Dear Sirs,
I write this as a patriotic contribution to bettering our party and our society. I want to draw your attention to what is happening in Delta State so as to forestall the danger of woeful failure in the forthcoming general elections. Last Sunday’s gubernatorial primary elections, organized to produce a candidate for the party in the forthcoming general elections, was a show of shame.
Sirs, you will agree with me that no democracy can survive and no electoral process can produce a legitimate outcome without the rule of law and strict adherence to due process. The organizers trampled upon the party’s electoral guidelines, INEC guidelines and moral guidelines with impunity. They turned the President’s change mantra and insistence on fair play on its head. Only one aspirant, out of four, was favoured with sighting of the delegates list by the NWC and SWC of the party. This is an act that directly contradicts Article 9.2 of the party’s Constitution, which states on page 7 that: “Members of the party shall be obliged to affirm the party’s aims and objectives and conduct themselves in a manner that shall not bring the party to public odium and disrepute. Members of the party shall also observe the rules and regulations embedded in this Constitution.” It is left for all to judge whether Sunday’s attempt to impose Ogboru on the people meets the above provision of the Constitution.
Predetermined rules and regulations govern the behavior of people in society, otherwise there will be anarchy. This is why rule of law comprises supremacy of the law, observance of fundamental rights, fair hearing and equality before the law. Equality before the law means that the law should have no regard for status; big or small, everyone is subject to the same rules. Fair hearing simply means giving fair hearing to all parties to an issue or dispute. When we look at these tenets of the rule of law, as far as Sunday’s primary was concerned, we can safely come to the conclusion that the party’s hierarchy has breached the rule of law in so many ways throughout the process that encompassed the preparations and actual conduct of the elections. Arbitrary behaviours demean democracy because they are not backed by the rule of law.
The National Working Committee of APC, the Delta State Working Committee (as headed by Prophet Jones Ode Erue) had the opportunity of uniting all factions and building a bridge across all divides in the party. Against all entreaties to harmonize all the warring factions, they dove headlong into acting out a script from the very pit of hell. Their body language, right from their inception into office has been one of doing the opposite of the wishes of the majority. The people wanted direct primaries but they unilaterally went for indirect primaries. Whose agenda are they pursuing? The fiendish megalomaniacal characters that midwived the primary definitely cannot be representing the people.
Whoever NWC or the SWC is listening to does not want APC to access the power seat of Delta State. This is predicated on the fact that they have decided to sacrifice, on the altar of private interests, the yearnings of the people of Delta State, especially Delta North Senatorial Zone on completion of their two terms of eight years, based on a rotation initiated by the rival PDP in the state.
PDP knew the import of fielding a Delta North candidate to pacify the Delta Northerners and assure the voting public of equity in the rotation of power between the senatorial zones. APC has refused to borrow a leaf from the PDP in understanding and using this political advantage. In the calculation of many pundits, APC will be making a fatal move if they field a candidate from the Central Senatorial District which has enjoyed the longest stay on the executive seat of the state since its creation. The result will be massive sympathy voting in favour of Okowa, who is from Delta North, even though he is PDP.
Now, the question is: Can the APC survive if the Delta North members of the party decide to give their sympathy vote to Okowa who has flown the Anioma flag for only one term. One of the campaign slogans of APC is that Okowa has failed Delta and needs to be replaced. Okowa, and not Anioma, is the one that has performed poorly. Is APC now trying to punish Anioma for the sins of Okowa? Punishing many for the sin of one! Will that not be injustice of the highest order? If Okowa must go, then equity demands that he be replaced by one of Anioma extraction, whose tenure will be only one term, so as to maintain the momentum already created by the rotation. This is the thinking of the majority of Deltans, especially the Anioma people of Delta North.
As an old friend in the PDP fold advanced in a tête-à-tête on the Monday following that sham election, “What makes me happy is that APC has fielded Ogboru again. We will have an easy ride beating him as usual. Ogboru is our ‘wife’ and we know how to beat him every time”. That is the mindset of the opposition and I do not see how anyone can fault that. Ogboru has been serially and soundly beaten by PDP every time. In fact, the last three governorship elections in the state were between Ogboru and the PDP and Ogboru lost in all three, contesting from different parties. Whether PDP won by hook or crook is immaterial here as their man still seats on the throne of Delta today. What is the guarantee that Ogboru will now beat him this time around, especially as APC is trying their damndest to alienate Delta North and their sympathizers in the South and Central districts from the equation? Political strategy should be made of sterner stuff as politics is a game of numbers and we are involved in a three-horse race. If you still believe in progressive change, please do everything in your power to retain the power rotation arrangement because it is now convention borne out of equity.
