By Ademola Adekusibe
September 20, 2025
When a sitting governor tells his people, “If you want to fight, wait till 2031, not during my tenure,” he is not calling for peace. He is admitting weakness. He is saying, in plain words, that his comfort is more important than the blood already spilled in Warri.
What does it mean when a chief security officer speaks this way? It means the safety of Delta people has been downgraded to a political calculation. It means the man entrusted to protect lives and property has reduced crisis management to a campaign strategy. And it means Governor Sheriff Oborevwori is not governing, he is bargaining with violence.
Let us ask him directly: Governor, did you mean that Warri must burn after you are gone? That lives can be gambled away in 2031 as long as your tenure remains undisturbed? If you call yourself a leader, how do you speak of bloodshed like a man checking his electoral timetable?
This is not the first time silence and avoidance have marked your approach. When Urhobo thugs harassed Itsekiri teachers in classrooms, you offered empty promises. When youths from Ogbe-Ijaw raised provocative banners in defiance of Supreme Court judgments, you looked the other way. When Itsekiri worshippers were attacked in church for daring to sing in their tongue, you did nothing. And when the injured filled hospital beds, you offered no justice, no arrests, no convictions, only “peace.” But now your own words have betrayed you. Peace is not your goal. Convenience is.
And your convenience comes at a cost. The Nigerian courts, all the way to the Supreme Court, have ruled on these land disputes. The law is clear. Yet under your watch, the law is treated like suggestion. Do you expect the people to keep faith in the system when you, the supposed custodian of law in Delta State, treat judgments as disposable? No, Governor, the people are not blind. They know when silence is complicity.
Your statement has also unmasked the game. You asked, “What do they want me to come and say? Do they want me to lose votes?” That line was not a slip. It was the truth. You are calculating votes while the people are counting graves. You are thinking of 2027 while families are thinking of safety. And yes, Governor, every voter heard you. Every community took note. Every Itsekiri man, woman, and child now knows exactly how much value you place on their lives.
You speak of “peace,” but what you mean is submission. You want the people to endure humiliation, displacement, and bloodshed quietly, so you can maintain your political balance. That is not peace. That is cowardice. And it will not last.
Governor, history is watching. Your state is watching. We at TYT are watching, and come 2027, we will remind every voter of these words you casually threw into the air. Your legacy will not be decided by the votes you protect today, but by the blood you ignored, the laws you refused to enforce, and the people you abandoned when they called for justice.
You can still act. You can enforce the court rulings. You can name the guilty and punish them. You can choose justice over convenience. But if you continue to hide behind your “tenure,” the people will not forget.
Sheriff Oborevwori has told Delta people to “wait till 2031.” But the truth is this: it is he who should be worried about 2027.
Citizen Reactions: A Governor Mocked by His Own People
Already, Nigerians online have torn your statement apart. One user on X asked: “So a governor can openly say crisis should wait till after his tenure? Is this man ruling a state or running a comedy show?” Another wrote: “Oborevwori doesn’t even pretend anymore. His people are dying, but all he sees is votes. This is not governance. This is selfishness.”
A Facebook commenter was even blunter: “Sheriff is telling us his job is to count votes, not protect lives. Then why is he collecting security votes in the billions every month?” That question, Governor, should haunt you. Billions swallowed in the name of security, yet your own mouth proves you see insecurity only as a political inconvenience, not a threat to human lives.
Your words have backfired. Instead of calming tensions, they have poured petrol on an already burning fire. People are asking what kind of governor measures crisis by tenure, what kind of leader views 2031 as the expiry date for violence, and why Delta State should continue trusting a man who thinks like this.
The Dangerous Precedent:
Your “wait till 2031” remark sets a dangerous precedent. If every governor begins to dodge responsibility by postponing crises to the next tenure, then Nigeria is doomed to live in permanent delay. You, Governor, have told your people that their pain is an inconvenience, their deaths are a distraction, and their suffering is something to be shelved for political convenience. That is not leadership. That is cowardly escapism.
What you forget is that crises don’t keep calendars. Bloodshed does not check the year before flowing. Violence does not respect electoral timetables. By telling people to “wait,” you are not stopping the storm; you are simply pretending the thunder does not exist. And when that storm breaks fully, your name will be remembered as the man who saw the clouds, heard the thunder, and told his people to hold their breath until after his tenure.
Final Word
Governor Oborevwori, your words will follow you long after the microphones are packed away. They will sit in the minds of every family that has lost a loved one, every community that has been attacked, every Itsekiri voice that has cried for justice and been met with silence. We at TYT will not forget, and in 2027, the people of your state will not forget.
You may think you are buying peace with silence and cowardice, but you are only buying time. And time has a way of running out.
