At the outset of the present democratic experiment, Chief James Onaefe Ibori of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was elected as the second democratically elected governor of the state after the late Olorogun Felix Ibru. He governed for two terms of eight years.
After his tenure, he handed over to his first cousin, Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Udughan, who held swag for another eight years. Uduaghan who claimed to have ‘finished strong’ handed the “turn by turn” baton to Sen. (Dr.) Ifeanyi Okowa; Okowa had against what they call ‘run off the play’ in football parlance, snatched the PDP ticket to fly the party’s flag to contest the 2015 governorship election from Uduaghan and the last minute Ibori anointed canddates, Sir Tony Obuh and David Edevie and eventually cruised to victory to become the first Anioma son to govern the state since its creation by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.
With their son now firmly sitted on the driver’s seat, Adontens had thought that few, if not all the developmental projects that had eluded them will become theirs; though Okowa had said during his electioneering campaign that he was not coming to be an Anioma or sectional governor, but that of the entire state.
That, however, did not dampened their expectation that now that a ‘home boy’ whose country home of Owa Oyibo, is just a few kilometres away from Adonte is in charge and will not hesitate to right all the wrongs of the past governments in the state.
For the 20 years and some months the PDP has governed the state, Adonte, like most other towns and villages in the state, has voted PDP, this last February inclusive. To show their love and commitment to PDP/Okowa, they rejected their son of the soil, Chief Ndudi Adolue, who contested for the vice chairmanship post of Aniocha South Local Government Area at the local council election conducted last year by the state government just because he did that on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC). Instead they gave their votes to an Ogwashi Uku native who flew the flag of PDP. To them they are not tired of shouting PDP, power!
Despite that, what have they gained for over 20 years of queuing behind one party? The answer is an emphatic nothing.
The town cannot boast of even a police post, especially in this time of insecurity, to protect it from the havoc of herdsmen, kidnappers and cult memers.
The only primary and
secondary schools (built in the 1980s through communal effort) in the town are no better than the Okotie Eboh School made famous by Blessing ‘Dem go flog taya fame.’ No teacher, not even NYSC teachers want to be posted to the school because the town lacks simple basic amenities that makes life worth living.
The only government owned primary healthcare centre in the town that has only one nurse, is only good in paint. It is a mere consulting centre that is not stocked with the commonest drug like pain killer
The water project in the town, which was started by the then military government of Brig John Inieger has long been abandoned. It was initally concieved to supply clean, fresh water to neigbhouring villages and towns like Nsukwa, Abbah Unor, Ukwu Obah et al. The site, the generator and pipes supplied then, have been overgrown by weeds while land speculators are encroaching on it.
What of access roads to the village from Ogwashi Uku enroute Asaba? That remains the biggest worry of an average Adonten. The two access roads to the town, one from Abbah Unor through the Ugheli/Asaba Express Road and the one from Ogwashi Uku to Asaba can at best be descibed as footpaths that is dusty in dry season, muddy and flooded in wet season. Head or tail, the people suffer. No right thinking native organises ceremony like burial, marriage or birthday, which he or she wants an outsider to attend.
What is most pathentic about these roads is that they are just less than 20 kilometres from both ends. From Abbah Unor, which was recently blessed with a 3.5 kilometre road by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), it is 3.5 kilometer and from Ogwashi Uku, straight to Adonte, it is about 10 kilometres. The community is mainly an agarian one and without motorable roads they can hardly transport their agricultural produce to the urban centres were they are most needed and command good prices. Their produce like oranges, mangoes, pawpaw, pear, corns, cherry and so on rot away in the farms and homes while waiting for vehicles to trsnsport them to urban markets in Asaba, Agbor, Ogwashi Uku or even Warri. Yet, Okowa stands aside and look. Though, he is referred to in the state as road master but I doubt if any Adonten that is not blinded by partisanship will agree that he merits such title given the state of the roads leading to the town, which in all honesty, is supposed to be the headquarter of the state’s political Ward 10.
Now that he has been returned for the final and second term, now that Hon. Austin Chikezie, a native of Ejeme Aniogor, who also represents Adonte at the state house of assembly and Ndudi Elumelu with Peter Nwaoboshi both of whom represents the area at the National Assembly and Hon. Pascal Adigwe’s second coming as an adviser, it is hoped that they will nudge him to do something before 2023.