The people of Delta State are comfortable with the power rotation arrangement which changed the monopoly of the Urhobo since Delta was created because it has helped to douse the ethnic tension which was building between the Urhobo of Delta Central and the Anioma of Delta North. The Ijaw, Isoko and Itsekiri were polarized between the two divides; tension was high before the PDP leadership introduced the solution – power rotation. Now, the question is, “If Deltans are comfortable with power rotation, why is Ogboru fighting it? That fighting can only be the product of a mind that has failed to realize the power of the people. Ogboru’s name might be Great but that does not make him greater that the people. It will be a mistake to field a candidate that treats the feelings of a people with such disdain as Ogboru is doing. The Delta North Factor is the reason Ogboru has failed the elections against Uduaghan and Okowa in quick succession. In the election of Uduaghan in 2011, the understanding had been built that Delta South will have to complete their two terms before Delta North can pick up the mantle of leadership. What played out is that Delta North backed Delta South to hold on to power until 2015, while Delta South backed Delta North to win the gubernatorial seat in 2015. By this rotational arrangement, Delta Central will be due to have the power seat in 2023; that is the year the Delta North people will be comfortable to relinquish power. They still have one more term, whether Ogboru likes it or not. He may call it a nepotistic PDP arrangement but power rotation has brought ethnic peace and calm to Delta State. If Ogboru’s desires were for the betterment of society and therefore honourable, they will succeed but if they are against the people they will fail. The leadership of the party must make it fail. It is an evil desire that can conflagrate Delta State during the main election.
The way forward is for the NWC, the President and the national leaders of APC to resolve this issue in favour of a candidate from Delta North or lose their best chance of dethroning PDP and Okowa. And the best Delta North candidate in this race has been acknowledged by all as Prof. Pat Utomi, who was returned as winner in one of the factional gubernatorial elections, even though he did not participate in it. This shows his acceptability across divides. His intimidating credentials and renowned abilities is something that most Deltans are looking forward to having as one of the dividends of the next dispensation of governance in the state. Over the years, Prof Pat Utomi has shown great commitment to dialogue, social justice, peace and harmony in his interactions in the public sphere. He believes that you need to be a good Christian to be a good politician; this is why in spite of all the provocations arising from last Sunday’s charade in the name of APC primaries in Delta State, he has remained calm, focused and intent on pursuing the noble cause of justice and equity in the party through due process. His life has been one of a long struggle for social justice and governance with a purpose. This, he believes, is unachievable without the rule of law and the reason why he has vowed to pursue justice through due process.
Even if the NWC and the SWC have something else at the back of their minds, other than pandering to the yearnings of the Anioma people, as a strategy for winning the elections, they could at least have provided a level playing ground for all contestants in the primaries. Their obvious shenanigans in the inexplicable desperate bid to enthrone a candidate whose acclaimed popularity has only earned him losses of deposits in his past encounters with PDP is nothing less than a quixotic act.
Please sirs; you must help us put our house in order in Delta State. The NWC must be prevailed upon to declare a contest between Prof. Pat Utomi and Ogboru and let the best man win. I make this suggestion based on the fact that there were two elections that produced the two men as winners. Let us give them the opportunity of going into a direct primary and let the people decide who they want to handle the keys to their treasury. Any one of them, who wins that contest, will win the general election and dethrone PDP. Doing this will boost the party’s image in the eyes of the voting public. We must avoid sending the wrong signals as we approach the day of decision, or we will lose the election.
Against our party’s constitution, quoted above, Ogboru and Omo-Agege on the one hand and O’tega Emerhor and Cyril Ogodo, on the other, have failed to “affirm the party’s aims and objectives and conduct themselves in a manner that shall not bring the party to public odium and disrepute” by conducting two parallel primaries that produced different results.
In view of facts above outlined, my advice is that the NWC and the leadership of APC should resolve this issue as also above suggested. There is need for the realization that rotation of power among the senatorial zones of Delta State has become convention to the people. It has created a balance which eased up the tension among the five ethnic groups in the state. Ogboru and Omo-Agege are now trying to destabilize this arrangement for selfish reasons. The sad fact is the fact that they went to the base level of using under-hand tactics to edge out opponents in the contest. The populace saw what happened and all the confusion it generated leading to shooting and death, all of which have left them with a poor opinion of APC.
The APC was a very peaceful maturing party that was approaching the dream of dethroning PDP with sure steps, until they opened their doors too wide to admit destruction. The influx of people into the party has become a burden due to poor management of issues and the humans whom those issues touch. With your help, we can return to winning ways again. Please act fast to restore the people’s confidence and improve our party’s popularity rating which is at an all-time low now.
Chuks Esogbue is a political analyst, social commentator and President of Kinship Ideology Network (KIN).
