Opinion
DELTA NORTH 2027: : Why Victor Ochei’s Legislative Record and Institution-Building Philosophy Stand Out
There is a fundamental difference between giving people things and giving people opportunities.
That difference defines the political philosophy Rt. Hon. Victor Ochei brings to the 2027 Delta North senatorial contest.
For Ochei, empowerment cannot permanently be reduced to motorcycles, tricycles, sewing machines and other handouts distributed to selected beneficiaries. Such interventions may provide temporary relief, but sustainable empowerment demands something more enduring: strong institutions, quality education, productive skills, economic opportunities and an environment where citizens can prosper without depending on political patrons.
His twelve years representing Aniocha North in the Delta State House of Assembly offer a record against which that philosophy can be measured.
Long before his present senatorial aspiration, Ochei demonstrated an understanding that a legislator must do more than make speeches. He deployed legislative influence and constituency representation to attract development interventions, particularly in education and public infrastructure.
Across communities including Issele-Uku, Onicha-Olona, Onicha-Ugbo, Issele-Mkpitime, Issele-Azagba, Obior, Onicha-Uku, Obomkpa, Idumuje-Unor, Idumuje-Ugboko and Ukwu-Nzu, records from his period in office identify interventions involving classroom blocks, science laboratories, administrative buildings, school renovations, educational materials and other facilities.
Roads, streetlights, healthcare facilities and other public infrastructure also formed part of the constituency interventions attributed to his legislative influence.
The significance is not merely the number of projects.
It is the philosophy behind them.
A functioning school can produce doctors, engineers, teachers, entrepreneurs and future leaders.
A LEGISLATOR WHO UNDERSTANDS THE LEGISLATURE
Ochei entered the Delta State House of Assembly in 2003, served three consecutive terms and emerged Speaker in 2011.
That experience matters because the Senate is first and foremost a legislative institution.
The senator Delta North elects in 2027 will be expected to make laws, scrutinise public policy, perform oversight, advocate for the district and deploy legislative influence in pursuit of development.
Ochei has travelled that road before.
As Speaker, he led a legislature that asserted its constitutional responsibilities and pursued legislation intended to address societal problems.
His argument for 2027 therefore goes beyond political ambition. It raises a fundamental question:
Should Delta North judge its next senator by the number of political offices previously occupied—or by an understanding of the actual job a senator is elected to perform?
Political longevity is not automatically legislative superiority.
Repeatedly holding public office is not, by itself, a development philosophy.
FROM HANDOUTS TO HUMAN CAPITAL
Ochei’s proposition is straightforward:
Build good schools.
Strengthen institutions.
Develop human capital.
Create economic opportunities.
Make laws that protect citizens and expand opportunity.
And build a society where the child of an ordinary family can rise without first finding a political godfather.
His philosophy is not simply, “Look at what I gave you.”
It is: “Let us build what will enable you to succeed for yourself.”
That distinction could become one of the defining arguments of the Delta North contest.
The district has experienced politics built around powerful personalities for decades. The next political era should be about strong institutions and empowered citizens.
Ultimately, 2027 should not become a contest over who possesses the longest political résumé.
It should be a contest of ideas, records and competing visions for Delta North.
And it is on that ground that Victor Ochei enters the 2027 conversation with a compelling proposition:
Move Delta North from the politics of handouts to the politics of opportunity; from dep
Opinion
RE: BLAIR “HAS QUESTIONS TO ANSWER” OVER SUPPORT FOR BRITAIN WHILE ADVISING NIGERIA
(A rejoinder to Gordon Rayner’s article of October 18,2026 in the Telegraph, UK
By Kehinde Bamigbetan
After reading this article, particularly the denials from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and the Federal Government of Nigeria, one is bound to question the editorial judgment that gives this piece any value.
In short, what did Gordon Rainer set out to do with this publication? Put a shine on Jupiter’s false and thoroughly empty narrative? Set up a former Prime Minister for blackmail and opprobrium? Or revive a dead case before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes?
