What led Ejiro to a career in journalism: A rebuttal to “What led Sheriff to Delta?”

Ejiro Idama's latest piece in Vanguard falls short of its potential, much like a skilled comedian who struggles to convincingly portray an auditor, with the jokes hitting their mark but the arithmetic failing to add up.

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This disparity is reminiscent of an old Ika proverb, which cautions that individuals who focus on counting another person's yams often neglect to count their own, highlighting the importance of self-reflection and attention to detail.

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Ejiro Idama poses the question, "How did Sheriff happen to Delta?" but a more fundamental inquiry might be, "How did satire become a substitute for evidence in political critique?"

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While political criticism is a vital component of a healthy democracy, it is essential that such criticism be grounded in facts rather than imagination, lest it become akin to a doctor diagnosing a patient based on the shape of their cap rather than their actual medical condition.

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Governor Sheriff Oborevwori was not arbitrarily assigned to Delta, but rather elected by the people in a highly contested governorship election, with his victory withstanding intense judicial scrutiny at every stage.

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The evidence of his governance, though less poetic than Idama's metaphors, is more substantial and tangible, with numerous roads completed and commissioned across the three senatorial districts, and hundreds of contracts awarded and executed for various infrastructure projects.

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According to Governor Oborevwori, his administration delivered projects worth over N654.5 billion in 2025 without incurring debt, while maintaining fiscal stability and enhancing procurement transparency, a statistic that may be inconvenient for those who rely on sarcasm as their primary building material.

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The state's workers continue to receive their salaries, pension obligations are met consistently, contractors are paid, and the state has maintained relative industrial peace, with students also receiving bursary support and healthcare and educational infrastructure expanding.

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These achievements may not generate viral memes, but they produce something far more valuable – effective governance, which is often the result of quiet, dedicated work rather than flashy press conferences or trending hashtags.

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Ejiro Idama appears to be disappointed that Governor Oborevwori does not govern with dramatic flair, but perhaps that is the point, as some leaders prioritize actual problem-solving over theatrical announcements.

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Governor Oborevwori belongs to a diminishing breed of politicians who are more focused on tangible results than on seeking applause or trending on social media, which may be bad news for columnists seeking drama but is ultimately good news for the citizens of Delta.

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The article attempts to reduce the MORE Agenda to a mere slogan, but every meaningful development agenda begins with words before becoming concrete reality, and the question is whether those words are translated into action, as they increasingly have been in Delta.

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The greatest irony in Ejiro's essay may be that, while mocking repetition, he himself repeats the classic mistake of opposition commentary – mistaking visibility for actual achievement, when in reality, government is measured by tangible outcomes rather than the volume of speeches or the cleverness of headlines.

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Governor Oborevwori has increasingly answered the questions that truly matter – whether citizens can drive home safely during the rainy season, whether hospitals have the necessary equipment, whether schools receive attention, and whether salaries are paid on time – with action rather than mere adjectives.

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Ejiro Idama's writing is undoubtedly elegant, humorous, and engaging, but the core of political commentary is evidence, not clever language or beautifully arranged skepticism, and it is this evidence that ultimately matters.

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The duty of government is not to satisfy every columnist or commentator but to improve the lives of its citizens, and it is this metric by which Governor Oborevwori's administration will ultimately be judged.

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History has a way of remembering those who built the roads, opened the schools, expanded the hospitals, and managed public finances responsibly, rather than those who wrote the wittiest newspaper articles, and it is these achievements that will endure long after today's news has become tomorrow's history.

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While Ejiro Idama may ask, "How did Sheriff happen to Delta?" the people of Delta seem increasingly interested in a different question: "How much more can Delta happen under Sheriff?"