Anxiety In Okowa, Oborevwori Camp As Ibori, Uduaghan, Edevbie, Manager, Other Bigwigs Shun PDP  Campaign Council

There is palpable anxiety in the political camp of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa who is the vice presidential candidate of the People Democratic Party (PDP) and that of the governorship candidate of the party, Rt Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori over the place of two former governors of state, Chief James Ibori, and Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan and other chieftains of the party in the campaign council of the party just inaugurated.

www.bigpenngr.com reports that there has been fear in the political space that both Ibori and Uduaghan may reject their appointment into the Okowa’s sponsored campaign council over seeming political differences that have put the party in disarray.

Tongues have continued to wag after the names of Ibori, Uduaghan, Edevbie were listed in the PDP campaign organization amidst the cold war brewing in the party over the controversial party’s primaries.

The concerns grew on Thursday after Ibori, Uduaghan, Edevbie, and a number of other party leaders allegedly skipped the campaign council inauguration ceremony held in Asaba, the state capital. Ibori’s core loyalists including benefactors who had been with him since 1999, are among those who had sided with Edevbie’s aspiration and were conspicuously absent from the event.

While Okowa sided with Oborevwori, Ibori supported Edevbie, who served as the commissioner of finance from 1999 to 2007 as PDP governorship candidate while he held sway as governor.

Aside from failing to secure Edevbie’s election as Okowa’s successor, which was Ibori’s stated political objective since the start of Okowa’s second term in 2019, he also came dangerously close to losing the Ethiope West House of Representatives ticket he sought for his daughter Erhiatake Ibori-Suenu and Ighoyota Amori, a devoted ally and former commissioner.

Uduaghan, on the other hand, was dealt a fatal blow by the political maneuvers, as his daughter Orode’s ambition to serve in the state House of Assembly was rejected and replaced by a sitting assembly member who was rumoured to be loyal to the governor.

Edevbie, who served as Ibori’s commissioner for finance before taking on the role of chief of staff for the current governor, Okowa, left his many supporters who had sided with him following the PDP governorship primary without any guidance as to where they should pitch tent for the 2023 general election.

Although he has since congratulated Oborevwori on his Supreme Court victory over him, he remained silent on whether he would support the party’s candidate or not.

Reliable sources informed this outlet that Edevbie is planning a gathering of his enormous following for Friday to decide whether or not to collapse his structure into the Oborevwori’s campaign.

Ibori’s core supporters, who had supported him since 1999 and included two former deputy governors, Sir Benjamin Elue and Amos Utuama, a former secretary to the state government, Comrade Ovouzorie Macaulay, a senator for Delta South, and a former governorship candidate, James Manager, boycotted the inauguration despite the fact that their names were on the list of attendees.

According to information, some party members who were in Edevbie’s camp, including Hon. Karo Ilolo, a former commissioner during Okowa’s first term, and Chief Andrew Asawota, a former secretary of the board of the Delta State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (DESOPADEC), have already deserted and are now siding with the APC’s Ovie Omo-Agege, who is also under fire from the volte-face of some high-ranking members of the APC.

Ibori and Uduaghan have been at the mercy of the current governor, Dr. Okowa, who is running a joint ticket with former vice president, Alhaji Abubakar, over the way their humongous pension allowances are paid, according to BIGPEN findings, in addition to the irreconcilable political differences.

Both Ibori and Uduaghan are to serve as campaign advisers in the council which would rival the campaign council of the main opposition party, All Progressives Congress (APC). Governor Okowa and PDP vice presidential candidate, was listed as chairman of the council, with the governorship candidate and current Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Sheriff Oborevwori as deputy chairman.

Political watchers believe that the 2023 general election campaign may be the worst ever campaign moment for Okowa ostensibly because for the first time, the PDP may be going to the polls with a disorganized house and shredded political structure.

Pundits believe that PDP may implode before the 2023 general election as credible sources hinted that Omo-Agege was already in talks with Ibori and Edevbie’s camp on how to form formidable alliance to wrest power from Okowa even as there is fear that those in the other side of the card might rock the boat within.

Contributed by Joe Ogbodu