By Eseoghene Emuke
Hints that the crisis rocking the Delta State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) would soon be over were made bare on Tuesday as one the aggrieved leaders of the party, Chief Hyacinth Enuha, has finally accepted Chief Great Ogboru as the state APC governorship candidate in the March 2nd governorship election.
Enuha disclosed that leaders of the party have resolved to work in one accord and deliver the party’s governorship candidate, Great Ogboru and all other APC candidates at the forthcoming elections in the state.
Addressing newsmen at his Ogwashi-Uku country-home, the APC leader who is one the leaders of the Olorogun O’tega Emerhor-led Mainstream Delta APC noted that an agreement would soon be signed towards resolving the protracted factional crisis in the state.
Enuha revealed that the soon-to-be signed agreement will take care of interests of all stakeholders in the state chapter of the party ahead of the polls.
He, however, thanked Vice-President Yemi Osibanjo for midwifing the reconciliation process, noting that the agreement has been carefully drafted to ensure that all pending issues are resolved and that pending court cases are withdrawn.
Enuha admitted that the party had been in crisis since the congresses to elect ward, local government and state executive committees, adding however that the leaders have been placated following the intervention of Prof. Osibanjo.
“Nobody can pretend that we did not have issues within the party in the state, starting with the congresses up to the primaries. And those problems are still there, people felt cheated, people felt marginalized, people felt injustice has been done to them.
“You have all these things going on but the good news is that the Vice President, Yemi Osibanjo has stepped in, and he has made a lot of progress in resolving and reconciling all the parties.
“And thank God the governorship election is three weeks away, and we are hoping that this week, the agreement will be consummated, will be signed and you will see the difference. Everybody will come together, and I assure you that we are going to deliver our candidate for the governorship,” he said.
According to him, it was the desire of most APC stakeholders that the governorship candidate should be from Delta north but that Ogboru from the central “emerged as candidate as approved by the National Working Committee (NWC). And you could see a lot of controversy that trailed that exercise, and as we speak, people are still in court seeking for justice.
“But the Vice President stepped in and tried to calm all the nerves, telling them that politics is a game of give and take. You give up this, you take this. And we all agreed that our leaders have spoken. Politics is a marathon before you know it, four years is gone. We now said since that has been the case, we give up our aspiration for the good of the party.
“Anywhere you look at it we still belong to APC, we cannot go to PDP. Those who felt so bad and said they want to go to PDP, they have gone to PDP. People like us who are too old to be running up and down will stay and try to make it right; you try to make the bad situation right. And that is why we are supporting the decision of the VP and we will do everything right to deliver our gubernatorial candidate, Ogboru as we speak because there are still many cases in court.
“If he wins, it is APC, if somebody wins him later in court, it is still APC. But if we go and vote for PDP, it will not profit APC in anyway. It is still family affair in APC that is why we made the ultimate sacrifice of suppressing our Delta north agenda and keying into the decision of the Vice President.”
