spoke mostly in Pidgin English also commended the leadership of the party and delegates of Ika North East for the enthusiasm with which they received him and the love and support shown him by the youths of Governor Okowa’s home town.”