‘Omo-Agege’s Alleged N40bn 2023 Election Funding’: Sobotie’s Dishonorable Politics: A Journey To Nowhere, Says Detla APC Youth Leader

The State Coordinator of Delta Youth Political Alliance, Chief (Engr.) Goodluck A. O. Iriferi, has taken a swipe at the State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Elder Omeni Sobotie, condemning his alleged misconduct and breach of the APC constitution, as well as his attempts to tarnish the image of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege.

Iriferi, in a lengthy statement in reaction to Sobotie’s alleged diatribe against Omo-Agege, accused the Detla state APC Chairman of violating the party’s constitution and mismanaging its finances.

Specifically, Iriferi alleged that Sobotie, despite being in office for over two years, has failed to convene required meetings and has prioritized personal interests over party unity.

He lampooned the APC Chairman for attempting to tarnish the reputation of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, who has been a “key financier of the party”.

The APC youth leader alleged that Sobotie’s actions in recent times against Omo-Agege are driven by greed and a desire for power, maintaining that his attempts to discredit Omo-Agege are unfounded and malicious.

The statement entitled “ONCE AGAIN, SOBOTIE MARKETS POLITICS OF DISHONOUR ON A MISGUIDED JOURNEY TO NOWHERE”, is reproduced below:

“Over two and half years after he was made the Chairman of the Delta State All Progressives Congress (APC), Elder Omeni Sobotie has, in clear breach of the APC constitution, not lawfully convened the inaugural meetings of the party’s State Executive Committee (SEC) and State Caucus. Even the State Working Committee (SWC) that is constitutional required to “meet at least once every month” owing to its otherwise active nature has held fewer than ten meetings in the two and half years. Sobotie develops instant fits of self-indicting mental imbalance and almost freezes to death whenever faithful functionaries of the state leadership of the party simply call for constitutional orderliness and proper management of the party’s huge goodwill, including annual financial audit of the party’s finances, as stipulated by the Constitution.

Sobotie’s sustained willful flagrant violation of the APC constitution and disorganised, opaque and corrupt management of the party and its finances and goodwill fit a pattern of dubious politics often championed by persons of his conscienceless, endlessly greedy ilk. Though his ceaseless constitutional transgressions against the soul of the party are well known and documented, they have often been overlooked by the SEC, SWC and the party in general solely because of the mature iron-cast protection freely donated to him by the Deputy President of the 9th Senate, Obarisi Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, CFR.

It is a fact that the Obarisi’s mature and calm thinking is that Sobotie is an elder whom all should simply accord absolute respect. His body language in this regard is constantly one that advises all to just tolerate Sobotie’s inadequacies, no matter how they come. He believes that none, including those who may disagree with him, are perfect. But the former DSP’s protection of a man so clearly unfit for a strategic public office as that of the State Chairman of a major party continues to brew discontent, even as it remains true that the Obarisi’s words of admonition are too weighty to ignore. The solace many have had in complying with the Obarisi’s counsel is that despite his revealing broad incompetence, greed and cowardice in political party management, Sobotie has been heard on several occasion talking more like a man who regrets his unenviable past and therefore in haste to embrace repentance as the realities of old age and past wrongs now forcefully catch up with him in dreams and daily life.

But then a leopard does not change its spots. Lately, Sobotie has recklessly awaken and amplified his briefly dormant penchant to do evil and secretly undo his benefactors. He is now labouring to orchestrate a devilish plot to soil the brilliant political leadership profile of Senator Omo-Agege. Sneakily acting a wayward script from his popular playbook of dishonourable politics, cheap blackmail and cowardice, Sobotie is toiling in dark closets to taint the innocent Obarisi’s image. Wherever he finds himself, it is ‘Omo-Agege this, Omo-Agege that.’

Like the proverbial all-wise swimmer who does not know that his back is exposed, Sobotie is acting through faceless local social media urchins, including an ad-hoc one that recently unintelligently styled itself as ‘Concern Party Faithfuls (sic)’. With this hurriedly packaged faceless group, he recently laboured in vain to engineer a poorly designed hatchet plot to launch a campaign of calumny against the widely beloved, calm Obarisi who is always busy looking out for the general good of our good people, including Sobotie his traducer.

Everywhere he goes Sobotie lies pitiably that he raised N40 billion for Senator Omo-Agege and the Delta State APC for the 2023 elections but the money was withheld by the Obarisi. In all of these, never for once has the coward been able to say this before Omo-Agege. This laughable insult and mischief is a measure of Sobotie’s level of sanity as he absolutely has neither the goodwill nor trust account to raise even an infinitesimal portion of such an amount for himself talk less of anyone else. If not, he would have easily bailed himself out of officially certified bankruptcy without the intervention of Senator Omo-Agege.

