Former Governor of Delta State, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan and the Ovie of Ellu Kingdom, Ogwara the First, have applauded the Delta Collective Assembly (DCA) for its proactive steps towards sustaining the prevailing peace in the state ahead of the 2023 gubernatorial election.
Dr Uduaghan and the Ovie of Ellu Kingdom gave the commendation when the DCA, a political pressure group within the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, paid them separate visits.
Uduaghan, an Itsekiri from Delta South Senatorial District, applauded the DCA for sensitising stakeholders in the state on the need to retain the clockwise rotation of the governorship seat in the State.
He said he worked tirelessly to maintain peace and unity in the state, hence, he would not support any action capable of jeopardising it.
On the rotation of the governorship seat in the state, Uduaghan said there was a template that gave the PDP easy victories in past elections, saying he would make a formal pronouncement on the issue at the right time.
He commended the DCA for its statewide composition, with vibrant grassroots players from the twenty-five Local Government Areas of the state.
The delegation of Delta Collective Assembly was also at the Palace of the Ovie of Ellu Kingdom, Ogwara the First, in Isoko North Local Government Area, to solicit his support for the clockwise rotation of the Delta State guber seat.
The Ellu Monarch thanked the DCA for its commitment to sustaining the peace and unity of the state and described peace as a necessary tool for all forms of development.
The traditional ruler said he would make a definite pronouncement on the rotation of the Delta State governorship seat in due course, promising to support the group.
Earlier at the various places visited convener of the DCA, Engr. Elijah Ologe said whether by deliberate arrangement or by coincidence, there is an existing clockwise rotation of the state governorship seat which has fostered peace, unity and a sense of belonging among the people of the three Senatorial Districts of the state.
Engr. Ologe, a former Vice Chairman of Patani Local Government, attributed the sustained landslide victory of the PDP in Delta State elections since 1999, to the rotation of the state’s number one seat among the three Senatorial Districts.
He noted that since the rotational arrangement started from Delta Central, it is fair and just to return to Delta Central after going round the three Senatorial Districts.
This according to him would be the appropriate interpretative implementation of the recent remarks of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, that at the right time, PDP leaders shall meet to determine the issue of where his successor would come from, based on fairness equity and justice.
Ologe, however, expressed shock that some persons from Delta South, his own Senatorial District, were agitating for the governorship seat ahead of the 2023 general elections.
He emphasized that it would be fair and just for Delta Central to produce the next governor after waiting for sixteen years, otherwise, it would mean that Delta Central has to wait for another eight years, making it twenty-four years before producing another Governor.
He, therefore, appealed to Dr Uduaghan and the Ellu monarch to spread the rotation message to the appropriate quarters.
Other members of the DCA from the twenty-five Local Government Areas reiterated the need for all stakeholders to support the clockwise rotation of the governorship seat for sustainable peace in the State.
A delegation of the DCA had earlier visited former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe from Delta South; the Owhorode of Olomu Kingdom, Ogbon-Ogoni Oghoro the First (oldest traditional ruler in the country) from Delta Central, as well as the Asagba of Asaba, Obi Chike Edozien from Delta North, on the same issue.
