Show Down Looms In Delta, As Uduaghan, Former PDP Actors Gang Up Against Okowa 

The battle royale for the soul of oil-rich Delta State has begun in earnest with the buying of expression of interest and nomination forms by various governorship aspirants in the 2019 elections. Several gladiators mainly from the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) are battle ready to challenge the incumbent Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governor, Sen. (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa to the plum job.

From Delta North, there are three main challengers who are preparing to square up with Okowa. In the Central District, the main challenger, in his fifth time in contest for the job is apparently waxing stronger in his cult-like following, and another from the South.

Among these individuals gunning for the governorship contest, there is a battle of wits. On the surface, it seems a fight between the ruling PDP and the APC but there’s another subterraneous fight that may sure spring surprises in the contest.

Besides Chief Great Ogboru, Prof.Pat Utomi, Engr. Victor Ochei, Dr Cairo Ojuogboh, Comrade Sunny Ofehe, any of whom may clinch the APC ticket to stand against Okowa, there is the immediate past governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan whose coming into APC is believed to have changed the political applecart of the 2019 governorship race. The contest apparently would be Okowa Vs Uduaghan. This is the real battle. The former is battling to retain his governorship seat while the latter is mainly after a senatorial seat. The “battle” as it appears to be is mainly because of the muscle flexing and tension that have been created around the governorship race.

In 2007, a similar tense situation was created. The rerun election ordered by the court against the then governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, was very interesting and full of intrigues. The battle against Uduaghan then was not all from Chief Great Ogboru but was from one party bigwig, the leader of the defunct Delta State Elders, Leaders and Stakeholders Forum and Ijaw foremost leader, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark. Clark who was a huge political rallying point was in the forefront of the “Uduaghan must go” campaign. Despite the odds in that contest, Uduaghan braced them and won fourteen local government councils while Ogboru won eleven of the councils out of the 25 local government areas that made up the oil-rich state.

Clark had launched an onslaught against him, vowing that never would Uduaghan return to Government House because they were then against Chief James Ibori who they accused of foisting him on Deltans but Uduaghan survived all the odds. These battles were fought and won without “their” political godfather, Chief Ibori who is believed to be shouldering both Uduaghan and Okowa in all of their contests. Ibori was already out of the country serving a UK jail term then and it is believed his absence could have waned support for him. However, the 2007 contest was a test case for Uduaghan to also show how far he can go without Ibori’s “physical” assistance.

In 2014, road to 2015 governorship election, three party bigwigs, Chief Edwin Clark, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo) and Senator James Manager were also against Uduaghan.This was because the three of them were unhappy with the clout Uduaghan wielded in favour of Anthony Obuh as the PDP gubernatorial nominee while they had pitched their tents with Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, who was favoured in many quarters. It was a gang up that worked against Uduaghan.

Back to the 2019 contest, after the foregoing digression. Just as Uduaghan had deployed all of his artillery to battle his foes both in 2007 and 2011, Okowa may have to do so in 2019. A gang up is however imminent and Uduaghan may lead the pack this time round just like Clark led against Uduaghan during their frosty years.

Besides Uduaghan, Okowa would also contend with the National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. He had for the umpteenth time boasted that Okowa would be kicked out of Government House, Asaba. Oshiomhole wants to pay Okowa in his own coin for trying to help PDP to dislodge his candidate in neighbouring Edo state in the 2016 guber polls.

That’s why Oshiomhole was happy there was a feud between Okowa and Uduaghan. As a “sharp man”, he capitalized on it and facilitated the exit of Uduaghan from the PDP to the APC. It has remained uncertain however what Uduaghan’s “celebrated” exit from the PDP would do to Okowa’s capacity to retain his seat.

Uduaghan, besides facing the biggest challenge of his political future, is also receiving backlashes from social media after his television interview which has been attacked by both Delta State Government and the PDP with counter attacks from Delta APC and Uduaghan’s media aide, Monoyo Edon.

State Information Commissioner, Patrick Ukah was quoted to have said, “A man (referring to Uduaghan) who could not summon courage to vie for a Senatorial election as a sitting Governor is here boasting about leading a failed mission to unseat a hardworking Governor Okowa who is committed to cleaning up the mess he, Dr Uduaghan, left behind in his uneventful and sad era as governor.”

PDP spokesman, Ifeanyi Osuoza also fired at the former governor, describing him as “a man in a crisis of conscience”. He said it was “completely laughable” for the former governor to boast that the APC “will wrest power from the PDP” in 2019. According to Osuoza, “when it comes to politics and elections in Delta State, Dr. Uduaghan should realise that he is less than a featherweight…In 2019, we shall ensure that he is exiled into political oblivion once and for all.”