That Sobotie’s wicked labour of tainting the Obarisi is utterly foolish journey to nowhere is underpinned by factual realities. The first reality, probably, is that even the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State honestly acknowledge that Senator Ovie Omo-Agege is a unique pillar of strength in the Delta APC. No sensible politician will ever compare a pragmatic political leader of Obarisi’s standing to cheap joker like Sobotie who, having sold his party for few Naira and Kobo, moved about aimlessly on knee pants and white t-shirt in the lobby of an expensive city hotel whilst his PDP counterpart was out there on the field labouring for his party’s interest. Demarketing the political strength and sagacity the Obarisi who having won elections to the Senate back-to-back in 8 years and became the DSP in the process must count as some new species of political disease. Talking lowly of Omo-Agege who coordinated strategically and stood firm like the Rock of Gibraltar for his party to claim 2 Senate seats, a House of Representatives seat and seven House of Assembly seats in Delta State (of all states) in the 2023 general election is full-blown madness. Badmouthing the Obarisi for actively providing robust legal support and other resources for all APC winners in the 2023 elections to retain their seats is sickening to the bone marrow.

Back to Sobotie’s N40 billion hallucination. The point has been well made in another forum that Sobotie’s sponsored propaganda that the APC in Delta State or its candidates raised and spent a staggering N40 billion is uninformed, reckless and lacking in legal merit. This is partly because the Electoral Act of 2022 clearly outlines limits on financial contributions and expenditures for political parties and their candidates, imposing stringent regulations to ensure transparency and accountability in the electoral processes. Therefore, Sobotie’s crafty allegation and propaganda that he raised N40 billion as the Chairman of the Delta State APC for the party’s candidates in manifest violation of the Act is an open confession to a crime because Obarisi never received such humongous amount of money courtesy of Sobotie or anyone else. By this confession, Sobotie is saying that he wilfully and actively led an illegal effort to undermine APC as a party in violation of express provisions of the Act. In try to falsely attack the Obarisi, Sobotie is committing a grave harm to the APC, nationally.

In all of these, what is important is that the APC, Omo-Agege and other candidates of the party adequately prepared for and funded their participation in the 2023 General Elections within the stipulations of the Act and law in general. Election funds were prudently managed and distributed by the Delta State APC Campaign Council ably led by Elder Godsday Orubebe. Money got to every candidate, leaders who undertook strategic roles, as well as campaign structures in each Unit, Ward and Local Government Area of the State. The onus is therefore squarely on Soboties to move beyond his thoughtless lies and cheap blackmail to provide even a scintilla of proof in support of his wild, self-indicting claims to the contrary.

At this juncture it needs to be stated with emphasis and without any fear of thoughtful contradiction that Sobotie trades in pitiable lies and cheap blackmails for cursed benefits. That is his ungodly life. Holding the Holy Bible deceptively to his chest, he lies non-stop to eke a worthless, miserable, and dishonourable living that no good parent who knows him in Delta State prays his children to lead. There is absolutely nothing that proceeds from his impious tongue that is close to the teachings of the Christian faith. Always concocting terrible and worthless allegations against his helpers once he succeeds to trap and fleece a new set of feeders and funders.

A reasonable person may even wonder what Obarisi may have done to warrant Sobotie’s unprovoked hatchet attacks on his person using unemployable faceless urchins and avatars on social media? Simply, Obarisi’s major offence is that he has a heart clean and large enough to completely forgive Sobotie’s long history of conspiratorial transgressions against good people who have helped him in life. To Sobotie, Obarisi is guilty and deserves to be guillotined for rehabilitating him politically having been justifiably sentenced to political destitution by his erstwhile benefactors (Uduaghan and Okowa) where he ordinarily properly belongs. Obarisi did Sobotie wrong by appointing him as a Special Adviser (an aide) in the Senate. Obarisi was bad to Sobotie when, against the counsel of so many, he chose to give Sobotie a lease of new political life by supporting him to become the Chairman of the Delta State APC. Obarisi did Sobotie a great evil by rescuing him from life-threatening health challenges in the name of a ‘big brother’. Omo-Agege committed an unpardonable sin against Sobotie for assisting him to come out of a confirmed bankruptcy that made it practically impossible for him to operate any bank account in Nigeria. Omo-Agege is a bad person for granting Sobotie whatever he asked for, including two very expensive new cars within a space of 6 months. These are some of the great wrongs Omo-Agege did to Sobotie for which is drawing blood even as the Obarisi remains stoically calm watching Sobotie.

Clearly, being good to Sobotie is a mortal sin. Never contented, it is impossible to please him. Just plainly conscienceless and too dangerous to be human. By this too, many justifiably fear and stay away from him. But this is where Sobotie is deadly wrong. With Obarisi, Sobotie ought to know that he is a complete joker. The philosophy that permeates the Obarisi leadership circle is that of deep respect and maximum restraint, but ultimately people get what they deserve. So shall it be with Sobotie. He will no longer be allowed field days playing his unearthed foolery of trying to taint the former Deputy Senate President. If he throws a little fire at the Obarisi, he will receive an inferno willy-nilly and the Obarisi does not even need to know or approve of such a response. Obarisi is a good man, and many are just proud to defend him from bad people like Sobotie. No more monkey business with this unrepentant evildoer who seeks to bring an innocent and good man down for unmerited profits. That will no longer be tolerated at all.

Sobotie is on a journey to nowhere but, like Pharoah, God has hardened his wicked heart to continue. His evil journey of greed will be fruitless. He has sowed a wind and must reap whirl winds.

SIGNED:
Chief (Engr.) Goodluck A. O. Iriferi
State Coordinator, Delta Youth Political Alliance”