By Wilfred Oghenesivbe
If care is not taken, some leaders of the major opposition party in Delta State, the All Progressives Congress, APC, may soon develop high blood pressure and heart attacks over pending post-election legal tussles at the Appellate Courts. The reason is very simple; it’s their last hope to get what they do not deserve, relying on unscrupulous interventions, media propaganda, and laughable permutations that do not add up legally.
APC propagandists consistently talked about the party’s national assembly election victories in some federal constituencies and senatorial districts as affirmed by the Court of Appeal, as if Delta State is the only state in Nigeria where opposition parties won and lost some constituencies and senatorial districts. It happened in all 36 states, except for Rivers State where PDP cleaned the polls, and it will continue to happen in line with choices made by the electorates in general elections.
For the records, the 2023 general elections in Nigeria, came with multifaceted surprises as results were bedevilled by oppressive tendencies of the government in power at the centre; well noticed and condemned by local and international election observers. The facts are bare and the manipulators are the same people pointing accusing fingers at genuine winners of the governorship election in Delta State, the PDP. The APC cabal shall continue to mourn their shameful defeat till another election year in Delta.
It is on record that during the 2023 governorship election in Delta State, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, went to town early to do the needful, engaged in wider political consultations, conducted the most transparent governorship primary that was televised live, while the opposition APC hand picked anointed candidate who was subsequently rejected by majority of eligible voters in the state, due largely to his past blemish antecedents in government at state and federal levels.
The candidate of PDP, Rt Hon Sheriff F.O.Oborevwori got talking, clearly articulated his policies and programmes under the MORE agenda, embarked on Ward to Ward, LGA to LGA campaigns, while party structures campaigned vigorously at all levels, including Unit to Unit, Community to Community and door to door throughout the three senstorial districts before election took place in March.
The APC on the other hand, focused and majored in internal petty squabbles that was plagued by multi-factions, divided political interests, massive display of authoritarianism, politics of self, poorly organized campaigns that was abandoned by key players in the party, except for Olorogun Otega Emerhor, who laboured vigorously to sell an unsellable governorship candidate of his party.
The outcome was a fatal political retrogression and shameful defeat suffered at the polls by APC and her candidate; occasioned by the political supremacy of Delta PDP and the superlative popularity and street credibility of her candidate, Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori, as he then was, now Executive Governor of Delta State, South-South Nigeria.
In all of these political engineering, alignment and realignments, the APC struggled and engaged in all manner of electoral witch-hunt and managed to win four local government areas, while the state permanent landlord, the PDP and her street credibility candidate won twenty one local government areas at the polls. As you can see, the huge gap and clean defeat stated clearly that Delta APC was, and still not in the political calculations of majority of electorates in Delta State. As we say in PDP; Delta is PDP and PDP is Delta. No face for APC!
Furthermore, it was widely reported and alleged that some party agents and INEC officials were kidnapped and forced to manipulate results by a dreaded cabal of Delta APC in Ughelli North, Ughelli South, Udu, and Ethiope West LGAs, in a commando style. Despite the unscrupulous prowess of some APC actors and agents, PDP gallantly and convincingly defeated the skilled oppressors and the mighty wailers.
The bitter experience of abysmal performance is still being mourned by APC leaders and party faithful across the state, and attention is now focused on how the failed APC can corrupt the outcome of verdicts at the Appellate Courts, as can be seen from their media outburst, body language, and wishful thinking!
One thing is clear, and it must be stated here and now, that the Courts of Justice is not and will never be a father christmas; and therefore, cannot allocate fresh votes to the APC at the Courts above. The judgment of the Tribunal which affirmed PDP and governor Oborevwori winner of the 2023 governorship election was sound and without blemish. No judicial miracle or the ongoing unscrupulous drive by APC cabal will be able to logically or technicality upturn the decision made at the Tribunal, because the Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court are not judicial votes merchants.
There is no legal magic or technicality that would enable any Court of competent jurisdiction to declare a party that won four local governments winner of governorship election in Delta State. No, it can never happen in our jurisprudence. Our Judges and Justices are not robots, and not corrupt, they are eminent jurists who will not soil their hands with ill-gotten wealth of judicial vote buyers in our nascent democracy.
Governor Oborevwori and members of the state executive council are working round the clock to deliver on electioneering campaign promises to the good people of Delta State. The week long retreat for Exco members and senior political appointees ended on Saturday, wherein Commissioners were made to sign performance bond. What that proactive step tells us is that the government of the day and the governor are ready, and shall Advance Delta through the instrumentality of the MORE agenda.
For the very first time, construction giant, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, has been engaged to build standard and durable infrastructure projects, as can be seen from the Award of three flyovers and road expansion projects, for which 25 percent of contact sum was paid to the contractor. Julius Berger has mobilized to site, and work in progressive. More projects underway across the three Senatorial Districts. These are signs of good governance in this new dispensation.
It follows that PDP and governor Oborevwori shall be victorious at the Courts above; Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, because the results of the governorship elections as declared by INEC and affirmed by the Tribunal, is to the effect that Delta APC performed abysmally at the polls, but decided to engage in futile judicial academic exercise.
Appellate Courts are not judicial votes merchants, which is why the four local governments won by APC in Delta cannot, and will never translate to victory either by common sense or evidential proof. APC failed woefully to prove her case beyond reasonable doubt at the Tribunal as required in criminal jurisprudence.
And without prejudice, I Congratulate Delta PDP and the governor, in advance, as we earnestly await the outcome of the pending post election legal battles at the Courts above.
At the end, the 2023 APC Governorship candidate should do well by congratulating his governor, Rt Hon Sheriff F.O. Oborevwori.
