Olorogun Adelabu Bodjor is the Delta State APC Vice Chairman representing Delta Central Senatorial District. He has held that position until the recent state congress of the party which held at Asaba the Delta State capital where he was returned unopposed. Speaking with John Oghojafor in this exclusive interview, Olorogun Bodjor debunked the news that the APC party in the state has factionalized following the parallel congresses held in the state. He opined that the party will emerge from the current tendencies bedeviling it and approach the 2019 elections with the assurance of capturing the Government House. He also reacted to the recent allegation that all Urhobo kings converged in Orerokpe where they allegedly endorsed Governor Okowa for a second term.
Excerpts:
Today, the APC in Delta State seems to be comatose. It is like you have returned back to dark days of internal struggle between Chief Adolor Okotie-Eboh and Prophet Jones Erue which dragged on in the court for some time before it was resolved. Do you see the present fractured APC in the state being able to confront the consolidating PDP in the 2019 elections which is around the corner?
Well, I would not agree with you that the APC in Delta State is comatose. Democracy is all about disagreeing to agree. APC today in Delta State has several tendencies, though we have two main tendencies which I would today like to term as those who believe in Delta North Senatorial district agenda and those who believe that democracy is meant to be played along the line of everybody’s involvement. There was never a time in the history of this state that a particular ethnic group was barred from contesting election. And if the intention of a particular ethnic group from contesting election is the reason that brought this divide then so be it. I’m an Urhobo man before I became a Deltan, I’m an Urhobo man before I joined APC. I represent the interest of the Urhobo nation in the APC. I have no other choice. Urhobo land, Urhobo nation is my first constituency and that is where I will drop my last blood because that is where I will be buried.
You are of the legal profession and you know what equity stands for. As a seasoned politician, you are aware that although, it is a PDP creation, the zoning of the governorship of the state seems to have been imbibed by other political parties. The other zones in the state have had their two-tenure terms and presently, the North is having theirs. Where do you place equity and democracy in your party? Are they poles apart?
It sounds pretty ironical when people talk about denying one zone of its full term. I have said it earlier on: can you mention any year of election in the state where all the zones were not in involved? It has been a contest of all the zones, no one zone has been denied or left behind. Nobody has zoned anything to anywhere. And for crying out loud, APC has never been in government in Delta State. We have never won the governorship of the state. So, who is talking about zoning? Do you place something on nothing? We have never had the opportunity to be in office. So, where do we start the zoning from? Who is now bringing the idea of zoning? Now if you are saying that the north should continue to complete their four years, you are ironically saying that I should consider voting for Okowa. I will never vote for Okowa, I will not, I repeat. If the intention of the anybody who is rooting for the north is for them to vote for Okowa which is PDP, then let them be on their own. I’m not a PDP man, I’m an APC man. Let everybody go to the field. Let’s go and contest, whoever gets the ticket will be the candidate of the party. Whether he is from the north, from the central or from the south. That is how politics is played and that is democracy.
At what point would APC give a thought to the equity of zoning
You can only think and talk about zoning when we (APC) have succeeded in winning that seat for the first time. If for the first time Delta Central for example wins it, we can now say, ok, do your eight years and give it to the south under APC. Then we can give it to the south and say, south, do your eight years and give it to the north. It is only then and then that any reasonable APC member can talk about zoning. But for now, there is nothing there to zone. Let everybody go to the field, contest and whoever wins becomes the candidate of the party. For those Urhobo people who are now crying more than the bereaved, fighting a northern cause more than the northerners themselves, the gods of the Urhobo nation will ask them questions on a day to come.
Is APC in Delta State united at the moment to do the battle?
When you talk about democracy, democracy is not all about unity. Democracy is about disagreement to agree. So, in itself unity does not play a major role in democracy. Whatever you are seeing in Delta today is the expression of the democratic tendencies of each and everyone one of us in APC. So, there is no division in APC, APC is one, we are only playing what is an ideal democracy. We are democrats and progressives.
What are the tendencies you are talking about?
One of the tendencies believes that the party should permanently disenfranchise every other zones from contesting the governorship primary. And we are saying no. Every zone, the north, the central and the south, everybody should go to the field and contest. This is our contention. But there are those who are saying that anybody from the central must not contest the primary. It is ironic, it is diabolic, it is wicked.
Would Chief Great Ogboru agree to participate in a free and fair governorship primary in APC?
Every aspirant is ready to go for primary. APC is not a party where you come and somebody throws a ticket at you. Every aspirant must be in the field. So, it is not the story of who does not want to go to the field. All the aspirants are ready to go to the field and they should all be allowed to go to the field and show their strength in the field. And let the people make their choice. That is my candid opinion.
Do we see the tendencies being collapsed before the party governorship primaries?
Definitely, definitely because those tendencies, the way they are, one is negative while the other is all-embracing. The first tendency is saying it must be the north. And that is the one we are saying capital no, to. It cannot be just for the north. Let everybody feel free to contest. As an Urhobo man, today, I have Osiobe, I have Obire and I have Ogboru – these are three Urhobo sons aspiring to become governor of Delta State. Then from the north, we have Ochei, we have Ojougboh, we have Dr. Leroy, we have Prof. Utomi and others. Let them all go to the field and contest. Whoever wins becomes our candidate. That is our tendency. This the general tendency and what the people believe in. So, the other tendency must fail. The crux of the whole matter is that one of the tendencies want to lock out the Urhobo nationality from contesting. For me, that is ominous, it is unacceptable. It has never happened in the history of the state. When Ibori contested, everybody contested. Even this last one in 2015, Okowa, Edevbie, Ochei and others contested the primary. So, where are you bringing in this idea, from what planet?
Is APC of today prepared for the 2019 governorship election?
APC of today, aside the tendencies we are talking about, is super-solid, we know we are going to take over the leadership and governance of Delta State come 2019. What we are experiencing now is bulldozing the way to get there safely and we will move to Osadebe House, come 2019.
Recently, it was widely publicized that Urhobo traditional rulers passed a vote of confidence and tacitly endorsed Okowa for a second tenure at the Orodje’s palace in Orerokpe. What is your take on that?
I would not believe that story. My respected traditional rulers, the only way they can prove to the world that they went there with the conscience of the Urhobo nation, is to call the meeting to the Urhobo Cultural Centre at Uvwiamuge and tell the Urhobo people to vote for Okowa instead of an Urhobo candidate if there is an Urhobo contesting. It is only then I would believe they said such a thing but for me I would not believe my traditional rulers did not say such a thing, and they will never do such a thing.
