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PDP GOVERNORSHIP PRIMARIES: DAVID EDEVBIE EMERGES AS DARK HORSE IN DELTA; GETS UPU ENDORSEMENT -


AHEAD of tomorrow’s governorship primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), five governorship aspirants in Delta State, weekend, said they would not dump the party if they lost the primaries provided a level–playing field is provided for all the competing aspirants.

The aspirants: High Chief Mike Uwaka, Chief Godswill Obielum, Dr. Festus Okubor, Mr. Anthony Obuh and Ambassador Gabriel Oyibode, gave the assurance at a dialogue convened by Chief Sonny Odogwu, the Ide Ahaba and member, PDP Board of Trustees, BoT, with the governorship aspirants at his country home in Asaba.

Meanwhile, one-time Delta State Commissioner for Finance and Economic Planning, David Edevbie, yesterday emerged as a dark horse that may upturn calculations.

Sources disclosed to Sunday Vanguard that that powerful Urhobo Progressive Union, UPU, and loyalists to Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan in Delta Southare poised to line up behind Edevbie. This is consequent upon a meeting held in Wrri yesterday where the UPU directed the five other Urhobo aspirants to step down for Edevbie.

The new thinking, the source said, is that the numerical strength of the UPU-inspired Delta Central delegates as well as the coalition coming from Delta South would likely tilt the scale in Edevbie’s favour.

Chief Odogwu, who briefed newsmen at the end of the meeting, expressed satisfaction with the maturity of the aspirants, saying some aspirants from Delta North, who did not attend the meeting called him to explain they were engaged elsewhere and expressed their commitment to the outcome of the meeting.
In the communique read by Dr Udu Yakubu, the participants urged the party and those charged with the responsibility of organizing the primaries to discharge their duty with fairness, openness and justice, all of which have been the guiding principles of the PDP.

They thanked Chief Odogwu, CFR, for his thoughtfulness in convening the dialogue and for his fatherly advice for the good of both the party and Delta State.
Participants highlighted the supremacy of party interest over personal interest and ambition, and pledged to abide by the decision of the party.

Speaking at the meeting, one of the aspirants, Chief Uwaka, said, “Delta State will not be the same after Monday’s primaries, but I appeal that if anybody does not make it, he should not go to another party, you can be disgruntled, but do not go to another party. Only one person will fly the flag.”

Dr. Okubor said, “We will go to the primary and conduct it peacefully and we will accept the verdict of the delegates; I anticipate a decent primary, if the delegates don’t choose us, it should not cause quarrel, I assure you (Odogwu) that you will be proud of our conduct.”

For Obuh, “There is no need for acrimony, the delegates are going to decide, if we are not favoured, we will accept the result and give our ideas to whoever wins. Only one man will win, if I am not favoured, I will support whoever wins. Delta is our state; we need a peaceful state for development.”

On his part, Chief Obielum said, “Nobody who aspires to rule the state wants to run it down,” adding, “We have come a long way in the campaign without violence and no trouble, we pray for the remaining days to be peaceful. Let us cooperate among ourselves.”

Ambassador Oyibode,   the youngest aspirant that attended the meeting, said, “My take is that a free and fair primaries should be conducted and a level-playing field provided for all the aspirants, if this is done on December 8, anybody that wins will win gallantly and any person that loses, will also see that he lost gallantly.”

Choose your best candidate now, Okonma advises Delta North
Meanwhile, a Delta State politician, Mr. Dom Okonma, has called on Anioma opinion leaders to choose the best Delta North aspirant as candidate based on intellect, political pedigree, integrity and past performances.

Okonma noted that the Anioma people should not assume it is Uhuru because the governorship slot has been zoned to their Delta North. He said with the number of aspirants from the district, if urgent and critical measures were not taken, the other divides will grab the opportunity on account of their disunity.

Confusion in Akwa Ibom PDP over governorship primary
There is confusion in Akwa Ibom State PDP as some of the governorship aspirants and their supporters have expressed worry over alleged existence of three lists of party delegates for the exercise.

Already, some of the angry aspirants have pointed accusing fingers at the state governor, Obong Godswill Akpabio, for being behind the existence of three separate lists in a bid to create confusion during the primary to favour his alleged ‘anointed’ candidate, Emmanuel Udom.

The multiple lists of party delegates is contrary to the provisions of the existing PDP guidelines for the conduct of the primaries, which stipulated that an authentic list of delegates for the primaries must originate from the official congress committee set up by the national secretariat.

The guideline further stated the list must be approved by the party headquarters, published in the national newspapers and also publicly displayed at the headquarters and respective state offices of the PDP.

Some of the aspirants protested that these rules were not observed by the leadership of the state PDP. Contacted yesterday, the state PDP Chairman, Paul Ekpo, said he said he was not able to give any explanation at the moment as “we are still holding our elections (House of Reps Primary) now.

One of the sources that spoke on the condition of anonymity accused the governor of ‘abducting’ all the delegates he wants to use for the governorship primary on Monday and secretly quartered them inside the Government House lodge so that nobody would have access to them.

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