Omo-Agege and Federal Polytechnic Orogun [kwale]; Matters Arising

By Olorogun Olori Magege

So much has been said of the several Federal projects that Senator Ovie Omo Agege attracted to Orogun Kingdom but all sited at Orhomuru his village. Many have raised ethical issues about a Senator representing eight local government areas siting more than four Federal projects in his little village in the extreme corner of his kingdom.

We must remind ourselves that the Federal Polytechnic project was the brainchild of the Member Representing Ukwuani-Ndokwa Federal Constituency and it was to be sited at Kwale. The matter was on the floor of the House of Representatives and the good people of Ndokwa were already celebrating the prospect of the school being sited in their community.

Suddenly in the upper chamber where Senator Ovie Omo Agege holds sway as the deputy senate President, a bill for the establishment of a Polytechnic in Orogun surfaced. Both Orogun and Kwale are in Delta State.

Not too many people were surprised and amused. The Orogun people, according to a version of their history, are paternally Ukwuanis from Abbi but maternally Urhobo. Indeed the typical Orogun person is bilingual speaking both Ukwuani and Urhobo interchangeably in conversations. So when Ovie, therefore, decided to sponsor a bill establishing a Federal Polytechnic in Orogun in the Upper Chamber knowing similar bill sponsored by his colleague representing Ndokwa Ukwuani Federal Constituency was being entertained at the lower chamber, many with a conscience were very surprised. Orogun and Kwale are both in Delta State and the possibility of two federal polytechnics in one state is near zero. Ovie muzzled his way through and his bill scaled through.

One would have expected Ovie to compensate Kwale with one of the many federal projects he attracted to his Senatorial District having hijacked the Federal Polytechnic Kwale dream. At least the Law School would have been an appropriate compensation. But such is not in the Machiavellian world in which Ovie lives.

Ovie decided that the school’s campus should be in his Orhomuru village. He went on to grab ancestral lands that belong to some indigenous families of nearby Ugono Village without due process or compensation; huge expanse of land measuring 7 miles square. The dispossessed families are today without land to eke-out a livelihood nor money to start a new life. Surprisingly Ovie left his family’s sprawling land untouched saving it for future speculation. Is he not a smart guy!!!!

And there is no prospect of the Federal Government or State Government paying compensation to the land owners. Because Ovie ‘donated’ the land to Federal Government as if the land belonged to him, payment of compensation may be impossible. Had the Federal Government approached the State Government for the land as is the required procedure, the State Government would have compensated the land lords for enumerated economic goods on the land. But because he wanted no one to share in the glory, Ovie decided to grab peoples’ land and ‘donate’ to Federal Government. But he left his family land out of the ‘donation’. What selfishness and wickedness.

Till date, Ovie had not paid a kobo to the landlords he dispossessed of their land. Meanwhile, he is surveying his family land and plotting it into smaller portions for private development.

And this is the man who wants to govern Delta State.

God forbid!

– Magege wrote from Ugono Orogun

PS. I thank all of you who by calls, text messages and WhatsApp messages advised that I should be security conscious because of the nature of the persons I am writing about. God is in control.