Opinion: IHONVBERE: Why “National Visibility” Is The Last Refuge Of A Failed Representative

By Oto Drama, PhD

​A response to the “PJI Initiative Media” Delusions
​THE recent press release from the Professor Julius Ihonvbere (PJI) camp is not a defense of leadership; it is a eulogy for accountability. Draped in the flowery prose of a man who has spent more time in Abuja air-conditioning than in the dust of Owan, it seeks to rebrand “greed” as “distinction” and “entrenchment” as “relevance.”

​Let us peel back the layers of this academic arrogance and expose the “Rising Sun” for what it truly is: a scorching heat that has withered the hopes of Owan East.

​The Fallacy of the “Indispensable Man”
​The PJI Media team suggests that Owan will collapse if the professor isn’t in the house. This is the height of political narcissism. To suggest that in a constituency of thousands of brilliant minds, only one man is capable of navigating Abuja, which is an insult to every son and daughter of Owan. Legislative “experience” is not a mystical art; it is a service. If after 8 years a representative hasn’t mentored a successor or built a system that survives him, he hasn’t been a “leader”—he has been a bottleneck.

​High Grammar” vs. The Potholes of Owan
​They boast of “national visibility” and “shaping conversations.” But can the people of Owan eat “visibility”? Can they drive their cars on “policy direction”?

While the Professor is allegedly “shaping conversations” in the National Assembly, the Owan-Eme-Ora-Sobe road remains a testament to neglect. While he enjoys “global stature,” our local farmers are retreating from their ancestral lands due to insecurity. The Verdict: A Majority Leader who can not influence the fixing of a local culvert is not “powerful”—he is merely ornamental.

​The arrogance of “merit” over “morality*”
​The PJI camp calls the rotation agreement a “turn-by-turn playground.” This is a dangerous dismissal of the Social Contract that keeps Owan East and West in harmony.

Who can educate the tired and sick Professor Julius Ihonvbere that rotation is not about “charity”; it is about equity? ​To ignore the “Moral Quota” is to tell the people of Owan East that they are permanent spectators in their own democracy. By claiming “merit” only exists in his own pocket, the Professor is effectively saying no one in Owan East is “merit-worthy” enough to lead. This isn’t “shining”; it’s suppressing.

​The Ghost of 2007: The Root of the Bitterness
​Let us address the elephant in the room: the Professor’s lingering resentment. His “political distancing” is not a byproduct of busyness; it is a punishment. He has never forgiven Owan for the 2007 governorship results. He treats the constituency not as a home to be served but as a territory to be “conquered” and held hostage. His removal from party leadership in Owan West in favour of Dr. Lucky Ohimai is the ultimate vote of no confidence from his own kinsmen.

​The “Defoliated Iroko”
​The PJI team says, “The Sun does not apologize for shining.” We agree. But even the sun must be set to allow a new day to begin. A sun that refuses to set becomes a desert-maker.

The professor has become a defoliated Iroko—grand in stature, but offering zero shade to the weary traveler. His “global engagements” are a personal trophy room that has brought no trophies home to the wards.

​The Final Word
​2027 is not an “anxiety attack” for the critics; it is a liberation date for the people. You can not use Abuja “optics” to blind people who are feeling the sting of local abandonment.

​Professor, take your own advice from the classroom: The most important part of any lecture is the conclusion. Your time is up. Pack your bags, leave the stage while the lights are still on, and go teach the “Theory of Exit” before the people of Owan write your political obituary at the polls.

*Dr. Drama contributed this piece from NO, 12 Okotienor Street, Warri, Delta State, Nigeria