By Norbert Chiazor
I met Chief Ighoyota Amori in 1998 in company of Chief James Ibori. An encounter that would change the course of history.
The setting was Ibori’s place at Bendel estate Warri, a sassy one-storey building on a serene street near Anchor of Hope church.
Ibori was preparing to be governor, first under GDM and then PDP. A Herculean dream for a man with hazy anonymity then in Delta political landscape.Among few people, he bore a terse tag- a businessman based in Abuja. That was his identity at a time when social media and its meddlesome ubiquitous scrutiny were non-existent.
I recall Ibori’s earliest close-knit foot soldiers, especially in the Warri/ Delta Central axis. You can count them on the fingertips: Ray Inijie, Mrs Emeka Tadiode, Surveyor Terry Noah, Chief Mike Umeru (now a king), Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan and Amori as the most visible man Friday.
With this small team and others recruited across Delta, Ibori barely 40 years then, hit the streets as a PDP politician
Two mountains confronted him as a PDP governorship candidate. The conservative elite in Delta especially in his ethnic Urhobo land, saw him as a joker. Chief Moses Kragha, his governorship rival under APP, came to the political podium dressed in natty outlook – ex-Shell executive, oil and gas big boy and a proud alumnus of world-famous Imperial College London, where leaders learn.
But in memorable exclusive lines to this journalist, Ibori said, “I am still young; I believe I will be governor one day if I don’t die”.
January 9,1999, the Delta gubernatorial election was held, and Ibori left mouths agape. He scored 558,332 votes to defeat Kragha who trailed behind with 296,902 votes. Destiny fulfilled, Ibori became governor. This sent Kragha to political oblivion, a mysterious eclipse to date.
In all of Ibori’s struggles, the loyalty of one man, Amori, was constantly tested. He stood and stood. In good and bad times Day and night. Morning and evening.When the party rocked and trouble roared. When voices of Ibori’s supporters were sometimes muted in dangerous fights and fires, Amori was the lone trumpeter.
He was cajoled and cursed, blasted and blackmailed. Yet he remained the most vocal die-hard helmsman of Ibori at the season of his national visibility and lowest ebb, peace and war times.
When Ibori was challenging the establishment under the Obasanjo administration, crusading resource control for Niger Delta, Amori cheered fearlessly. During his political saga at home and abroad, Amori braved solidarity unstoppable.
In one of the most unforgettable political intrigues ever witnessed in Delta, two persons, Goodnews Agbi and Anthony Alabi, dragged Ibori to court over an alleged earlier conviction by the Bwari Area court relating to the disappearance of factory roofing sheets. All in a thick plot to stop him from contesting the April 19, 2003 governorship elections.
One morning in 2003, Amori stormed the Delta TV Guest programme at Edjeba, Warri (I was the show host then) and told the world point blank that he was prepared to “dance naked” to prove Ibori’s innocence and shame his accusers.
Local tabloids, including Urhobo Voice and some national mainstream newspapers, went to town the next day with screaming headlines reporting Amori’s damning interview.
After a protected legal battle, the courts dismissed the cases and paved the way for Ibori’s second tenure, leaving Amori gyrating.
How time flies! Today, social media is awash with stories over Amori’s critical stance on the politics of Ethiope West relating to the APC defection of federal lawmaker Erhiatake, daughter of his long-standing allied leader, Ibori.
Standing uncompromisingly with PDP, Amori should be spared the guillotine. That he has continued to romanticize his first love PDP, must not be taken as perfidy.
No one can ever be more loyal to Ibori than Amori. Anybody can partake in a period of “amala politics”.Only a rugged protege like Amori can participate when “hemlock” is being served a master. A thoughtful Odidigborigbo once reciprocated admirably when he backed Amori for senator under PDP in 2015.
Hate him or love him. There is a flower no one, not even an enemy can ever take from Amori. He has strength of character. He is not Janus.The Greek con man with double face. Urhobo call it “Kpobone Kpobone”.
With armoured Amori, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori is mobile ahead of 2027.
– Chiazor is Former Chairman Nigeria Union of Journalists Delta State Council/ Executive Assistant, Media to the Governor.
