Abel Ebifemowei was appointed Transport and Logistics Officer, Government House, in 1999, following the victory of Chief Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha in the gubernatorial election of that year. That is how the man came to be known as T. O. It was the easiest way to know him, although he also goes by the title of Osuo 1 of Africa.
In 2001, Ebifemowei became Special Adviser on Youth Affairs but he continued to be known as T. O. He remains the brain behind Bayelsa Volunteers, perhaps the longest surviving youth mobilisation agency in the history of the state. It began with the Alamieyeseigha administration as a buffer against the invading menace of sea piracy and hostage-taking. It was inherited by the Jonathan government and retained under Timipre Sylva. It was functional in Seriake Dickson government, and metamorphosed surely in Duoye Diri’s time, even though it is no longer known as Bayelsa Volunteers.
Ebifemowei is also proud of the fact that he coordinated Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC) elections in the past in his capacity as a Special Adviser on Youth Mobilisation. ‘If you are SA Youth to the Governor, you have a role to play in IYC elections, and we did it neatly. There were no acrimonies, no divides’, he recalled.
Apart from his active interest in politics, Ebifemowei is also into agriculture, and he makes out time to enlighten the public on an occasional Ijaw programme on the state radio about the abiding benefits of farming.
Born on 6 December 1962 in Amassoma, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, to Abel Femowei and Mrs Yoruba-ere Femowei (nee Ere), young Ebifemowei stayed under the wings of his parents throughout the Nigerian civil war. He sat in class for the first time at St Stephen’s State School, Amassoma, in 1971, finishing five years later. Having gained admission into Government Secondary School, Amassoma, he studied for his West African School Certificate from 1977 to 1982.
In 1984, Ebifemowei enlisted in the Nigeria Air Force, following in the footsteps of his cousin, Alamieyeseigha, and had to undertake his basic military training in Kaduna. He attended the Aircraft Maintenance School at Dornier, a German company catering to air men, from 1985 to1988. At the end of the course on Aviation Electronics, he was chosen as one of five Nigerians to study at the Russia Military Academy. His speciality was missile assembly, ammunition maintenance and firearms management.
Ebifemowei left the Air Force in 1990, and spent time abroad. Four years later, he returned from Germany, tried his hands in a few business ventures, and later joined his cousin, Alamieyeseigha for his election bid under the defunct United Nigeria Congress Party. Following the botched political experiment at the time, the duo later shifted base to the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).
T. O. was at the heart of the social night life in the state capital when Alamieyeseigha became governor. In fact, Osuo started the first known niteclub in Yenagoa, Bubbles, long before Ngbongbon Plaza began business under the auspices of Joseph Akedesuo. If Ebifemowei set his mind to do something lavish, he was sure to do it and enjoy a good laugh like a capone tickled by his own sense of humour and irony.
Osuo of Africa did not hide his love for cute cars. In the early days of the Alamieyeseigha government, he drove the first set of vintage vehicles into Yenagoa. He was, without doubt, the first son of Bayelsa State to drive a convertible piece of automobile into Yenagoa, flanked by friends and escorts on power bikes, zooming along the length of the solo road in the state capital.
In the heydays of the Alamieyeseigha administration, T. O. was a major power broker. Anyone who needed to see the governor or secure a contract was sure to do so if they went through T. O. His influence stretched into the office of every Commissioner and every political appointee. His authority was believed to override that of the Deputy Governor, Dr Goodluck Jonathan.
He was a don dictating to his mafiosi. His acolytes were all too ready to defect to his viewpoint, and do his bidding. A note scribbled on the complimentary card of T. O. was like a passport to prosperity. A message from him opened doors and windows in one bound. His very shadow along the corridor caused a stir in the hearts of his admirers. In all this, his devotion to Alamieyeseigha was absolute.
At the height of the contention between the Speaker of the House, Rt Hon. Heineken Lokpobiri, and Governor Alamieyeseigha, T. O. was fingered as having been responsible for the explosion at an arm of the complex, which ripped through a few offices, and kept neighbours affrighted. The explosion sent a strong message about the need for sanity and maturity in political conduct. T. O has since denied having anything to do with the blast. Long after that incident, he continued to command the respect and adulation of his followers.
Ebifemowei left for America when the Alamieyeseigha government was prematurely terminated with an impeachment drama that became a national television scandal. After a long holiday, he returned to Bayelsa in 2007. From time to time, he still reminisces on the eventful days of the Alamieyeseigha government, and his place in it.
He also came away with a few homilies about good governance. As he puts it: ‘The governors who had led Bayelsa so far missed the point by depending solely on FAAC (Federal Account and Allocation Committee). Look at the famous Peremabiri rice farm, for instance. It’s been abandoned for too long. Fifteen thousand to 120,000 youths can be employed there. If the state can buckle up, then FAAC allocation or not, we can forge ahead’.
When Ebifemowei considers the funds that have passed through the same treasury, across five sons of the land who have served as governors so far, he feels terrible because he sees only a village setting that cannot seem to be improved upon. His questions are growing in number. Have we really used our fortunes well? Have we invested our commonwealth in the future, or have we simply been greedy and stolen from our own soup pot?”
Ebifemowei puts it down to poor vision and low standards. That’s why he switched to the Labour Party in times past and sought to clinch the gubernatorial ticket. ‘What I see here are shanties. Every city in the world has a shanty town. Even New York has Brooklyn and Harlem, but Yenagoa remains an eyesore. Bayelsa had no need to develop the old Yenagoa we met. We should have gone out to develop a virgin land. That’s why Abuja is better than all other cities in Nigeria. It is time to change the story for the better’, he said.
Osuo 1 of Africa is of the opinion that the next governor should set new standards, assess the integrity of every house plan, ascertain whether it conforms to modern city formats, and check the sewage system, before authorising construction work, with functional drainages and culverts in the overall plan.
T. O. was a die-hard fanatic of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) until he heard Alamieyeseigha argue that the PDP was an Ijaw party. He begged to differ. Today, he is singing a different tune. He has moved over to the All Progressives Congress (APC), and he wants everyone in his neighbourhood to do the same. ‘Nobody should deceive Bayelsans that PDP is an Ijaw party. It is not. The only Ijaw party that we know was formed by Chief Melford Okilo of blessed memory. And we rejected the National Solidarity Movement. Even in Ogbia, his birth place, they rejected it. So, no Bayelsan should be deceived that APC is a Hausa party and PDP is an Ijaw party.
He rationalised: ‘(Olusegun) Obasanjo was the first President to have emerged on the platform of the PDP, with Atiku as Vice President. Are they Ijaw? Is Obasanjo Ijaw? Is Atiku Ijaw? If you know the history of the Ijaw man, he is always aligning with the centre because of the level of underdevelopment that we suffer. The centre must have a critical role to play in our development. Even after producing a President, where did that leave us? We are still underdeveloped. My advice to Bayelsa is to align with the centre’.
Alamieyeseigha would gripe to hear him say that.
