The much-expected fusing of the opposition parties in Delta State into one political body on the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC) has been slated for July, 2016. This forms part of the resolutions adopted from the report of the APC Welcome Committee set up earlier in the year to work out modality to integrate the different structures of opposition parties in the state into one formidable APC party.
The resolution adopted in an expanded APC State executive meeting held at the Orhuwhorun, Udu Local Government Area of Delta State recently gave a two-week window for the new members coming from the Light of Labour party led by Chief Great Ovedje Ogboru, the Accord party led by former Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Hon. Victor Ochei and Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, among other parties, to register as members of the APC.
It was also resolved that after the conclusion of the registration of new party members, the state APC would pay a courtesy visit on the national leadership of the party in Abuja and thereafter, carry out what the Deputy State chairman of the party, Mr. Cyril Ogodo, dubbed a Mega-rally to formally usher in the new members. With this development, The New Diplomat, gathered that the APC in Delta State is set to take over the state in 2019.
There is no gainsaying the fact that the whole essence of the APC throwing its door open for the fusion of other parties in the state is to build a formidable opposition party capable of doing battle with and wresting power from the PDP. This much was contained in the address of the leader of the party in the state, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, during the expanded SEC meeting in Udu, when he declared: “If we had won the governorship election in Delta State, the situation would have been different. There is a difference between Delta State and Lagos State and even Edo State. The difference is because APC had their states. So, it is important that we get our state.”
Olorogun Emerhor noted that the APC in the state contested the 2015 when the PDP was at the national level but that in 2019, elections would be conducted with the APC at the national level. He added that although the APC was strong in the state, it needed other strong people to join the party to make it stronger.
How possible is it to build a stronger party with old foes? That seems to be the question on the lips of some. A cross section of the traditional followers of Ogboru who have followed him to APC are of the views that anything short of their leader making it to be the governorship candidate of the party in 2019 will be unacceptable.
Meanwhile, the thinking in the camp of Victor Ochei, The New Diplomat gathered, is for the former Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, to slug it out with the incumbent governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, for the number one seat in the state come 2019.
On the part of Olorogun Emerhor, it is uncertain if he still has his eyes on the governorship race in 2019 but some of his key followers who spoke to The New Diplomat on condition of anonymity, expressed a strong view that their principal remains most qualified. So, how is the new house of the APC in the state going to resolve these individual interests? What message are they taking to the national body of the party when they go visiting in the next three weeks or so in terms of development of the party in the state?
It would be recalled that the issue of how to position the new political entrants reared its head when the idea of the other parties fusing into the APC came up last year. It was on the basis of that, The New Diplomat gathered, that the APC Welcome Committee was inaugurated to discuss with incoming political parties’ members. It was the report of the Welcome committee that was presented and adopted recently. Although while addressing the expanded State Executive Council of the party which met at Orhuwhorun, Olorogun Emerhor stated clearly that the original state executive committee of the party led by Prophet Jones Erue, was still intact, a new executive body named the Delta State Leadership Council made up of 50 members has emerged from the Welcome Committee report. And reading the resolution drawn from the report, the State Deputy chairman of the party, Mr. Ogodo, disclosed that the new leadership structure would be reflected at the council and ward levels.
More interesting in the new structure is the fact that it shall pilot the affairs of the party until party congresses are held. Notwithstanding the fact that the original APC constitutes about fifty percent of the membership of the new body, it is not very clear if the party state executive committee led by Prophet Erue has ceased to exist or is in limbo for the time being.
Another issue not addressed yet is whether the new 50-man Leadership Council will also adopt Prophet Jones and his executive members or a new set of members will be appointed to represent the original APC’s interest.
Responding to a question on who is likely to become the governorship flag-bearer of the APC come 2019, a top member of the Prophet Jones-led executive who would not want his name in print, responded: “When we get to that bridge we shall cross it”. But that may not be the position of some political gladiators in the new APC structure. Indications are that the ethno-political rivalry which has been planted by the PDP in the name of power rotation between the three senatorial districts in the state cannot be easily dispelled even with the present leadership structure in the APC. Every move among the top gladiators is subjected to interpretation and mutual suspicion pervades the air as the new political marriage comes on board.
A few days before the June 6 expanded executive committee meeting at Orhuwhorun, the senator representing Delta Central Senatorial District, Mr. Ovie Omo-Agege, was hosted to a grand reception by the Orogun Council of chiefs in Orogun town, his country home. In attendance, among other dignitaries, was the duo of Olorogun O’tega Emerhor and Chief Great Ogboru, who, in more than a year, have not been seen together anywhere in Urhobo land. The clinking of glasses and backslapping between these two political juggernauts on that occasion was a clear indication that the past had been buried in favour of a new-found love and political relationship. This much was expressed in his speech when Olorogun Emerhor took the floor to address the mammoth crowd that attended the occasion.
Said he: “Na oyibo talk am say ‘divided you fall united you strong’ and that is why we are coming back together. The opposition is back and now we have a strong Senator to support us. And I can tell you, between us we are taking back our state.”
Reacting to Emerhor’s statement shortly after the ceremony, Chief Ogboru averred that he was in the same page with him on the issue. “You saw it, you were there, I don’t need to add or subtract from it. As a matter of fact, I would stand on all fours with what Chief O’tega said today. And I believe we can build on it and Delta will be better for it,” Ogboru said.
The New Diplomat investigation has revealed that the above comments of Emerhor and Ogboru have drawn the ire of politicians from Victor Ochei’s camp who see it as a fresh ploy of Delta Central to snatch the governorship from Delta North in 2019. Although investigations, show that zoning the 2019 governorship ticket in APC to Delta North was not at any time considered as condition for Ochei’s coming into the party, there appears to be palpable fear and suspicion among the APC members in Delta North that the coming together of Great Ogboru and O’tega Emerhor might not be in the interest of the Anioma agenda — which seems to cut across political divides in the area. As it seems, the burden now rest on the shoulders of Ogboru and Emerhor to rebut that presumption.
Indeed, there seems to be many rivers to cross by the APC in Delta State in its quest to form a formidable opposition that can give the PDP a run for its money. And talking about monetary strength, the current APC in the state seems to be a weakling, notwithstanding the fact that the party is in control at the federal level. The New Diplomat investigation reveals that up till now, over 90 percent of the party’s bill is still being picked up by Olorogun O’tega Emerhor who contested the 2015 governorship election on the platform of the party. While speaking during the expanded executive meeting however, he noted that “pockets don dry”.
The New Diplomat investigation reveals that apart from the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachukwu, a Delta Northerner who was appointed by President Buhari (not based on political leaning), no APC member from Delta State has been given national appointment so far. The question on the lips of so many members of the party in the state is, how can the APC take over Delta State without any empowerment from the party at the national level?
Emerhor however disclosed during the meeting that a Contact Committee comprising eminent personalities in the party who are of Delta State origin has been set up to reach out to key officers in national positions to solicit for empowerment for APC members in the state. But from our findings from the interim report of the committee presented by its secretary, Mr. Ogbalor during the meeting, not much appears to have been achieved. It is also very apparent from the recent list of ambassadorial nominees announced by the Presidency that Delta State is conspicuously missing.
For now, APC’s slogan is “APC, take over Delta State”. But when the party state deputy chairman, Mr. Cyril Ogodo, who was chairman of the occasion, shouted the slogan, the response was, to say the least, not encouraging, an indication that many are getting discouraged. But hope was revved again when Emerhor declared that their expectations would be met sooner than later. What exactly ‘soon than later’ means in the circumstance, remains a matter of conjecture.
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