Prince Kehinde Taiga, a human rights activist, has waded into the political feud in Udu local government area of Delta state. The crisis revolves around the zone where the next local government chairman should come from.
The immediate past local government was elected from Udu North. He stayed in office for six years, serving two terms. He is Jite Brown, who just left office.
Available reports indicate that previous local government chairmen had emerged from Udu North within the local government area. As the new LG chairman is about to emerge, the majority and stakeholders think that the next chairman should come from Udu South. In their view, this is for equity and fairness as democracy is for the people.
While some hold this view, some are also of the opinion that the election should either be left open or zoned again to Udu North, a development that is pitching the people against each other.
But Taiga, who has followed the political development in the area, believes that for fairness and equity, the political pendulum should shift to Udu South. His reasons are quite overwhelming. Taiga spoke with the Editor of Emerald News on the phone.
Hear him: “Zoning is not a constitutional matter. It’s for equity and fairness. It’s for everybody to be carried along. The immediate past local government chairman of Udu is from Udu North. That is Jite Brown, He was in office for 6 years, two tenures.
“The immediate past house of assembly member is from Udu North. The commissioner during Okowa’s tenure for eight years, Henry Sakpra, was also from Udu North. It was only the DESOPADEC rep, not the commissioner in Okowa’s term, that was from Udu South.
“In the current administration, we have a commissioner for environment who is from Udu South. The House of Assembly member is from Udu North. The immediate past House of Assembly member is from Udu North. The previous one is from Udu North.
“So, for equity and fairness, the local government chairman has to come from Udu South. So, I am calling on the governor Sheriff Oborevwori, and the PDP state chairman, Kingsley Esiso, to consider the Udu south for equity and fairness. This is in the same pattern as the party is zoning the governorship.
“For equity and fairness in Udu, the governor must pick somebody from Udu south for the local government chairman.
“Now, the present House of Assembly member is from Udu North, the local government chairman should come from Udu South. This is to give room for democratic participation by all indigenes.
“Some are not ready to accept that. So, we are calling on the governor to ensure that the local government chairman comes from Udu South. We want the governor to hear us. We are saying whatever political party is fielding candidates for the election,, they should come from Udu South. Udu South will not vote for anybody from Udu North. And if the governor fails to give Udu South the local government chairmanship position, Udu South will not vote for PDP in the 2027 election.”
