Delta 2023: Ibori, Oyovbaire should not deceive Urhobo people, Ijaws are heavily set to take over Delta govt house – Ijaw group writes
The battle for 2023 Delta governorship is causing ripples among political bigwigs in the state. As the Urhobos of Delta central are laying to the governorship, so also the Ijaws are giving reasons why they are gunning for the race.
It promises to be a great battle. The Ijaws have cogent reasons why they are in the race for Delta government house. This press release gives some reasons why the Ijaws are not ready to give up.
Press Release
21st of January, 2023
2023 AND THE FALLACY OF ZONING: DELTA CENTRAL CANNOT COARSE OKOWA TO DO ITS BIDDING
As we are gradually moving into 2023 electioneering processes, it is good that we continue to educate Deltans on the gory truth about the fallacious zoning arrangements in the PDP, Delta state. So much has been said about it from both ends; pro and anti-zoning elements.
What we cannot take is the continuous lies being peddled by prominent Urhobo leaders in the state. Our attention was once again drawn to a news publication in the Vanguard Newspaper which stated that prominent Urhobo sons and daughters gathered to strategize on how their Senatorial District will take the PDP guber ticket in 2023. We are not against the scheming of any Senatorial District for the 2023 governorship ticket in the PDP. Our concern is the lies about the so-called esoteric and non-existence zoning miasma.
Chief James Onanefe Ibori with due respect to him as a prominent leader in the state and a former governor ought not to have joined the bandwagon of those political mischief makers about the zoning issue. Chief Ibori, Prof. Sam Oyovbaire and their acolytes knew very well that the much touted zoning drama in PDP, Delta state has been serially breached by their Urhobo brothers since 2007 to date.
If Chief Ibori is too busy to probe into his archive then let him engage his aides to simply do the research for him about the PDP primary elections in Delta State since 2007. If there was zoning, why did his Urhobo brothers contest against Uduaghan in 2007 at the PDP primary election? If there was anything like zoning then why his Urhobo brothers contested against Okowa in 2014?
As Chief Ibori and Prof. Sam Oyovbaire know very well, every transitional elections in the state is opened to every qualified Deltan from the three Senatorial Districts to participate. 2023 elections cannot be different. We did it in 2007 and 2019 and winners emerged in the persons of Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan from the Delta South and Sen. (Dr.) Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa from the Delta North respectively.
On the claim by Chief Ibori that the Central District massively supported Uduaghan in his first and second terms is not true as the records in public places testified on the contrary. In Uduaghan’s second term, the Delta Central massively voted against him. They voted for Chief Ogboru and his Democratic People’s Party (DPP) which made the party to win majority of the House of Assembly seats from the Central. The PDP also lost the governorship election in two thirds of the local governments in the Central District.
The Urhobos replicated the same thing in 2019 when they presented two governorship candidates from the APC and the LP to contest against Okowa. Chief Ibori cannot feign ignorance of these undisputed facts. Prof. Same Oyovbaire should not also deceive himself by calling on Ijaw and Isoko people to rescind their governorship ambitions in 2023. That is an assault on our collective will. As people who have been faithful and committed to the ideals of the ruling PDP in the state since 1999, we deserve love, care and honour by our fickle Urhobo brothers.
Sen. Okowa in spite of the overbearing influence of the Urhobos should not make the mistake of imposing a particular candidate on Deltans. He secured his victory in 2019 through the suicidal ideation of the Delta South people. We hope that he will allow the will of Deltans to prevail in 2023. It is not a joke that political tsunami awaits us like what we saw in our neighboring Bayelsa and Edo States if the PDP imposes a candidate on Deltans in 2023.
Although we have been faithful and committed to the ideals of the PDP since 1999 which had hitherto saw the party’s victories through thick and thin in all the elections, Delta South has the potential to end the dominance of the party in the state. It therefore behooves on Okowa and the PDP leadership to provide a level playing field for all guber contestants to participate in 2023.
Signed:
Amb. Okporu Ebi Augustine
DG, Delta Ijaw 2023 Governorship Advocacy Group (DIGAG)
