As the build-up to the much talked 2023 guber election gathering momentum in Delta State, we wish to puncture some of the unfriendly developments in the build-up. While Gov. Okowa has repeatedly assured Deltans that the PDP primaries in the State will be conducted free and fair, some power brokers who are closed to the corridor of power are doing the opposite.
Even the Delta State Chapter of the PDP led by Olorogun Kingsley Esiso has seemingly taken a partisan position in the incoming party primaries. Some groups of persons who considered themselves as the Kingmaker in the State are openly working with the Delta State Chapter of the PDP as well as some close associates of Governor Okowa to fund a particular aspirant with public funds and openly campaign for the said anointed aspirant in the guber race.
We have been informed though not verified that the said anointed aspirant is being funded by some State Government agencies. If this news is true then we may invite the anti-graft agencies to enforce the law.
In 2021, Sen. Okowa warned all his political appointees to refrain from political activities in order not to distract governance. The same led to the reshuffling of his cabinet. The Governor repeatedly warned the appointees from actively participate in political activities.
To our utter dismay and chagrin, many top appointees of the Governor are now publicly romancing with the Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori who is being touted as the anointed guber aspirant by political players in the State PDP. To worsen matters, other appointees who are supporting other guber aspirants in the PDP are not allowed to associate with their choice aspirants. Is this the free and fair primaries he has been promising us?
Also, the State Chapter of the PDP led by Olorogun Kingsley Esiso is openly associating with the said anointed aspirant. Sometime in March 2022, APC Delta State Chapter punctured the State Government’s rumoured endorsement of Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori as the anointed aspirant to the guber ticket. The Publicity Secretary of the Delta State Chapter of the PDP, Dr. Ifeanyi M. Osuoza, while defending the State Government, qualified Sheriff as if he is already a candidate of the Party where the primaries haven’t been conducted yet.
Again, while the various aspirants in the PDP are consulting delegates for their ambitions, some group of persons from Delta South Senatorial District amongst whom are serving local governments council chairmen, PDP stalwarts, top government appointees in the State Government, etc endorsed Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori as the anointed aspirant to the guber primary. While this endorsement spree is going on, nobody in the State including Olorogun Kingsley Esiso coughed.
The Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) also did a similar thing like the Delta South PDP Stakeholders on Sunday the 17th of April, 2022 to endorse Olorogun David Edevbie as the UPU’s consensus aspirant. However, the Party Chairman in the State, Barr. Kingsley Esiso did not wait for the noise to even die down before activating the LGA Party Chairmen from the Delta Central Senatorial District to counter the UPU’s endorsement.
Which message Esiso is trying to pass to the PDP family in the State with his biased stand? Well, we are not disturbed by the double stand of Kingsley Esiso and Gov. Okowa. We know that power belongs to God Almighty and thus, our faith is in the Lord. The Ijaw people are not also troubled by the endorsement sprees as the aspirants from Ijaw extraction are more than capable to fly the Party flag.
All we ask from Kingsley Esiso and Gov. Okowa is to provide a level playing ground for all the aspirants in the State if Delta PDP must survive beyond 2023. We, therefore, urge the Ijaw people in Delta State not to be distracted by the endorsement sprees as well as the Machiavellian disposition of some supposed neutral arbiters in the guber race. God willing, an Ijaw man will rule Delta State Government come 2023.
Signed:
AMB. Augustine Okporu (JP),
DG, Delta Ijaw 2023 Governorship Advocacy Group (DIGAG)
