No keen follower of the recent political developments in Delta State will be quick to claim ignorance that the crucial meeting of stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state slated for tomorrow Tuesday, April 5, 2022, in Asaba, is predictably not going to be very explosive.
Despite the beaming smiles faces of incumbent Governor of Delta State, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, his predecessors, Chief James Ibori and Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, during the traditional marriage ceremony of Okowa’s daughter, Maxine Ewere and her husband from Benue State, Dr Daniel Igo, which held at Owa-Alero in Ika North-East Local Government Area of the state; some political pundits in the state say all is still not well among the political gladiators considering the almost irreconcilable COLD WAR between Okowa and Ibori on who becomes the next governor of Delta State in 2023.
Okowa has repeatedly said he will midwife free, fair and credible primaries of the PDP in the state, but his recent body language being executed by some key members of his inner political circle according to the political pundits seem to have punched his overt neutrality on his successor plan for 2023.
Recall that Ibori on Saturday, March 19, 2022, while speaking at the official declaration of Senator Ighoyota Amori to contest for the 2023 Delta Central Senatorial District seat said, “If anybody that is planning, anybody that is conspiring, anybody that thinks that because I am a former governor they want to conspire to disgrace me, God will disgrace them”.
Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting of Delta PDP stakeholders, Investigative Journalist, Fejiro Oliver, on Sunday, April 3, 2022, pontificated on the likely outcome of the meeting, when he wrote with the headline, “Exclusive: Ibori Finally Kisses Political Dust As Okowa Concludes Plan To Hijack PDP Ad-hoc Delegates On Tuesday”.
Excerpt below:
Unless the political godfather of Delta State politics, James Onanefe Ibori moves fast in twenty-four hours, his political godson, Mr. Ifeanyi Authur Okowa will be nailing his political coffin while he sleeps, SecretReporters can authoritatively report. In a move to see his Plan A candidate, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborowheri sails through in the PDP primaries, Okowa will be finalizing how to hijack the composition of state, zonal, local governments and ward ad-hoc delegates to the state PDP primaries which will also be used to bulldoze his preferred aspirants for National Assembly and House of Assembly on the party tonight in government house.
Inside sources in the state PDP caucus and Government House, Asaba, revealed that this is the main agenda of the State PDP Stakeholders meeting which has been called for Tuesday, April 5, at the Unity Hall in Government House. According to our very credible sources, the governor’s plan is to invite regular and identifiable members of the state PDP Stakeholders as a smokescreen but will overwhelm their number with a selection of loyalists from the local governments, including recently resigned Commissioners, to push through a vote on the process of the composition of ad-hoc delegates that will sustain the usage of the old Electoral College which is in the grip of the State Executive Committee controlled by the Governor. The plan is to ensure that the ad-hoc delegates from the wards, LGAs and state would be shared to only persons whose directions on the aspirants have been determined. The sources say well established and truly democratically minded party leaders and elders will be eliminated from the selection of LGA stakeholders to ensure that the one way plan is not challenged by them at the meeting.
What this implies is that true democratic process of electing ward and LGA ad-hoc delegates would be abandoned as party members will be disenfranchised, sidetracked and rendered impotent in the affairs of the party by the governor in a bid to outdo Ibori and his choice candidate, David Edevbie. Part of the plans to influence the primaries across the state is also to deny the issuance of the new PDP membership card to some automatic delegates who have been identified as independent minded. Our sources say plan which is designed to make it difficult for such automatic delegates to attend and vote at the state elective congress is already being executed across the wards and LGAs.
