EXPOSED: Okowa, Omo-Agege At Centre Of Leaked Document Of How NNPP Guber Candidate, Agbi Was “Planted” To Thwart Ogboru, Edevbie

A leaked document that allegedly reveals Delta State Governor Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, a PDP vice presidential candidate, as sponsoring the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) candidate for governor of Delta State, Dr. Goodnews Goodman Agbi, has continued to cause controversy in the state.

According to www.bigpenngr.com, the document dated October 20, 2022, was sent to the governor through the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor (Inter Party Relations) to request that the governor take specific action regarding the alleged agreement to finance the NNPP candidate.

However, this medium learned that before the leaked document was made public, rumours were circulating that Okowa had planted Agbi in the NNPP to stop Olorogun David Edevbie from considering the NNPP option while INEC had not yet closed the window for submission of candidate’s name.

Former governor of the state Chief James Ibori backed Edevbie as his choice governorship aspirant in the race against Rt Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, speaker of the state House of Assembly who is the anointed candidate of the governor.

Reliable sources , also hinted that Okowa’s actions were part of a high-wire political game plan to weaken Rabiu Kwankwaso’s party’s hold on the state’s politics and to prevent Chief Great Ovedje Ogboru, who had been eyeing the platform before officially joining APGA, from flying the party’s flag.

Recalls how Ogboru, a 2019 governorship candidate of the APC, tried to take over the NNPP, which was led by a disgruntled APC stalwart, but was met with fierce resistance by Agbi’s political camp, which at the time issued a disclaimer.

Ogboru reportedly attempted to seize control of the NNPP from Agbi, who was then thought to have been planted by Omo-Agege, after losing the APC structure to him. However, the Delta state APC chairman had forbidden party members from attending the meeting in Abraka that Ogboru had called for the NNPP Delta state APC deal.

According to information obtained, Omo-Agege rebuffed Ogboru and Cairo Ojuogboh’s attempts on multiple occasions to use the NNPP platform while maintaining control of the APC structure prior to political party primaries. 

It was unclear whether the leaked document matched the template of the agreement Agbi had with Omo-Agege while in the APC, but reliable sources revealed that Omo-Agege had broken the agreement with Agbi. This development led the Okowa camp to take advantage of the development to entice the NNPP gubernatorial standard-bearer to work for the PDP while posing as the NNPP’s governorship candidate.

According to the leaked document, Governor Okowa is required to pay back N22 million that was spent on the NNPP’s gubernatorial form as well as pay for billboards, campaign consultations, and materials that the NNPP candidate will use.

Additionally, N17.5 million was to be made available for logistics, which would cover expenses for press conferences, newspaper interviews, regular TV appearances on Arise, Channels, etc.

If the proposal is approved, the covert plan, according to the document, will encourage the defence of all state government policies as well as covert support for Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, the PDP candidate for governor.

In the document titled “Further Actions to the Terms of Agreement Reached at the Last Meeting With The Committee-action Plans and Timelines,” it is stated that “It was agreed that having sincerely decided to return to the PDP, that I be totally absorbed into the party.

“That of the options brought to the table, though both would add value to the party, the option of operating from the NNPP as the Guber candidate will be more effective.

“That I will be a PDP member operating as the Guber candidate of the NNPP to enhance the success of the Guber candidate of the PDP in the general election

“Arising from the above, the following immediate action plans be put in place:

The expenses incurred before this agreement will be refunded.

which are: (a) N22m for the gubernatorial form; (b) billboards, campaign consultations, materials, and logistics, which is about N17.5m. Press conferences, newspaper interviews, regular appearances in TV, Arise, Channels, etc, all in surreptitious defence of all your policies and subtle defense of the PDP governorship candidate. These activities can start next week if you grant your approval.

“Your Excellency, you may wish to approve additional funds for the few gubernatorial campaign rallies of the NNPP.”

The source of the leaked proposal, which Agbi later denied coming from him, was not immediately clear. It was unclear if it came from Omo-Agege’s political camp or the Senior Special Assistant (Inter Party Relations) for Governor Okowa.

When reached by phone on Saturday night, Agbi informed a reporter that the alleged document was a fabrication created by the Omo-Agege camp in an effort to damage his reputation.

Later, he would send a statement from his party denouncing the document and largely attributing the smear campaign to Omo-Agege.

“Our attention has been drawn to a fake document being circulated by Omo-Agege and his crew. We have decided to ignore it as a document of dubious origin that never originated from our principal, but on a second thought, we decided to respond to clear the air.

“We categorically state that this document is the handiwork of Omo-Agege and his crew.”

“Our principal is too refined, too enlightened, too educated, and too credible to discuss such a weighty matter with a senior special assistant, and incredibly, to reduce such a discussion to writing when he has access to the governor, to Omo-Agege and to any senior politician in the state.

“This type of cheap political blackmail is too pedestrian for somebody of Omo-Agege’s calibre, though we are aware of his serial deceptions and betrayals of friends and political acquaintances for his selfish interests.

“Our Principal, a renowned engineer, a fellow of the engineering professions, a fellow of the African Business School, a Catholic Knight of Saint John International, the Okpolokpo 1 (lion) of Iyede Kingdom, the Okpobrisi ( great & terrifying tree) of Oyede Kingdom, and an academic of great repute, can not and will not condescend to that level Omo-Agege is struggling to portray him.”.

However, Omo-Agege was called out in the statement issued by Comrade Joseph Edegware on behalf of Agbi’s media team for failing to account for the billions of naira set aside by the Niger Delta River Basin Authority for the rehabilitation of primary and secondary schools in the state’s Isoko South and North local government areas.

“What our principal is asking of Omo-Agege is to explain to Isoko people what happened to the one billion ( N1,000,000,000) Naira he appropriated for the rehabilitations of primary and secondary schools in Isoko North and South from the Niger Delta River Basin Authority. The four hundred thousand (N400,000) is) for twenty people per ward in Isoko North and South. He should tell the Isoko people why he has not paid the five legislative assistants, and they can not assess him until today.

“The pipeline surveillance contract, the Isoko people want to know why you are dispensing peanuts to them from your Orogun when each ethnic nationality has their own coordinator/contractor Ijaw has, Itsekiri has, Urhobo has, Ndokwa has. In your campaign Council, no Isoko man is a director. What has Isoko People done to you.?

“We want to know. Deltans cannot make the remotest mistake by voting for a serial deceiver, serial betrayer, a man who has no single truth in his DNA,”  the statement concluded.

At the time of filing this report for publication, either Okowa or Omo-Agege had yet to make any statement regarding the leaked document, which had been dubbed “fake.”

BIGPEN (www.bigpenngr.com) reports that Agbi and Anthony Alabi, who were later joined by Moses Oddirri (Eqs.), were the key players behind the infamously dismissed Ibori’s alleged ex-convict court scandal, which dominated newspaper headlines between 2003-2004.

 Contributed by Joe Ogbodu