A former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, has advised the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to handle the seeming disagreement within party over the 2023 governorship seat with utmost care.
Orubebe, a chieftain and former governorship aspirant on the platform of the PDP, stressed that if comments and utterances surrounding the forthcoming governorship election are not well managed it could jeopardize the party’s chances.
The former minister spoke at his Ogbobagbene country-home in Burutu Local Government Area of state when he hosted a delegation of the Delta Collective Assembly (DCA) over the weekend.
DCA is a political pressure group with the mandate to consolidate the existing peace and unity in Delta PDP ahead of the 2023 general elections.
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He cautioned the State PDP family to handle the controversy surrounding the choice of the next Governor with care so as not to lose the 2023 governorship and other elections in the State.
While commending the Delta Collective Assembly for its mission to consolidate on the existing peace and unity in the PDP family and Delta in general, the former Minister stated that in 2014, he advocated that the PDP governorship should be rotated on ethnic basis but he was vehemently opposed.
According to him, the leaders held that it was the turn of Delta North. He then queried at what point and in which meeting was the senatorial rotation arrangement changed or abandoned.
He advised Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, who is a beneficiary of the Senatorial zoning arrangement of the PDP, to handle the 2023 governorship issue with utmost care and maturity, adding that for the party to succeed, all hands must be on deck.
Elder Orubebe charged the Delta Collective Assembly to sustain the spread of its message of consolidating peace and unity to all parts of the State and promised that when the time is right, he would talk and make his position known, especially after consulting with other elders and leaders of the PDP.
Earlier, the delegation of the Delta Collective Assembly led by Engr. Elijah Ologe told Elder Orubebe that the pressure group was formed with the core mandate to sustain the peaceful clockwise senatorial zoning pattern that had given the PDP overwhelming victories in all Delta political elections over the years.
He advised that, on that basis, the PDP governorship in 2023 should come from Delta Central Senatorial District.
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Engr. Ologe, a former SUBEB Chairman in the State who spoke on behalf of the group, said the mission of the DCA includes consulting notable PDP stakeholders in the three senatorial districts such as Elder Godsday Orubebe towards ensuring that the Delta State PDP continues to utilize the clockwise governorship zoning arrangement that had always guaranteed landslide victories for the party in past elections.
He said the DCA whose membership cuts across the three Senatorial Districts of the State, is an opinion influencer mobilizing support for the practice of senatorial zoning which evolved by default or deliberate design and has remained the PDP’s magic wand for winning all elections in Delta State.
The DCA thanked Elder Godsday Orubebe for the audience and for his words of wisdom and expressed the belief that his final stand on the growing controversial governorship issue would be in the best interest of the PDP, ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Well-done DCA,I appreciate your efforts for the PDP family,me as an ijaws from bomadi,I support the governorship ticket is zone to Delta central senatorial district, moreover,I wish to be part of your group.