Former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, says ex-Minister of Police Affairs, Alaowei Broderick Bozimo, lacks the locus and authority to tell the Ijaw ethnic nationality in Delta State the governorship candidate they should vote for in the 2023 general elections.
Recall that Bozimo was recently reported to have held a meeting with some Ijaw leaders in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, during which he announced the adoption of the PDP governorship candidate, Sheriff Oborevwori as the preferred governorship candidate of the Ijaw ethnic nationality in the 2023 polls.
He was also reported to have mandated Wing Commander Peter Biakpara (rtd), to spearhead a committee saddled with the task of reconciling the aggrieved PDP members to support the PDP governorship candidate, Sheriff Oborevwori.
Reacting on Friday, Orubebe, who is the Director-General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Campaign Council in Delta State while addressing a press conference in Warri, said, “To the discernible public and my patriotic Deltans, Alaowei Broderick merely spoke on behalf of his Ijaw co-travellers in PDP as he has no locus and authority to make a blanket general statement on behalf of the highly respected Ijaw ethnic nationality.
“Gentlemen of the press, please convey this to the public that Alaowei Broderick Bozimo is on his own and he can only represent himself and his PDP co-deceivers. He can’t offer the political direction to the Ijaw nation because the Ijaw nation didn’t confer him with such mandate. It’s certainly for self-preservation.
“I am using this medium to call Ijaw patriots in the political arena to take advantage of the ballot box revolution that the 2023 elections present and vote out the PDP in order to put an end to its years of locust in Delta State. As a people, we must take our destiny in our hands and say NO to shenanigans parading themselves as leaders.”
Speaking further on the media reports over the purported adoption of the PDP gubernatorial candidate by the Ijaw ethnic nationality in Delta State, Orubebe, a notable leader in the Ijaw nation said, “I make bold to say that the media report credited to Alaowei Broderick Bozimo is the height of hypocrisy and portrays the unpatriotic nature of a man at 83, who should be thinking of what legacies he would bequeath to the successive generations after he eventually answers the call of his Maker.
“If one may ask, what are the reasons that Bozimo has to tell Ijaw people to continue to work for PDP and adopt Okowa’s stooge as the preferred candidate of the Ijaw nation? Is it that Okowa and PDP have done so much for the people or because Bozimo is a Patron of the wicked and rudderless government of Okowa? No doubt, it is the second reason! Alaowei Broderick Bozimo is a friend to any government in power, especially at the state level, apparently because of the personal gains that such relationship attracts to him and members of his immediate family. Therefore, the gullible public should not be deceived by the antics of a man, who does not have the interest of the Ijaw nation at heart.
“Take a look at Ijaw land from 1999 till date. One can hardly point at any meaningful development project carried out by the various PDP state governments except the Bomadi Bridge built by former Governor, Chief James Ibori. Ijaw land is more or less in squalor despite the fact that Ijawland, contributes immensely to the state treasury.
“In eight years, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa could not finish the construction of Ogbobagbene- Torugbene- Ojobo road project, which he took from NDDC and deceived the people that he would complete it on record time. That of Ogriagbene- Torugbene has since been abandoned. For eight years, Okowa could not complete the Ayakoromo bridge started during the tenure of Emmanuel Uduaghan. No single critical road is done by Okowa in the Ijaw nation.
“Ifeanyi Okowa established three universities by fiat in a single day. He did not deem it fit to be equitable in their sitting by giving one to the Ijaw nation.
“Instead of speaking truth to power, here, Alaowei Broderick Bozimo is leaking booths. Bozimo should ask himself if Ijaws don’t like going to school. He should ask himself if Ijaw don’t need hospitals, good road networks and other life-enhancing infrastructures. No wonder he was roundly rejected to lead the INC as President when the Ijaw nation was looking for a leader.
“It’s inconceivable that Alaowei Broderick Bozimo is not conscious of the declining fortunes of the PDP, not only in Delta State but the entire country as a whole. Alaowei Broderick Bozimo has always patronised governments whether for good or for bad. No person who means well for our people would want to continue to support a party and a government that has given a leprous treatment and impoverished our people except he or she is deriving personal benefits from the unjust system. That is exactly the case of Bozimo.
“Our people must seize the opportunity of a new lease of life promised by APC’s Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and our Governorship Candidate in Delta State, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, to vote massively for APC in the February 25th and March 11th, 2023 general elections in order to be part of a new dawn which the new leadership of APC would usher in the country on May 29th, 2023.”
