Defection of Delta State PDP to APC: What Okowa/Oborevwori are not telling us
By Ifeanyi Izeze
The recent mass defection ostensibly led by the Delta State governor, Sheriff Oborevwori and escorted by the immediate past governor of the state, Ifeanyi Okowa, that carried the entire PDP structure in the state into the APC is ingenuous and nothing short of a mindless assault on our political firmament no matter how the culprits explain it.
Ordinarily, claiming that the entire Delta State Government shift to APC was anchored on governance, not politics would have been swallowed hook, line, and sinker but for the addendum that described the action as “a strategic move in the best interest of governance and development in the state.”
There is no sensible explanation that can justify the unprecedented move rather it looked more of a cowardly approach as solution to what remains a clear case of transgression by the last administration and/or the present government and its operators.
Using the perceived ongoing re-alignment of the North in attempt to wrest power from President Ahmed Tinubu in the forthcoming 2027 Presidential election as a justified reason for the mass decampment of the entire PDP in Delta state including the government and its operators at the state, local government and even national levels, is pure naïveté.
How could anyone explain this unprecedented defection or more aptly unorthodox merger and acquisition of hitherto PDP in Delta state into APC that saw the state governor and key members of the administration, including lawmakers and political appointees, change allegiance overnight, if not to say it was not only naïve but outrightly suicidal? But that’s not a bit of my concern wallahi!
As said by the Government spokesperson Charles Aniagwu on a television appearance, “We have examined a whole lot of issues around the need for us to take the decision that we took and we are quite convinced that the decision is in the best interest of the development of our state.”
Did Okowa say the decision was taken in the best interest of Delta State and its people? Bros, die that matter! We de sidon look you o!
Hear Ifeanyi Okowa: “As I did tell people that day (when I defected), it was not about me; it was not about the governor, but about the fact that there is a need for us to connect to Abuja. That goodwill that is in Abuja, that resource that is in Abuja, of which Delta State is a large contributor — there was a need to connect to it.
The former Delta State Governor, should stop explaining why he and Governor Sheriff joined the APC. It is their right to decide which platform they want to associate with. Rather Okowa and Sheriff should be explaining to Deltans why they carried the entire PDP structure including members, political appointees etc. into their new party.
Also, there was this widely reported allegations against Okowa and Oborevwori on the misuse/diversion of Delta state monies to the tune over N1.5 trillion on “side attractions” outside the state’s interests including N500 billion given to Iyorcha Ayu’s PDP to secure Okowa’s vice presidential slot in the 2023 elections.
Of all the explanations for carrying the entire Delta State PDP into the APC that we are being bombarded with, nothing has ever been said on the allegations. Should this not be a better and stronger explanation to Deltans.
Acknowledging the truism of the ongoing Northern re-alignment or rather protest against President Tinubu for the 2027 Presidential election, as perceived in the South and the Middle Belt, a state government does not need to move with the entire structure of the ruling party into the party ruling at the centre before it can be able to deliver 100 percent votes for any presidential candidate they chose to support irrespective of party affiliation.
So using the excuse that you want to work and deliver President Tinubu against the northern political gang-up as reason of moving the entire Delta PDP into APC is very naïve. As a state governor you can be where you are and still work in your state to deliver the needed votes for in your state for your preferred candidate/party.
Agreed as said by Okowa that the defection would strengthen the APC in Delta but what he did not say, maybe he does not know yet, is that all the decampees including himself and the governor will be the greatest losers in the power game that would soon ensue because they are internally displaced refugee rent seekers and nothing more.
As reportedly remarked by the former minister of Works, Raji Fashola, concerning the defectors, “You cannot stop sinners from trooping into a church or mosque. What you don’t do is hand over the pulpit to them.”
And this is where the real problem lies!
You don’t expect those who have struggled these years to build and defend APC in Delta to just fold their hands and watch being side-lined to second-class stakeholders in the party by refugees who are running to be shielded just because they are in charge of the state government.
In the words of the Delta State Government Spokesperson, “We are not here to take over the APC but to strengthen it. The party becomes stronger when new forces align with existing structures.
“We acknowledge that some persons may feel displaced, but it is all part of the political evolution.”
The problem is that the Nigerian political class is the worst bunch of dishonest, insincere, and mindless group treading our society. You can’t take them by their words because most times they mean completely opposite of what they tell you.
An Ovie Omo -Agege has been angling to be governor of Delta state and justly so too. He is from the same Senatorial District with the incumbent governor Sheriff Oborevwori. Now who is going to take the APC governorship ticket come 2027?
Does anybody in his/her right mind expect Omo –Agege to relinquish the position to an internally displaced refugee who ran into the party to take refuge and be shielded from the big arm of the law that’s after him/them for justice and accountability?
Secondly, the state governor is supposed to be the leader of the party in government. Now, if we want to be honest with ourselves, between Omo-Agege and Sheriff the governor, who is or rather should be the leader of the APC in Delta?
You see! The marriage is definitely going to hit the rock. Mark my words!
If Omo-Agege does not allow Sheriff/Okowa to function as APC leaders in the state instead of him, does anybody expect the sitting governor to fund the activities of the party except under duress which is already being suspected as one of the conditions for housing the internally displaced PDP government officials.
For instance, in my Delta North Senatorial District, you have a Ned Nwoko, a Peter Nwaoboshi, an Ndudi Elumelu amongst several others who definitely want the senatorial ticket come 2027 and now they are all dumped into the APC. Will it be fair to side-line the original aspirants from the original APC and give the ticket to a Ned Nwoko who is amongst the refugees that just arrived from the PDP? Not to mind that my senator was smarter that the other PDP members as he left into the APC few hours before the entire structured was acquired by the Tinubu-led conspiracy.
This is the picture across all the senatorial districts and federal and state constituencies in Delta state. It would be very interesting to see how all these are going to be resolve as “a family” business.
Obviously, there’s going to be a plausible ‘implosion’ of these ‘too heavy’ at the top mergers and acquisition structures in terms of reactions of ambitious gubernatorial cum parliamentary candidates who may join other political parties outside APC to pursue their ambitions and rightly so too. God bless Delta State!
(IFEANYI IZEZE writes from Abuja and can be reached on: iizeze@yahoo.com; 234-8033043009)
