2019: Foes unite against Okowa
Last Tuesday, key political figures in Delta State visited the national secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja to announce their membership of the new governing party, ahead of the 2019 general elections.
The political bigwigs, who voiced their determination to wrestle power from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which has been in power in the state since 1999, include a former governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2015 general elections, Chief Great Ogboru and a former Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Victor Ochei.
The decampees, who were led to the APC national secretariat by the party’s state leader and the governorship candidate in last year’s election, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, were received by Chief John Odigie-Oyegun-led National Working Committee (NWC).
They also announced their commitment to “sink” their differences and work together to defeat the Senator Ifeanyi Okowaled Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration, which they accused of bad governance.
Before the latest development, the trio of Emerhor, Ogboru and Ochei worked on the platforms of different political parties to sabotage the political ambitions of one another.
Ochie, who was the senatorial candidate of the Accord Party for Delta North in the March 28, 2015 election, has always worked against the governorship ambition of Great Ogboru, despite the fact that they both hail from the same area.
The former state lawmaker, who was first elected to the Delta State House of Assembly as the member representing Aniocha North Constituency on the PDP platform, was on June 6, 2011, elected Speaker, a position he maintained for two years and nine months, making him the longest serving Speaker in the history of Delta State.
The former speaker, while addressing the party leaders earlier before fielding questions from journalists in Abuja, said with the likes of Kenneth Ifechukwu and himself, the PDP could not play any trick in 2019, because they understand the antics used in the past to prevent Ogboru and Emerhor from becoming governors.
“Let me introduce you to Prince Henry Ohari, these are the PDP dangerous elements that we have to take away from them. Hon. Johnbull, who is also here, is from the PDP stock.
“Your Excellency, I want to give you my word that as a strong member of the party, be rest assured that all we need is your cooperation and the environment to do the needful. Doing the needful is not difficult for us because we understand the terrain. Right from the very waters, far deep into the waters, we have generals….I don’t want to use the word war lords. But when it comes to political machinery, the APC will do the needful when the time comes.
“I am glad that our leader and brother introduced himself as the Peoples General. It is not for nothing. There is a war that goes with it. When the time comes, he will play his part,” Ochei said.
“Myself and Chief Great Ogboru have not been on the same side before. But this time around, we are on the same platform. God, help those who want to stop us. We also have our leader who has worked with Chief Ogboru before now. We have always been the ones resisting them. The common goal is to ensure that the APC is enthroned in Delta State and that change, which we have desired for a long time will manifest itself in the anal of history of Delta State,” Ochei said.
The party’s state leader, Emerhor, who contested against Ogboru in 2015, while fielding questions from journalists, said the state would be “rescued” from the PDP’s hold with the coming of the two political “juggernauts”.
“If we work together, we will rescue Delta. Delta needs help. Some of us, including General and myself have tried to do it separately. But now, we are coming together. With the strength of a former Speaker who knows the politics of the PDP to date and we, who have been in the opposition, the combination will be fatal to all those opposing us. I can assure you. We have got it right. So, we will work together and will try to reduce our weaknesses.
“We are here today as one party. There are processes to select who wants to become governor. We have all agreed that our party must be in government by 2019. The APC will take over Delta,” said Emerhor in response to a question that sought to know how they would handle the impending battle for the APC governorship ticket in 2019.
Also speaking, Ogboru, popularly called “Peoples General”, who was also a former governorship candidate of the Democratic Peoples’ Party (DPP), expressed optimism that the APC would not be rigged out under President Muhammadu Buhari who, he added, had suffered similar fate with him, having being allegedly “cheated” in previous contests to become governor of Delta State.
“We have never lost an election. The issue is just that the PDP has been an irresponsible organization. But with the coming of President Buhari, he will provide us new ways of doing things because of his integrity,” he said.
On his movement to the APC, Ogboru said, “the truth of the matter is that we are definitely not here because of any government in power. We think that with people like ourselves coming in, we will strengthen the arm of the party and that of the government in Nigeria. By extension, we will have an APC government in Delta State. Our vision is not different from that of Mr President,” said Ogboru.
He added: “We believe very strongly that those who stood for change in Nigeria are the kind of people we want to identify with. Mr President stood for change. He tried doggedly. And he is bringing change. If we have correct values in place, it is very easy to change the fortune of the country. That is what we are talking about.
“Mr president’s change agenda and his anti-corruption posture are the greatest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) earners for Nigeria today. That is something we must applaud. If we can grow on that, Nigeria will be great and the APC will be great. When we do the same thing in Delta State, it will be the singular GDP contribution to that state.
“We shall not tolerate corruption. We shall have zero tolerance policy for corruption in Delta State. A society that is organized will surely grow. You can have all the money on earth, but if you do not have organized system, stock process, and people, you will waste it. That is what the 16 years of the PDP administration did. With all the money that we had in Nigeria, they wasted everything at the federal, state and local government level. But we thank God that change has come, we assure you that in the next eight years, the APC would have changed Nigeria,” said Ogboru.
The Delta State APC chairman, Prophet Jones Erhue, said the party is now a stronger and united family, declaring that his party had already “conquered Delta” with the coming of Great Ogboru and Ochei.
“As far as I’m concerned, Delta is settled. As far as I’m concerned, I’m a chairman of a Government House. We are putting our forces together. You know politics is local. I need to do my local assignment,” said Erhue. EmekaOlisa Akamukali, the pioneer National Auditor of the APC, also corroborated the state chairman’s views.
A member of the APC Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Frank Ovie Kokori, who said they suffered a lot of deprivation in the hands of the ruling party, lamented that Delta has nothing to show despite its huge resources.
The APC Deputy National Chairman, South, Engr. Segun Oni underscored the need to play politics of inclusiveness to achieve progress and success.
The party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, hailed the former governorship candidate for accommodating more “powerful politicians”, promising that the APC will work very hard to reclaim Delta in the next election.
Chief Odigie-Oyegun gave assurance that the party would formally receive them in Delta State.
Before the latest development, the trio of Emerhor, Ogboru and Ochei worked on the platforms of different political parties to sabotage the political ambitions of one another