Delta 2023: PDP faces an emerging opposition

By EJIROGHENE BARRETT –

As the race for the governorship seat in Delta state gets heated, there have been several predictions about the possible outcome of the elections. As usual, there are projections of potential upsets and triumphs that may emerge. Regardless of the forecasts, many are hoping for a major swing but that would depend on how the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its main opposition, the All Progressives Congress (APC), play their cards. For now, Delta state remains a PDP state and this creates a major challenge for the opposition as 2023 approaches.

Since 1999, all attempts to wrest power from a political elite that has fortified its positions across the state has been impossible. When Chief Great Ogboru emerged in 2003, he was seen as the face of an imperative struggle for change. Ogboru’s campaign revealed a popular resentment but also exposed the extent to which the incumbent leadership would go to hold on to power. Ogboru’s support on the streets could not translate into numbers at the polls. Political analysts believe his constant movement across political parties, and his late entry into the contest most times, also affected his chances.

The opposition faces a stiff contest, but a victory is not impossible if it sells itself as a credible alternative to the incumbent leadership. In its twenty three year hold on power in Delta state, the PDP’s performance is anything but stellar. Many say the state’s development indices do not correspond with its huge revenue allocation and its position as one of the richest states in Nigeria.

Delta state remains one of the biggest recipients of federal allocation, but there is a huge deficit in basic infrastructure and social services. In spite of this, critics say, members of the political leadership have continued to amass personal wealth and tighten their hold on power.

It is this perception that the opposition would leverage on as it sells a practical alternative. Watchers of Delta politics say the opposition’s candidate must have an impressive record with a support base that could challenge the dominance of the PDP.

The contest for party candidacy within the PDP and the APC are motivated by different interests. The APC, which is the main opposition, has fought its internal battles over party leadership and candidacy. Some members are still aggrieved by the outcome of the party’s executive elections in the state. They have come out to criticise what they describe as the imposition of candidates by the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, and there are rumours that these grievances may boil over at the party’s upcoming convention in Abuja.

All indications suggest, however, that Omo-Agege has the support of many party members in his endorsement of the newly constituted party executive in the state, led by Mr. Omeni Sobotie. He also enjoys the support of party leaders like Olorogun Otega Emerhor, one time contestant and one of the most respected leaders in the party, and Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, APC Senator representing Delta North Senatorial district at the National Assembly.

Many party devotees say Omo-Agege enjoys the party’s backing for good reason. He pulled a major feat in 2015 when he won the Senatorial seat for Delta Central Senatorial district, considered the stronghold of the PDP, under the relatively unpopular Labour party, which made him a political strategist to watch. It is obvious that he has gone on to work his way through the labyrinth of political intrigues in the National Assembly to have emerged one of the dominant forces.

For the PDP, there are disagreements over the implementation of a zoning arrangement that would determine where the governorship candidate would emerge from. There are calls for the party’s choice to be by ethnicity rather than senatorial districts. The champions of the ethnic option are agitating for an Ijaw candidacy and those in favour of the senatorial district option insist that it is the turn of the Urhobos. Those agitating for the Ijaws explain that the ethnic group have been excluded from executive leadership for much longer than the other ethnic groups.

The Urhobos insist that the PDP leadership baton should return to Delta Central to allow the commencement of a fresh rotation across the senatorial districts. These agitations have created a lot of tension within the party and may determine its fate at the polls. The group leading this campaign is the DC23- the name is a reference to the ambitions of Delta Central in 2023.

The group put together a list of aspirants from which it eventually selected three names; Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi, Sheriff Oborevwori and Olorogun David Edevbie. They command respect within the party but are also considered by political watchers to be lightweights in the state.

Kenneth Gbagi, a former Minister of State for Education in the Jonathan government, is not new to the race. However, Gbagi hardly pulls any weight in the state and is more recognised for his commercial ventures than any real political strides. It is same for Sheriff Oborevwori, who is the current Speaker of the Delta state House of Assembly. Oborevwori’s dominance is limited to his Uvwie constituency and he is not recognised as a major political force in the state.

Edevbie stands apart from the other two because of his longer experience in government as one-time Commissioner for Finance and Economic Planning under the Ibori government. He was also a contestant in the 2014 governorship contest, conceding to Okowa, in whose government he was also Commissioner for Finance and is currently the Chief of Staff.

In spite of his experience in governance and appeal with the party’s old guard, many believe Edevbie does not have the requisite political networking skills that are required for the task and is depending on the help of these leaders, who are also believed to be using the DC23 platform to promote their own objectives. The group’s decision has already caused rancour in the party as candidates who were not selected insist that they would still run.

One of the names that have entered the political fray is James Manager. He is Ijaw and the Senator representing Delta South at the Senate. While he has shown deft skills by retaining his senatorial seat since 2003, Manager does not command much popular following in the state and many say his legislative imprints have been unimpressive.

The PDP candidate would most likely be going against what appears to be strongest opposition to the party’s dominance in the state since 1999. The APC’s Omo-Agege appears to be the preferred candidate to run against whoever the PDP puts forward because he is believed to be the most capable to counter the incumbent leadership’s strategies in the state.

Omo-Agege surpasses the three DC23 candidates in terms of governance experience and political clout in the state, owing to the advantage of his position as APC leader in the state and the entire south-south geopolitical zone. His supporters are also using his status as only the third figure from the Niger Delta to have attained a position among the first six in the hierarchy of national political leadership under civil rule, and the only one from Delta state to have achieved that feat, as a selling point. They are also highlighting what they describe as his “Impressive performance in bringing federal presence through major infrastructures to the state” as proof that he stands way above the PDP candidates.

These may not be enough to win Omo-Agege the state if he lacks the expertise for networking that the PDP has nurtured in the state over the years. With his ongoing efforts to strengthen alliances across the state, Omo-Agege could deliver a masterstroke in 2023.