SAN FRANCISCO, April 07, (THEWILL) – The presidential election won by General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is already upturning the political calculations in Delta State ahead of Saturday’s governorship election.
Opposition politicians are now seeking realignment to be on the winning side.
The move is however rattling the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state which has Senator Ifeanyi Okowa as its flagbearer.
Although, the Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate, Chief Great Ogboru, was rumoured to have dropped his ambition and set for a huge realignment with Olorogun O’tega Emerhor of the APC, the LP guber candidate has since denied such move.
However, the bid to remain relevant in the new dispensation to emerge after May 29 is already leading some political gladiators in the state into mulling defection plans to the APC.
According to impeccable sources, leading the early birds is Chief Ayiri Emami, an Itsekiri youth leader and the proponent of the Tony Obuh project during the last PDP primaries. THEWILL gathered from sources that Emami may have pitched tent with the Emerhor camp with several others still negotiating to follow suit.
Sources said that the proposed visit of Buhari to Asaba this week may be the game-changer for Emerhor who, until now, had no chance in the race following the obscurity of his party in the state.
But recent moves by some disgruntled PDP faithful to defect to the APC thus abandoning the Okowa/Utuaro project are giving Emerhor a fresh hope.
THEWILL however gathered that Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan who had been severally accused by a few political elites of not showing enough commitment to the Okowa’s ticket has been upset by the development and is already pulling all strings to ensure PDP’s victory at the polls.
Uduaghan reportedly came out last week with full support of the Okowa ticket when he doled out millions of naira to Okowa’s campaign ahead of the Saturday poll.
Brig. Gen Cletus Emein, Chairman, Izon Congress, had contended that Uduaghan would carve his name in gold if he remains steadfast with the PDP as the leader in the state by ensuring that the party wins the governorship election in the state.
“We are now in the season of defections following President Goodluck Jonathan’s loss in the presidential poll. We however advise and trust that Governor Uduaghan should be on record as standing firm in leading his PDP’s Okowa/Utuaro gubernatorial ticket to victory at the April 11 poll”, Emein said.
But a close ally of Okowa told THEWILL that the PDP candidate is not losing any sleep over the reported mass defection plan. Rather he is said to be waxing stronger and has been holding town hall meetings around the council areas.
The source said that despite the ongoing political realignment and possible defections of some PDP chieftains from the party, Okowa still has more edge over others in the race going by the numerical strength of Delta North district in the state.
Sources said that one factor that would shape the election is the fact that Delta North where Okowa hails from has the highest local government councils with nine councils, followed by Delta Central which has eight and Delta South district which also has eight.
Barring last minute change of events, our source said that Okowa is sure of block votes from the North and a small vote from the South and Central district to emerge victorious in the race. It added that since the inception of party politics in the state, the Urhobos have not voted the PDP and there is nothing to fear if they team up with the opposition this time around.
Meanwhile, the Urhobo nation has ignored a plot by some Urhobo elites to dump the candidate of the Labour Party, Ogboru for the APC candidate, Emerhor.
Urhobo elites have been forging alliance with Emerhor as the new consensus candidate for the Urhobo nation since the emergence of Buhari at the centre.
The alleged plot being allegedly orchestrated by Urhobo elites including Prof Iboje, Prof G.G. Darah and other Urhobo stakeholders was disclosed by one of the members of the Urhobo Progressives Union (UPU) who was said to be not too comfortable by the new development, describing it as an eleventh hour decision, saying they will “win and fail” with Chief Great Ogboru who was declared at Uvwiamuge as the consensus candidate of the Urhobo nation.
According to the source, the Urhobo nation’s stand on not shifting ground from the support of Ogboru came from their resolution that the Urhobo support for Ogboru is not on party basis but on individual and unwavering popularity across the three senatorial districts.
THEWILL further reliably gathered that the decision of the Urhobo nation not to move to either APC or PDP has put the Omene- led UPU executive into a tight corner, since according to our sources, over 90 percent of the population of the Urhobo nation have vowed to stand by the Uvwiamuge declaration which was reaffirmed recently, urging the Omene-led UPU executive to stick to its initial decision.
In a chat with newsmen over the inconclusive meeting, the UPU President General, Chief Joe Omene, said no decision had been taken yet on the governorship candidate of the clan as they are still discussing the issue to enable them come out with a final stand before Saturday’s election.
