APRIL 11 POLLS: OKOWA HAS NO CONTENDER IN DELTA GOVERNORSHIP RACE - OTUMARA

The Delta State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Joseph Otumara who doubles as the Director General, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa Campaign Organization, in an interview with Victor Efeizomor of Thisday Newspaper, expressed optimism that Okowa will floor his opponents at the polls as water tight strategies had been mapped out to ensure victory for PDP in the coming elections.

He noted that Deltans are over- enthusiastic about Senator Ifeanyi Okowa as PDP governorship candidate in the State. “We have seen people who have the energy and devotion, they can even wait for forty-eight hours, we have seen massive crowd in Oghara, Kwale, Isele-Uku, Akwukwu-Igbo, Aboh and across the State. As we move around, the surge kept increasing on a daily basis”.

We are more than satisfied with what we have seen. I have been part of PDP since the inception of the party in the State, and I have followed all campaigns, perhaps, it may interest you to know that I was a three time Chairman in Warri -South local government and I have been commissioner for over eleven years now, so, I am speaking from experience, I have been following campaigns, but I must say that this is indeed a campaign of all campaigns.

I don’t even see APC or any other party in the State, because PDP has overwhelming support in the State, from Asaba down to Escravos to Oghara.  From Delta South, Delta Central, and Delta North, in fact, we are just waiting for April 11, so that Senator Okowa will be affirmed as the governor elect of Delta State, he has no challenger in the governorship election in Delta State as far as PDP is concerned. But as a politician we know the intrigues, we know the maneuverings, we know the manipulations, we do not want to give room to chance and so we are doing all that is within our power.  

We are engaging on house-to-house campaign, door-to-door campaign, we are mobilizing across. We have asked our members and supporters to mobilize their friends, relatives, and family members to vote massively for Okowa and PDP all the way and you will see when the results are declared, that PDP is not just going to win, we will win with a large margin, I can assure you that APC and all the other candidates put together will lose the election.

The details of all our strategies cannot be made open for obvious reasons, but I can assure you, that we have a campaign organization that is organized from the State level to the local government and ward levels. We have set up campaign committees; all these have been put in place to ensure mass mobilization for votes. We are also sensitizing the electorates on the need to collect their PVC because we have approximately 700,000 PVCs that have not been collected; we will ensure that before the end of this month, that virtually all the PVC’s would have been collected.  

We are mobilizing our people from ward to ward , unit to unit , local government to local government to ensure that our supporters collect their PVC because that is their power to vote, so that is the strategy that I can tell you for now. We are also sensitizing them on the need to sustain the tempo, energy, and enthusiasm, not only for rallies alone, but to ensure that this energy, devotion and faithfulness continues throughout voting period and they are being educated that it’s not just voting but to remain and ensure that the votes are counted in their presence to ensure that the right results are declared at the respective polling units, these are some of our strategies.

Delta is a PDP State and it has always been so from the time this republic started till now, it has been 15 years of PDP administration in Delta State. On the issue of PDP members moving to another party to contest election, I want to assure you that we are giving nothing to chance. That is why we are taking our campaigns very seriously. We will ensure that it’s not just Dr. Okowa, our gubernatorial candidate that will win, but starting from the presidency, the presidential election, the senatorial election, the Federal House of Representative election, the State House of Assembly, all over to the governorship, we will win.

I can assure you that those who are going to other parties are just wasting their time because the voters are not too informed to know the differences , it will be PDP all the way, the generality of the masses and the generality of the people of Delta State will vote PDP because come to look at it, we all know how the State was in 1997 to 1999, perhaps it may interest you , I was a local government chairman in 1996 under zero party, I was chairman again under democratic party of Nigeria DPN, in 1997. There has been a massive developmental progress in infrastructure, human capital and other areas in Delta State since PDP came on board. I know how I use to come to Asaba from Warri, it was almost impossible for me, because Asaba was a bushy place, a place that was not meant for people who were coming from the cities in Warri or Lagos, but today, everybody wants to stay here because of the development that has followed.

Successive governments of PDP have improved Asaba. The foundation laid by Chief James Ibori was built on by Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, now we have a team player in the person of Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa who is coming on board to build further on these foundations. So the people are confident of PDP and PDP will be the winner in all the elections.

As the Director General of Okowa Campaign Organization, I can assure you that we will smile home with victory after the elections, Okowa has no contender in this governorship election, PDP will win with great margin , I have done a lot of elections and I have always won, this election is not going to be different. I can’t foresee any challenges, by the grace of God we will conquer.

I do not also foresee any violence during and after the election in the country, we have seen it in Delta State where twenty –four aspirants contested for the governorship primary election and soon after, Dr. Okowa emerged as the winner of the election, all the other aspirants sent congratulatory messages to him, so such development engenders peace and harmony in our political system. As a matter of fact, we have not seen any of the parties doing serious campaigns in the State, all we see is their campaign posters on the streets, but none of them has gone on massive rallies or campaign that is of note like PDP is doing.

We are actually contesting for governorship election not a senatorial ambition, we are not talking of who rules Delta Central, or who becomes the governor of Delta South, we are looking at Delta State as one indivisible entity, and so, we have had this challenges before. This election is the fifth time that Ogboru will be contesting the governorship election, the first time, he contested against Chief Ibori, he failed, he contested against Dr. Uduaghan numerously and he failed, and this will not be an exception. I have a very strong feeling and inclination that Ogboru will fail in a manner that he will lose his deposit for contesting the election. That is the kind of fall and failure that he is going to suffer this time.

The people in Delta Central irrespective of UPU position will vote along party line. And don’t forget UPU is not a political party, so for us who are politicians, we are going to take the battle to where we are going , it’s a political fight, it’s not an ethic fight, so I want to assure all Deltans that as it was before, so shall it be again.

Government is not funding our campaign and it should not fund campaigns. A lot of people are making one donation or the other, pulling their efforts together to ensure victory for Okowa. The enthusiasm displayed by the generality of the public is over whelming, individual, none governmental organizations, they are all pulling their resources to ensure that PDP secure victory for Okowa. So, we are getting our funding from donations from the general public that are sympathetic to PDP and Okowa course in this election.