President of Ijaw National Congress, Prof. Benjamin Okaba, has stated that Delta Ijaw will only support someone who has affinity with Chief James Onanefe Ibori for governor come 2023, saying the Ijaws benefited a lot from him when he was governor of Delta state between 1999 and 2007.
Okaba, who made this known when the leadership of Delta Central 2023 paid the leadership of Ijaw National Congress at Kpakiama, Bomadi Local Government Area of Delta State a consultative visit, stated that God has already ordained who becomes governor of Delta state come 2023.
He stated that the visit of DC-23 has resonated the synergy between the Urhobos and the Ijaw nation who were prominent in the old Delta province as they have a common destiny and common political front.
According to him: “If Ibori is coming as governor tomorrow we will massively support him because the Ijaw political class was built by Ibori. Beyond the bridge that you are seeing, whoever that was a senator, minister, commissioner in Delta Ijaw, sucked from Ibori political breast, that is why when the Urhobo sometimes go against him, we stand by him.
“If we have someone that has the reflexes of Ibori, we don’t care where he comes from because we believe that power brings about development, we will support him.
“The message is that Urhobo and Ijaw have come together. We were together sometimes ago but we distorted ourselves at a time and move our separate ways.
“We are brothers because there is nobody in Ijaw that does not have Urhobo blood. Same applies to the Urhobo people. We welcome the visit because it is a visit that will open vista of opportunities for us to continously interface so that at the end of the day whoever that has the upper hand will be supported by the other.
“We the Ijaws are contesting for the governoship of Delta state because we believe that it is only when we are governor that we can correct our mistakes of neglect but that can only change if there is someone like Ibori”, he added.
Earlier, National Chairman of Delta Central 2023, Chief Senator Ighoyota Amori in his speech told the INC President and his team that the visit was to appeal to the Ijaws to stick to the PDP zoning arrangement of the governorship seat along senatorial districts’ line.
He said the DC-23 is a lobby group made up of card carrying members of the PDP in Delta Central Senatorial District with the aim of lobbying for the governorship seat to rotate to the Central come 2023.
He noted that the political relationship between the Ijaws and Urhobos had been very cordial from time immemorial and as such the DC-23 will do everything possible to ensure the relationship is sustained.
According to him, “the Ijaws have their argument for the governorship seat likewise the Urhobos but we can’t talk of zoning on ethnic lines because the state is made up of various ethnic groups, hence the appeal for us to maintain the zoning arrangement on senatorial districts order”.
“We want to establish a sustainable system where when it gets to your turn no one from another senatorial district can contest with you. So the argument that Urhobo or other ethnic groups contested during the turn of other senatorial districts will no longer be there”, he added.
He appealed to the leadership of the INC as the umbrella body of the Ijaw people worldwide to see reasons with Delta Central Senatorial District on the need to strengthen the zoning arrangement on senatorial order for peace and stability.
DAILY INDEPENDENT
