According to Vanguard, Senator Akpor Pius Ewherido was born into the family of Pa Joseph and Paulina Ewherido on May 4, 1963 in Ughelli, Delta State.
The third child in a family of eight, all males, Ewherido had his elementary education at St. Paul’s Catholic Primary School, Ughelli and Ekwerigbe Primary School, Ozoro, form where he proceeded to the Notre Dame College, Ozoro and Urhobo College, Effurun, all in Delta State.
After his secondary education, he proceeded to the then University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, where he studied Philosophy and emerged the best graduating student of his class.
The senator representing Delta Central on the platform of the Democratic Peoples Party, DPP, had his compulsory national youth service in the then Ogun State University, now Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, before venturing to a full time business in Warri.
At the same time, he enrolled into the University of Benin for Law and was called to the Nigerian Bar after the completion of his law programme and the mandatory Law School programme. Ewherido began his foray into politics when he joined the United Nigerian Congress Party, UNCP, in the botched Third Republic. But he made a return to his business after the Third Republic was aborted by the late Gen. Sani Abacha.
He returned to politics when he joined the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in 1998, the platform on which he contested for the Ughelli South state constituency seat in April 1999 into the Delta State House of Assembly.
He was elected the Deputy Speaker when the House convened in 1999 and from May 15, 2000 till March 2001, Ewherido was the leader of the Delta House of Assembly. He made a return to the House in 2003 and was re-elected the Deputy Speaker, a position he held until the end of the lifespan of the Assembly in 2007.
In 2006, he contested for the governorship of Delta State, but could not progress beyond the primaries and as the 2011 elections approached, he left the PDP for the DPP to contest the Delta Central Senatorial seat. He was elected the DPP candidate by a very narrow margin, beating his closest rival with 125 votes to 108 and went on to defeat the PDP candidate in the 2011 senatorial election, Amori Ighoyota, by 102,313 to 85,365 votes.
Courageous with leadership qualities and self-assurance, the story was told of how he wanted to confront the soldiers who overran and sacked Ughelli in the then Midwest Region as a four-year old, when he allegedly told his elder brother: “Let’s go home; after all, they (soldiers) are men like us.”
During his stint in the Delta State House of Assembly as both acting Speaker and Deputy Speaker, he left indelible mark on the sands of time. He also did not forget the people whose mandate he held in trust, serving them faithfully and diligently, attracting sizable projects spread all over the nooks and crannies of the constituency.
Acknowledging his contribution to the state constituency, he was honoured by his Urhobo people, as his paternal homestead conferred on him the chieftaincy title of Otemunoruemu of Ewu Kingdom, while his maternal hometown honoured him with the title of Adjerese of Effurun-Otor Kingdom.
He was the Vice-Chairman of the Senate Committee on Maritime Transport and also a member of the Senate Committee on Trade and Investment. Senator Ewherido was an ardent lawn tennis player and a soccer enthusiast, married to Doye Ewherido (nee Bozimo) and the union was blessed with four children, Oghenefejiro, Oghenero, Eguono and Eloho.
An ardent supporter of the emerging merger party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, Ewherido would probably have flown the flag of the new party in 2015, if he were alive and the party scaled through the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and hurdle.
He died on June 30, 2013 at the National Hospital, Abuja, he was rushed to after he was said to have collapsed in his home.
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