- Nwaoboshi vows to resist anti-rotational forces
- Enuha assures zero tolerance for vote rigging in Delta North
With the Congress of the All Progressives Congress (APC) rescheduled to commence on July 31, 2021, the Deputy President of the Senate and South South Leader of the party, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, has charged members and stakeholders to demonstrate unflinching loyalty and respect for the supremacy of the party.
Omo-Agege who gave this charge while playing host to party leaders and stakeholders from Delta North and Delta Central in Orogun recently urged them to observe and respect the supremacy of the party just as he admonished them to subsume individual interest into the larger interest of the party.
In a letter dated July 11, jointly signed by the National Chairman of the Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, CECPC, Mai Mala Buni and the National Secretary, Senator John James Akpanuoedehe, the party had informed the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) of its new date of commencement of the Congress which was scheduled from July 24 to July 31.
While brainstorming on the forthcoming Congress, with leaders and representatives from Delta Central in his country home, Orogun, on Sunday July 11, Omo-Agege who held a similar meeting with leaders from Delta North a day earlier, stated that where party interest is allowed to override personal interest, the party will stand on the position of strength to do battle for victory.
According to him, the essence of the meeting was to ensure that there was a collective decision on the choice of who will constitute the executives from the Congress.
He said that unlike in the past where individuals will single-handedly pick and install party executives, the choice of the incoming executives would be the responsibility of all the leaders, adding that the good news is that the Congress will be by direct primary.
He said: “The reason we are doing this is that we want everybody to own the exco. It is a collective work and not the work of one person. In every unit, we are represented, since an exco member is coming from that unit.
“What we are doing now, calls for sacrifice, forebearance. You cannot leave your ward and go to another ward. Everybody must remain in his ward for this exercise (APC ward congress).
“We don’t want you to bring people into the exco because they are your wives, sisters, brothers, friends, or girlfriends, hoping that you are can use them to trade for money from aspirants. I want us to look for people who can do this job for us.
“Everyone has ambition and they think they can use the opportunity of this congress to secure that advantage. But I have good news for you: we are going to be doing direct primaries, not indirect or delegate primaries. So, the ward chairman is just as important as any other member of the party. But we need these people as managers of the party for the purpose of mobilization in the general election.”
Also speaking at the occasion, the member representing Ughelli North/Ughelli South/Udu Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Rev. Francis Waive, commended the effort of the Deputy President of the Senate in attracting Senator representing Delta North, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi to the APC, adding that his coming has strengthened the party.
“I want us to put our eyes on the goal. If our eyes are on the goal, nothing sideways will distract us. I urge all party members who have ambition to contest to subsume every ambition under this so that we can get a broad-based exco.”
While hosting leaders and stakeholders from Delta North Senatorial Districts, a day earlier (Friday July 9), Senator Ovie Omo-Agege enjoined them to ensure that only aspirants who are residents in their various units are elected as executives in the Congress.
He stressed on the need for a proper structure at the ward and unit levels, adding that it forms the bedrock for a victorious 2023 election.
Omo-Agege who warned treating new decampees into the party as second class citizens, tasked party leaders to promote unity among members.
He said: “I am more interested in the leadership at the ward level because that is where we are going to be having the engine room to drive whatever we want to do.
“What we want to do is go to the ward level. And that is where we have the units. My idea is to take the party to the grassroots. And we cannot have only one leader at the ward. We have a lot of leaders at the ward level who can help us in this exercise. I would want us to invite those leaders. I don’t want any leader per ward to draw up a list of any exco. We want about 10 of our leaders per ward to sit down and allocate these slots to the various units comprising that ward.
“After you have allocated one exco slot per unit, ensure that whoever is going to occupy that slot in that unit resides in that unit. Please, do not allow or bring any list that will comprise somebody who lives here in Asaba and he wants to become a ward Chairman or Secretary in Igbuzor. And I want us to insist on this. There is a rationale for this: to help us mobilise for the general election. Because if we have an exco member who resides in that unit, what it means in effect is that we already have one person in that unit. And it is very difficult for you to rig an election where there is someone standing for you in that unit. That one person is going to assist us to put together the unit exco.”
Omo-Agege used the occasion to commend leaders and stakeholders of the party from the Ndokwa nation, especially for the large number of persons that have crossed over to the party from the PDP in recent times, urging them to push harder for more enlistment.
He reiterated the policy of the party in treating every member equal, adding that whether old or new, every person has equal privileges, entitlements and responsibility.
“We don’t have joiners and founders in this party. Everybody has equal stake, entitlement and responsibility. We should celebrate the entrance of new members into the party and not treat them like second-class citizens. There is a lot that will go round when we prevail”, he said.
While speaking at the occasion, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi explained why he dumped the PDP for the APC, saying that Delta North historically had never played politics of opposition. He recalled that from 1960 till date, political leaders from the North have always played national politics but never in opposition.
“As a student of history, I have taken pains to study the history of our people from 1960 to now and I have found out that an Anioma man has always been in the centre”, he said.
In a related development, the Senator representing Delta North Senatorial District in the Red Chamber of the National Assembly, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, had vowed to resist any force that will truncate the existing rotational governorship in the State.
It would be recalled that a few months ago, the governor of the State, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa was quoted to have said that there was no agreement in existence that guarantee senatorial rotation of the governorship position in the State.
However, while addressing party members at a reception organized for him at his country home by a prominent leader of the party, Chief Engr Hyacinth Enuha in Ogwashi Uku, Aniocha South LGA recently, Senator Nwaoboshi said that the people of the district like their old political leaders can no longer afford to remain in opposition to the center hence his decision to pitch tent with the APC.
He said noted that his defection from the PDP to the APC was in the interest of his constituents whom, according to him, can no longer afford to suffer deprivation from the national level due to opposition.
He charged the people to be ready to stand up and support Delta Central Senatorial district in their rightful quest to take over from Delta North in 2023 in line with the rotational governorship that has been in existence since 1999 stressing that those who are scheming to truncate the system are enemies of peaceful coexistence who must fail.
While addressing the party member, the chief host, Engr. Enuha stated that the party was invigorated by the coming in of Senator Nwaoboshi, adding that “PDP will never prosper in Delta North anymore.”
Enuha noted that the coming of Senator Nwaoboshi has brought leadership to the Senatorial district, pointing out that henceforth, ‘PDP can no longer rig elections successfully in the area.’
Present at the occasion include Senator Peter Nwaoboshi; Chairman, Caretaker Committee, APC in Delta State, Prophet Jones Erue; Chairman, APC in Delta North Senatorial District, Prince Fred Mordi; former member of House of Representatives, Hon. Doris Udoh and Elder statesman, Chief Hyacinth Enuha.
Others are Chief Strategist to the Deputy President of the Senate, Paulinus Akpeki, Political Adviser to the Deputy President of the Senate, Chief Omene Sobotie, Chief of Staff to the Deputy President of the Senate, Dr. Otive Igbuzor and Deputy Chief of Staff to the DSP, Alex Onwudiamu Esq, among others.