Whichever, Rainer presents propositions which swallow their answers. His first argument that Blair might have undermined British national security interests is contradicted by the disclosure that the TBI has no contract to advise the Federal Government of Nigeria.
His second argument, that Jupiter was denied the execution of its licence, is contradicted by the fact that the company is unknown under Nigerian law. Rainer then admits knowing this fact and introduces the company as Jupiter’s partners.
For clarity and the benefit of his readers, these companies—Basin Mining Limited and Range Mining Limited—lost their licences for failing to pay annual service fees. Basin, for instance, owes N1,223,750,000, about £691,368.
The licences were revoked after the companies ignored several notices to fulfil their contractual obligations to the Nigerian Mining Cadastral Office. Penalties for non-payment are increasing daily, and the legal process to recover the funds is underway.
Rather than rescue its partners by paying their fees and penalties or allow the international settlement court to determine its case, Jupiter has mounted an international self-help campaign of calumny and economic sabotage against the government and people of Nigeria, using methods that threaten Nigeria’s security and diplomatic interests.
We believe Rainer is its latest innocent recruit, hoodwinked into propagating a false narrative by appealing to British national security interests when, in fact, Jupiter’s partners are, under Nigerian law, economic and security risks whose continued defiance of Nigeria’s laws endangers centuries of Britain-Nigeria relations.
The question Rainer should ask: if, indeed, Jupiter has a cast-iron case, why is it shedding crocodile tears and shopping for sympathy with false pretences and narratives?
Let’s give the clue: Jupiter’s promoter, Steve Davis, has leeched on Nigeria’s presidents since 1999 by pretending to be an international mining expert, and he has acquired an ego and assets far out of proportion to his financial and technical status.
He is so comfortable living above the law in Nigeria that compliance with regulatory provisions is a taboo, an affront to his bloated ego as a self-deluded “founder of Nigeria’s modern mining sector.”
Davis had a good time living his ego until Dele Alake became Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development in August 2023 and immediately launched a clean-up of the sector focused on zero-tolerance for non-compliance with the provisions of the Nigeria Minerals and Mining Law 2007, a law that Davis boasts he contributed to making and should set an example by encouraging compliance.
The Minister was shocked that the Nigerian Mining Cadastre had a huge amount of unpaid statutory fees despite the government’s investment in the Electronic Mining Cadastre Plus (EMC+) automation, which digitised the licensing process and upgraded services to the mining sector.
In line with the law, the minister ensured debtors were duly notified, and defaulters duly gazetted before revoking their licences for flouting the regulation on the payment of annual service fees.
In November 2023, the minister revoked at least 1,663 licences, a decision that showed it was no longer business as usual under the new sheriff in town.
To show the government has a human face, it opened a three-month restitution window to address complaints and feedback indicating cases of extenuating circumstances.
But still basking in the euphoria of an ego that has outlived its era, Davis discouraged his partners from taking advantage of these opportunities for remorse. Instead, he threatened to exploit his global networks to frustrate the Federal Government of Nigeria.
He wasn’t joking. He launched a global disinformation campaign from his native Australia to Canada, from the United States to Europe. However, his lies evaporated as soon as the facts were laid bare.
Davis pulled his most ambitious stunt so far during Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s official visit to the United Kingdom in March this year, when he polluted the air with narratives designed to set Nigeria against the West by spreading blatant falsehoods and playing the victim.
But, as he found out to his misery, the whole public relations game was dead on arrival. A comprehensive statement clarifying the issues to the highly intelligent British media sent him into the cold.
All we ask is that journalists refer to the eternal maxim of the journalism profession whenever Davis knocks on their door: if in doubt, leave it out.
When a story like this betrays so many contradictions, the rule is not to encourage its spread. Every responsible journalist has the moral duty to kill it.
Kehinde Bamigbetan is a Journalist and Special Adviser to Dele Alake, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Federal Republic of Nigeria
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