Uduere community has cautioned the Chairman of Ughelli North Local Government Council, Olorogun Jaro Egbo, to stay clear of its forthcoming executive election, accusing him of attempting to impose a preferred candidate and undermine the rotational system entrenched in the community’s constitution.
The community, while appealing to the Delta State Governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, urged him to prevail on the council chairman to stop imposing a preferred candidate on them.
Speaking to newsmen, former Uduere Community Chairman, Comr. Benson Akpodamure, said, “In our constitution, it was stated that every office in the executive is rotational between the quarters in the community. We have three quarters in Uduere, and when the president’s position rotates from one quarter, the other quarters do not intervene or interfere.”
He added that the presidency has now rotated to the Achophor quarter, from where eligible candidates and delegates had already been selected.
“The position has now rotated to Achophor quarters, and we have selected people for the positions that came to the Achophor where I came from, and I am the secretary. From our quarter, we have selected our 10 delegates who comprise the elders, Uvwie and others, including myself as a delegate to vote for the candidates.”
Akpodamure explained that to his surprise, another opposing group produced a separate list of delegates from the same quarter. He said they later discovered this was allegedly orchestrated by the outgoing president and endorsed by an individual from a different quarter.
“At the community meeting, the oldest man brought a list of delegates that emanate from another person who is not from our quarter, and it was signed by one person.”
He noted that after review, the authentic list of delegates from Achophor was submitted to the Ministry of Women Affairs, Asaba, and was accepted.
However, the community became concerned when the council chairman invited them for a meeting. “On getting there, he told us some of the candidates will be screened out if they are not qualified and we could not say anything because we were in the office of the Council Chairman.”
Akpodamure stressed that the community simply wants the duly submitted and accepted list to be used for the election. “Our demands are very simple, we want the list we sent to Asaba that was accepted to be used to conduct the election. Chief Jaro Egbo is not from our quarter but from Abovwe and he should not interfere in our quarter election because I reasoned he has interest in the election.”
He further alleged that some youths from the community, including Deboy Omonigho and Taire Emoto, were being influenced to weaken their voting strength.
He disclosed that although the election was originally scheduled for August 16, 2025, the council chairman postponed it without informing the community.
“We wrote the Governor to notify him of what the Council Chairman is causing us and we want him to come to our aid,” he added.
