By Basil Okoh
Ika South PDP in Agbor was the first to sound the alarm over the attempt to stop their party meeting at their redoubt in Mariere Street, Agbor, right after Governor Sheriff Oborevwori announced the defection of the entire state PDP into the APC and asked every PDP organ to close their structures and individually register with APC in their wards.
The state Chairman of the APC, Elder Omeni Sobotie thereafter announced the readiness of the APC organs at ward levels to receive and register every PDP defector.
The entire members of Delta state PDP, shell-shocked by the bomb thrown at them without warning by their own party leader and governor Sheriff Oborevwori, had as a lion does when startled by a sudden bang, retreated in fear, but as lions also do, they are now getting themselves together and roaring back to life to reclaim their turf in the jungle of Delta politics.
PDP is rising to reaffirm their grip on Delta State for twenty-six years. And so slowly but surely, in the 270 wards of the state, PDP is rousing its members and getting them back together for political contention and signaling its readiness to fight for power again even without their titled leaders.
Emmanuel Ogidi from Isoko South has been directed by the interim National Chairman, Ambassador Umar Damagun, to gather the remnants members and sew them together for reorganization and election of new party officers. This should be a tall order but the PDP Delta was a well knit party that grew a winning attitude over 26 years of unchallenged reign in the state. Recently, it got too loud and top heavy for its own good, sounding more and more like a hollow drum, so it is good for its organizational efficiency that it was forced to this shedding of useless weight at the top.
The challenge to a renascent PDP will not be from other political parties in the state or from its own organizational failures but from interferences from its previous leaders, particularly Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa and Sheriff Oborevwori. If a new interim leader is able to get his job done and a new state executive council emerges without the interference of these leaders who ran away, PDP will again claim the prime of place in Delta Politics with its new corps of leaders whose umbilical cords are not tied to the old guard.
APC as it is presently constituted with so many bulbous warts and built-in conflicts will not be able to contest fairly with a renewed PDP, even with the governors seat in their grip. Nobody likes Sheriff and few will vote for him.
As has been said, the new PDP’s major challenge will be interference from its previous leaders who will not be able to stomach a challenge from their old party, particularly when both sides know and have practiced in what they do to win elections without majority votes.
It has been revealed that Okowa is sending messages through back channels to the previous state Chairman Esiso to take charge of the party. But Esiso has denied. Whether it is denied or not, everyone knows that such orders of disruption is Okowa’s standard practice. Okowa’s method of political operations is to disrupt the opposition with bribery, buy off leading opposition members to stop them from presenting formidable challengers. It is expected that he will continue this obstreperous practice with his old party, the renascent PDP.
Sheriff and Okowa’s position in APC are becoming increasingly untenable with few or no members from PDP following them into APC. The duo expected that so many PDP members would join them in their defection to APC and with their large followership, outnumber the old members of the APC and in the coming party Congress, overwhelm the old members with their numerical strength, win the congresses and take over the structures of the APC in Delta. To their consternation, that plan has not worked, as even their own members felt betrayed by the peremptory action of their leaders.
As has been announced by the Ika South chairman of APC Mr. Hilary Fada Ibude, not even 5% of PDP defectors have agreed to register in APC in his jurisdiction. In every ward in the state, fights are brewing between the very few who defected and the very many who refuse to go with the defection. As PDP embarks on reorganization now, many of the defectors are choosing to go back to their old PDP, but APC has introduced a counter measure at ward registrations. Each new registrant is asked to submit his PDP registration card for seizure or destruction before being issued with an APC card. This is the quiet war going on at ward offices now.
It is a reflection of the deep unpopularity of the governor Sheriff Oborevwori and Ifeanyi Okowa that many PDP members did not follow them into APC and will not make the move to register for the APC. These two leaders took for granted that because they retained the governors seat, most members will follow them into their new party. They did not reckon with personal principles and pride and the simple fact that people take pride and believe in their political party.
Moreover, most members saw through the selfish antics of these leaders. As a member of PDP in Ethiope West said, “nobody is benefitting from this defection except Okowa and Sheriff. Who are they fooling? They cannot just tell us “follow” and then we follow like fools” What is our benefit for defecting to APC”?
It is now known that no big party members of PDP across the state has submitted his resignation from the PDP. All are keeping their plans close to their chests. Even the governor, Sheriff Oborevwori and the ex-governor Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa have not submitted resignation letters to their PDP Ward Chairmen, the designated authorities to receive such letters, nor have they registered with the APC.
We stand aside and wait.
@basilokoh.
