Expectedly, thousands of people have been swimming into the premises of the former governor to rejoice with him.
In this special report, our man, Joshua Erubami takes a critical look into how the return of Ibori affected economic activities in the town. Read on...
IT has become common place that the long awaited return of Delta State former Governor, Chief James Ibori in the prime hours of Saturday, January 4 has changed the political landscape of the state and the entire Niger Delta region by extension.
For justifiable reasons, throngs of politicians have continued to promenade into the enlarged mansion of the returning former governor even till the late hours of yesterday.
All the visits have been vaguely described as “solidarity visit” despite the visitors coming from different political families, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), but analysts strongly suggest that there are some underlying political configurations in the visits that will manifest soon in the politics of the state.
Much attention have been drifted to the higgledy-piggledy that surrounded Ibori’s return to the hushed Oghara town, but, on Tuesday, fresh facts emerged to the effect that the myriad unfolding that greeted the former governor’s return is much more historic in other ways than the thousands of people who thronged to welcome him.
Chief James Ibori
Besides the dancing and rejoicing, some sections of Oghara economy leapt from their initial low ebb almost to their saturation threshold. Specifically, the affected economies were those of photography, music, graphic designs, bars and restaurants.
Photographers’ Slot
It is often said that sweet memories are comprised by the things people cannot afford to do away with. While some ideas can be neatly engraved in ink and paper, others are better saved in visuals, hence the need of photographs. On Saturday, the day Ibori first set his feet in Nigeria since the past seven years, facts showed that photographers in Oghara made huge profits that far outweighed the ones they realise on normal working days.
Read REVEALED! HOW IBORI SPENT HIS FIRST FOUR DAYS IN OGHARA
In the early hours of the day, it was gathered that some photographers went as far as traveling to the Osubi Airstrip in Warri from where they began their “hustling” businesses.
Mr. Junior Ejiofor, a Higher National Diploma Banking and Finance student at the Delta State Polytechnic, Otefe-Oghara was one of them. Ejiofor told our correspondent of how he had anticipated Ibori’s return to Oghara and also prepared towards same.
“I knew the day Ibori will come to Oghara will be a great day; so, I have always prepared ahead of it. When I got the information that he was coming through the Osubi Airport, I called one of the politicians in this town (Oghara) to confirm if it was true since I was not sure of the information. Immediately I confirmed it, I headed straight for the airport as I also saw a large crowd of big men trooping there”, Ejiofor told our correspondent in Oghara on Tuesday.
Panorama of Ibori's kinsmen and supporters posing for photographs.
Asked if the day offered the anticipated prospect, he said: “To say that I was satisfied will be to state the obvious. Honestly, I made far more than what I used to make a day. As a student, I combine both studies and photography just to make ends meet. I started snapping (taking shots of) people from the Osubi airport; there were some politicians who were very happy to see each other after a very long time, getting them to patronize me was not a difficult deal.
“They had bigger phones like ipads and many others that could take good photographs and there were boys all around to snap them, but they were obviously interested in the hard copy for some reasons I don’t even understand. I kept on taking people shots and whoever I caught smiling always requested me to print for them and they paid N250 for each instant copy”.
Read also HOW DELTANS SEE IBORI'S FREEDOM
He explained that when the information of the botched Osubi landing came in, he immediately joined one of the returning vehicles to Oghara where he met thousands of supporters patiently waiting and celebrating Ibori’s arrival. The switch in plans was however to not to change Ejiofor’s business arrangement. In fact, getting to Oghara opened another vista of celebration for the determined HND hopeful.
“Immediately we got to Oghara, I saw different groups with different T-shirts. I knew that was another chance. I ran around several times and in few minutes, I had challenges attending to all my customers’ calls at the same time. Over time, I observed that other photographers were trickling in so, it was not just a monopoly business at the end”, the photographer added.
Musical Slants
But besides the economy of photographers that got a boost, the music industry also tasted of the lease of live that came alongside Ibori to Oghara. Our correspondents gathered that many musicians, including Solo Marvins and the Solid Faith Band, made musical compositions eulogizing Ibori as a detribalized leader who mapped out a good vision for Delta State and put it on the fast lane of prosperity.