In one of the APC statements made available to BigPen Online, however, the party berated the Okowa administration, saying that “every discerning mind in Delta State knows that the Okowa administration is a total sham”.

The statement was issued in defence of Uduaghan and to counter the PDP diatribe. APC said that “the PDP which the governor claimed is “still strong and formidable” has been decimated long before now, right from 2015 when those who knew Okowa very well as an ethnic bigot and a very vindictive fellow decided to dump him. It was not the making of His Excellency, Emmanuel Uduaghan that respected chieftains like former Speaker, Rt. Hon (Barr) Victor Ochei who also knows Okowa in and out dumped him and his shattered PDP”.

APC secretary, Comrade Okonji Chidi had said “a former governor in capacity of Dr. Uduaghan, remains a heavyweight political figure in Delta politics in and out of government. That’s why the PDP and Okowa would continue to break their heads over the devastating blow and impending defeat awaiting them in 2019”.

In the same vein, Oshiomhole who spoke through his media aide, Simon Ebegbulem, owing to the barrage of backlash that trailed Uduaghan’s first television interview after his defection, said “the PDP has been weeping since the exit of Dr Uduaghan. He said it was too late for the PDP to lament over the former governor’s defection. “Dr Uduaghan will join other leaders of the APC to liberate Delta from the vice of the anti-people government led by Dr Okowa. Delta State will join Edo State in the campaign to make the Niger Delta the pride of the nation come 2019.

Continuing, he said, “nothing will stop the APC from winning Delta State via a free, fair and transparent election, come 2019. Okowa murdered sleep the day he took Uduaghan for granted, and with Uduaghan now in APC, Delta PDP is dead”, the statement issued on Saturday, a week after the defection, read.

But Okowa’s associates say Uduaghan was the one losing sleep over his senatorial ambition. One of them says Uduaghan, since his defection keeps calling people, whining that those he helped are even speaking out against him.

A political pundit claimed that Uduaghan keeps “alleging” that it was Okowa who “forced” him out of PDP. He hinted that all Okowa had told Uduaghan prior to his defection was to go and negotiate with James Manager and Michael Diden (aka Ejele) but Uduaghan refused, insisting allegedly that Okowa should do the negotiation for him.

But Uduaghan, in his defection message didn’t hinge his exit from the PDP on the altar of his senatorial ambition. According to him, “In this era of partisan politics, it is necessary for the people of the Niger Delta, and Delta State in particular, to identify more with the Federal Government led by the APC…”Politics is about interests”, he said adding, “The Niger Delta is a major area of interest for me, because I staked my life going into the creeks severally without security and sometimes coming back at night negotiating peace. I will, therefore, give the strongest support to any President that shows commitment in the affairs of the Niger Delta.

Speaking at Olomoro as quoted by his media aide, Monoyo Edon, Uduaghan said, “they have been trying to deconstruct the meaning of John the Baptist that I used in my defection statement. They are breaking their heads over it and wondering who and who will Uduaghan take to the APC. Well, my new role as John the Baptist would be to mobilise virtually every PDP member, not just in Delta State but also in the Niger Delta to the progessives fold. There are some people that we will not allow to cross over. They know themselves.”

But for Okowa in all of these, it is “no shaking”. Both Okowa and many of his political associates believe Uduaghan played no good role in his winning the 2015 governorship election and his exit this time around wouldn’t make a difference.

Okowa’s assertions few days after Uduaghan surprisedly joined the APC was that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State would continue to remain united and stronger, stressing “God is our strength and the unity of our people is unshakable”.

According to a Delta state Government House press unit statement sent to BigPen Online, Governor Okowa said, “I believe that the spirit we need in our party is for all aspirants to have strong interest in making our party stronger, there must be spirit of give and take.

“In Delta State, we are very strong as a people and as a party, we are united and we will continue to stay united, God is our strength and the unity of our people is unshakable, we are right on course and we will continue to do the things that will unite us,” he stated, emphasising, “we will continue to stay strong, there is no shaking at all”.

Okowa’s “no shaking at all” is pregnant just like Uduaghan’s catch phrase in his statement announcing the “official” reason for his defection: “So I am going into APC as “John the Baptist” to the numerous Deltans that are coming in, soon – very soon”. The unfolding drama will prove clarifying to the ambiguous boasts.

Written by Joe Ogbodu