- Emerhor Group Loses Out
By Augustine Osayande, Abuja
Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in a determined bid to win Delta State for the All Progressives Congress (APC) has stepped up political efforts and calculations by swearing in Prophet Jones Erue as the Delta State Chairman of the APC, a move that seemingly throws Olorogun Otega Emerhor and his group into political irrelevancy in the scheme of things.
Presidency sources confided in The New Diplomat that Oshiomhole is not acting alone as he is said to have received the blessing of the Presidency to correct what an insider called manifest ”mistakes in the past that would have taken APC to the cleaners in the State because the Emerhor faction is not politically strong and grounded enough to root out PDP machinery in 2019.”
Said a source close to the Presidency: ”I can confidently tell you that APC national has studied Delta very well and they know that Ogboru is the strongest force that the APC can rely on as its gubernatorial candidate to dislodge Okowa in 2019. Otega doesn’t have the weight so rather than being fair and open in the whole process, his group tried to bring in an Urhobo State Chairman, at all cost, just to disenfranchise the Urhobos from the governorship race in 2019. Omo-Agege and so many others who know Delta politics very well, admitted that Ogboru has been winning all his elections but has always
been rigged out, through the support of Abuja forces. Now that we have an APC at the national, fielding Ogboru as governorship candidate then makes sense to the APC hierarchy because he will now get the backing of National government.”
The New Diplomat learnt that Emerhor’s fear and apprehension have been that given Ogboru’s sterling and strong weight and coming from the same Senatorial district, will automatically render him (Emerhor) less significant as most people will gravitate to Ogboru and Omo-Agege.
Investigations further revealed it was Rotimi Ameachi that actually provided the leeway for Emerhor politically. Leveraging on Ameachi’s initial strength until the seeming turn of political tide against Ameachi with the emergence of Oshimhole who has now assumed the pivotal leadership position of the APC and the de-facto contact head in South South, Emerhor ”may not find it easy and many political shake-ups may soon happen.” It was learnt that Emerhor’s group had in anticipation of the former Edo state Governor, Oshiomhole’s weight, worked against him from emerging as National chairman, allegedly sponsoring prosy publications, meant to rubbish Oshiomhole.
In the build up to that intrigue, Emerhor had quickly supported Chief Cyril Ogodo, with the backing of out-gone Chief John Odigie-Oyegun. Consequently, the Emerhor group sensing that oshiomhole was set to move in another direction, quickly went to court to halt the action. But the court postponed hearing till September, as courts are on vacation, a window Oshiomhole took advantage of to quickly swear in Erue as State Chairman, leaving Emerhor and Jones stranded, in the political valley.
