By Ogochukwu Isioma
The Chief Press Secretary to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta, Mr Olisa Ifeajika, on Tuesday, said the governor-elect of the state, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, would not be carried away by the euphoria of his victory at the gubernatorial poll.
Ifeajika disclosed while speaking on “The Faculty”, a Delta Broadcasting Service (DBS) Television programme monitored in Asaba.
He said that Oborevwori, who was elected on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), would bring aggrieved members of the party back, adding that Delta had remained a PDP state since 1999.
According to him, the goveror-elect had always told Deltans that he is a good student of Senator Ifeanyi Okowa’s political school, and that he would not in anyway, betray the confidence reposed in him by Deltans.
“The man who is going to be on the saddle from May 29, this year, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oboriwori, has always told Deltans that he is a good student of Okowa’s political school. He will not be carried away by his victory.
“He knows that he will bring back the aggrieved people. For the so-called D.U.G people, only few left the PDP. The party still has his men. All of them that are talking now, all had plum positions in the PDP at some point.
“Historically, the PDP has won elections in Delta except for four or five local government areas and everyone knows that,” the CPS said.
He pointed out that it won’t be difficult for Sheriff to get everybody together because, according to him, the governor-elect has been there since 1999, and he has learnt well from Okowa and has even started bringing aggrieved members back to the party.
On the outcome of the presidential election in the state, Ifeajika said that it was not Labour Party that won that election but the OBI-DIENT Movement which some persons also called ENDSARS Movement.
“Traditionally, PDP is Delta and Delta is PDP. It wasn’t Labour Party that won the Presidential election. It was what some people called the OBI-DIENT Movement or ENDSARs Movement.
“This is because there was already a movement for change by the youths and Peter Obi happened to be the face of that movement or agitation.
“To the youths, both the PDP the APC and other old politicians belonged to the old order. The youths needed something new and to them, Obi had that to give to them.
“But, they forgot that Obi is not a new politician. He has been there and was governor last in 2014. So, the youths didn’t vote for political party, they voted for change.
“If the PDP knew this ealier, we would have devised a means to talk to the youths. We were campaigning the normal way of letting people know what the PDP had to offer.
“Since 1999, the PDP has been in Delta State from one administration to the other and working to raise the ante. So, we were confident that we would get the votes.
“What we didn’t know was that for the youths, they were not talking about the PDP in Delta but about Nigeria. To them, the only person who could change Nigeria was Obi.
“You can see that immediately after that project, they came back home and voted the PDP in Delta because PDP is Delta. I am not even sure that some of the youths knew who the Labour Party candidate in Delta was.
“For those of us who were on ground and interacted with the people, we saw so many people during the presidential election who were strangers.
“We didn’t know when they came to register as voters, with OBI as their target. So, as soon as the presidential election was over, they left” Ifeajika stated.
While saying that Peter Obi gave Labour Party a voice at the national level, the governor’s Spokesman remarked that Nigerian workers who owned the party never used it or believed in it.
“The Obi thing has given Labour Party a voice now at the national level. We just pray that they sustain and manage it well. There will be choices to make more.
“I don’t see the NNPP surviving because once Kwankwaso leaves the party, that is the end and the party is just in Kano.
“We also pray that Obi remains with Labour Party because if he moves, that ends it.
“So, we hope that the owners of Labour Party would manage it well. The man Alex Oti who won in Abia, won because he has been there, not because of Labour Party,” he added.