The musicians hustled and jostled for patronage on that very day, with some of them mounting loud speakers and airing their various albums to attract the celebrating audience. As at yesterday, mobile retailers of the musical Digital Video Disc (DVD) were still moving around streets of Oghara to distribute their wares.
Although virtually all the composers got copies of their music sold, observations showed that Solo Marvins’ stole the market with his musical piece, “Welcome Home!” The music was ostensibly sponsored by Chief Henry Ogheneochuko Ofa, one of Ibori’s ardent loyalists and former Commissioner representing Ethiope West, Sapele and Okpe Local Government Areas on the board of the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC).
Album of Solo Marvin's music.
Finely wound around Ibori’s political achievement, travail, long walk to freedom and his anticipated strides upon return, the album was parsed into four tracks with an aesthetic packaging that tells a lofty story. In the fast track titled “You Are welcome”, the music artiste creatively advanced cogent reasons Ibori deserves a handsome welcome and beautiful celebration having regained his freedom from the threshold of political witch-hunt, unearned oppression and undeserved highhandedness and manipulations that were launched against him by some powers that be.
On the second tract explicitly and aptly captured “Come Celebrate”, Solo-Marvins succeeded at proving his mettle in the field of musical composition as he tactically beckoned on all the good people of the state to join the celebration train of Ibori’s trajectory which has already entered into the fast lane.
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He proceeds forward to comment on Ibori’s call for unity which engenders a total cementation of all facets of the oil rich Delta State. With a good title “Let’s Be United”, the last track aptly typified the need for unity, togetherness and oneness of all groups in Delta State and Nigeria in general.
Unofficial sources told our correspondent on Tuesday that about 1,000 copies of the “Welcome Home!” album had been sold since Ibori arrived at Oghara on Saturday.
Ibori Meat Pie Enters Market
The pointer gathered that on the day Ibori entered Oghara, there was no end to the celebration that greeted his presence. Supporters were, in fact, fed to their points of reasonable satisfaction and the event lingered till the next day (Sunday). Coincidentally, there is a bar and relaxation center that is directly opposed the home of the former governor, thus, when the children had returned home, the men took over the downing and emptying of different brands of drinks, with the incontrovertible effect that the bar attendants smiled home gratefully.
Meanwhile, Divine Ehilegbu, a student of Language and Christian Religious Studies (C.R.S) at the College of Education, Mosogar, told our correspondent that he miraculously sold about 250 pieces of meat pie after he jokingly renamed it James Ibori Meat Pie.
“It was quite funny at first, but after selling the first 50 pieces of meat pie, I realized that the new brand could make my business move and thrive better, so I retained it; that was how I miraculously sold about 250 pieces of my product”, he explained.
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“I don’t know if I will change or retain the name forever, but for now, it is obvious the magic is still working”, the young businessman added while attending to some chiefs that had come from Uvwie Local Government Area to see Ibori.
Graphic Designers Get More Jobs
Graphic designers also got their cut of the economic booty that Ibori came with. At different strategic locations of Oghara, there are large billboards of different politicians and groups welcoming Ibori back to Nigeria.
Observations on Tuesday showed that bill boards littered the land expanse from the Sapele/Benin Expressway to Ibori Road, the street of the former governor in Oghara. It was gathered that the services of local designers were engaged in the production of most of the bills.
Supporters cheering Ibori on Saturday.
“Most of the bill boards and banners you see around were designed by some boys from Oghara. They were even done in haste because the coming of Ibori was very sudden to all of us. Some politicians and some groups, including youths in Oghara hurriedly put them together to give our leader a befitting welcome”, Sunday Oniovo, a graphic artist in Oghara told our correspondent on Tuesday.
As at yesterday, many visitors, including the Speaker of the Federal House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara still trooped to Ibori’s house to pay him visits. This trend, it is projected, will linger for long, perhaps longer than tomorrow because Ibori, the political gladiator is involved.
Meanwhile, our correspondent has significantly commented on the alleged $10 million bail out fund that was diverted by a governor in one of the oil rich states.
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