Delta APC: Ogboru/Agege Faction Accused of Raising False Alarm as they Scheme to Avoid Direct Primary

ASABA/Nigeria: The Chief Great Ogboru, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege and Prophet Jones Erue faction of All Progressive Congress, APC, Delta State chapter in a panic move to prevent the APC national party from conducting direct primary in Delta state has raised a bogus alarm alleging that it will lead to a breakdown of law and order to organise direct primaries as directed by the NEC of the APC in Delta State due to prevailing and envisaged extreme security threat.

The group which claimed and has been celebrating the recognition of their Prophet Jones Erue led party Executives in Delta State and have taken it for granted that with their control of the party structure, the nomination of Chief Great Ogboru and Senator Ovie Omo-Agege as Governorship and Senatorial candidates respectively is a foregone conclusion through indirect primaries, suddenly realized the evident threat posed by the recent adoption of direct primaries by the National Party which text their popularity or otherwise in the Delta APC.

To this end, in a move seen by political analysts as desperate and panicky and calculated to scuttle the conduct of any direct primaries in the state in favour of indirect primaries, the Ogboru /Agege faction proceeded to engaged a fictitious association, “APC Electoral Watch Group in Delta state,” to petition the Inspector General of Police, alleging that direct primary will lead to commotion and bloodbath in Delta State.

In a series of petition made available to Ndokwa Reporters to the Inspector General of Police, IGP and AIG zone 5 Benin dated August 14^th, August 20^th and 21^st 2018 through their counsel, Barr Itse Elijah Wilkie, of the Wilkie Law Firm did not only alleged that the state governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa has recruited and created armed youth groups in the state as the “militant wing of the PDP in Delta State”.

They also alleged that the parallel APC faction and Executives led by Olorogun O’tega Emerhor/Chief Cyril Ogodo are moles in Delta APC who are currently collaborating with the PDP state government and are planning to disrupt any planned direct primaries in other to ensure Chief Great Ogboru do not emerge the APC governorship candidate and/or that Delta APC do not produce any governorship candidate to challenge Governor Okowa.

In the main petition titled: “State Sponsored Thuggery, Harassment, Brutalization, and Threats of Assassination of Opponents of Delta State Government,” they further alleged that part of the, “plot is to instigate commotion in any public event where any of their targets is and exploit the confusion in killing their target.”

In one of the petition dated August 20^th, 2018 to the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 5 Benin, they appeal to the AIG, to write a SECURITY REPORT to, “the appropriate quarters but not limited to: The Presidency, The National Chairman, APC, Abuja and The Directorate of State Security to the effect that: DIRECT PRIMARIES will be very BLOODY if the CONGRESSES in Delta led to several persons being killed.”

According to group; “There are already reports of mass acquisition of firearm by politicians and thugs to be used and deployed for the evil plot; Ubeji town in Warri South local government is a warehouse of arms for one senatorial aspirant under the platform of PDP. In Uvwie, the Effurun garage is the warehouse of arms of PDP for the upcoming elections.

Citing the case of attack on Senator Omo-Agege while consulting his constituent at Effurun market, they urged the IGP, to overhaul the police leadership in the state as they have put their relationship with Governor Okowa above their responsibility of providing security to all.

They also called on the IGP to provide special police interventionist units to supervise the party primaries and the general election and also “provide security escort drawn from force headquarters for Chief Great Ogboru.”

Recall that Senator Ovie Omo-Agege on July 20^th, 2018, supervised the conduct of DIRECT PRIMARY for the Osun State APC governorship race, where he stated when declaring the result at the party’s secretariat in Osogbo and was quoted to have said; “DIRECT PRIMARY adopted provided a level playing field for all aspirants. Political analysts are shocked that the same Senator is now in the forefront of scuttling direct primaries in Delta State.

A chieftain of the party who spoke to us on the development but pleaded for anonymity, said: Omo-Agege and Ogboru are afraid that should direct primaries be adopted, their chances at the primary is very slim, unlike when delegate is used which they would handpicked, since they assume then now hold the recognized structure in state. What they are doing is not too different from what a number of APC state governors who are afraid of direct primary are doing: fighting Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and national Chairman Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. The difference in this Ogboru/Omo-Agege fight is too ingeniously and dubiously hide under SECURITY threat to hoodwink Oshiomhole to approve that indirect primaries be adopted for Delta state.

They are determined to, through these petitions blackmail the party’s National Chairman and security agencies into accepting that there are special and unique security threats in Delta state and by so doing, the party will be force to do their bidding by conducting delegate (indirect) primaries which they believe is the only way they can become the governorship and senatorial candidates of APC in Delta state in the 2019 elections.

He therefore, called on the security forces and the  party’s National Chairman to disregard the petitions, noting that Chief Ogboru has not participated in any elective primaries and Omo-Agage has not also won any major political party primaries, hence their fear to test their popularity in Delta APC.