A Sheriff is a defender. A protector. An enforcer. Delta state has one. Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, the governor of the state. For two years, since May 29, 2023, he has been defending Deltans, protecting the people and enforcing development.
Some like him. Some loathe him. But many more love him. A huge crowd of admirers and organic lovers. A leader of peerless street credibility. The people appropriate him. He’s our own, our Sheriff, they say. They love him for many reasons. His simplicity, humaneness, humility and relatability. He makes himself available, accessible and relatable. Go to Delta, any part of the state – North, South, Central senatorial districts – and try paint him as arrogant and aloof as most Nigerian leaders are, a thousand and one tongues will lash out at you in holy anger. He remains one of the few governors who could walk the streets in their states without attracting public revulsion.
So, what goes for him. Why is Oborevwori the beloved of Deltans? The answer finds expression in his persona, courage, leadership skills, spiritual disposition that embodies goodwill to all, his openness and his unflappable devotion to development as a pivot for sustainable democracy. Oborevwori is a ‘we’ leader. He does not personalise leadership, a tendency that insidiously flips some leaders into the orbit of tyranny. In any functional, public-spirited democratic government, leadership is a collective; not individualistic. Oborevwori believes just like former US president Theodore Roosevelt that “the government is us; we are the government, you and I.”
This is the philosophy that drives his leadership. A leadership that focuses on inclusivity. To him, every Deltan counts. The people are his employers. He’s only a servant-leader recruited by the people to serve them. He expresses this in his speeches. By the way, he’s a man of few words. Almost taciturn. But when he speaks, he evinces wisdom. When he speaks, he communicates to his employers (Deltans) a message of hope. Like his State of the State address before the State Assembly on Wednesday, May 28, 2025. Novel, stately and forged in the furnace of fact and reality. No obfuscation. No colouration of data. He kept it simple and detailed, presenting the balance sheet before the people. Nothing hidden. Just raw, verifiable statistics depicting effective leadership. Unredacted ledger showing fiscal prudence. No subnational leader has ever dared this. Reporting yourself to the people. A leader accounting to the led. As normal and apposite as it is, such gesture is rare in the Nigerian political agora. But Oborevwori did it.
A man of clear conscience fears nothing; a man of muddy heart fears even his own shadow. Oborevwori said he opened the books for Deltans to scrutinise because the people are the government. It should be so, especially when you consider that financial prodigality is never associated with the Sheriff of Delta. What do you make of a governor who in one whole year, had travelled out of the country only twice. And both were business trips. And that in a country where overseas trips are the pastimes of some leaders. For some, every month is a trip. And every trip is a waste. Religious trip. Medical trip to fix a toothache. Another medical trip to have an ENT physician examine their hard at hearing ears. And yet more trips for leisure or just to feast on ice cream. Not so, this Sheriff, a leader his people address by his first name. He has limited his trips to within the state, from upscale cities through the rural communes to the riverine settlements. Everyday duty calls and Sheriff answers.
A few teasers. In two years, he has undertaken both mega and minor projects without borrowing a dime. Instead, he has dutifully and noiselessly repaid part of the inherited N465 billion debt by over N265 billion. In a country where leaders abandon the projects of their predecessors, Oborevwori walked a different path. He continued and completed inherited projects because “they impact the people.”
His government is currently handling about 513 road projects covering nearly 1,500 kilometers in both urban and rural communities. In the infrastructure mix is the construction of three flyovers and the dualisation of the Ughelli-Asaba highway. But it’s not all about roads and bridges; byways and highways. The Sheriff in Delta has turned the screw on education (a fusion of technical, ICT hands-on and formal education), and healthcare with ambitious procurement of light-years-ahead medical equipment to handle the most advanced and delicate medical challenges including organ transplants and critical surgeries.
He has recruited over 13,000 new teaching and non-teaching support staff to bridge manpower gaps across the 25 local government councils; strengthened the state’s bursary awards to students with more funding to reach more students of Delta origin across tertiary institutions nationwide, and widened the state’s social security stipends to the vulnerable.
Delta is a multiple cities state. Oborevwori understands this and has ensured even distribution of development. Little wonder he has birthed and sustained peace in the state. No more intra and inter-community flare-ups. He simply used development and active engagements of the youths to achieve peace. With that, Nigeria wins. Delta now leads in crude oil production among the oil-bearing states.
So, how was he able to achieve all this and much more without borrowing? Very simple: Fiscal prudence and a resolve for self-sustenance. This reflects in the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) which notched up from N83 billion in 2023 to N158 billion in 2024, an impressive 90.4% jump.
Oborevwori, brick by brick, is redefining governance at subnational level. His template should be copied by others. President of Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Eze Anaba, after a recent tour of some projects in the state attested to the undeniable footprints of the governor when he described the infrastructure landmarks as “real and measurable development.” Reuben Abati, celebrated newspaper columnist and TV Anchor sums it up most succinctly: “The only reward for hard work is more work. He should remain committed to doing even MORE for the people of Delta State.”