2023: Gulf Between PDP Factions Widen In Delta State

The Delta State PDP is now divided into two unequal and opposing factions. This fact was made known at the weekend through the pronouncements of leading politicians from the rival fat is now evident that Sherriff Oborevwori is going into the 2023 governorship election backed only by the minority Okowa faction of the badly divided PDP ruling party and stoutly opposed by the James Ibori faction with David Edevbie as the arrowhead.

The Dr Ifeanyi Okowa faction does not want the voting public to know that it has been abandoned and opposed by the two previous PDP governors, Chief James Ibori and Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan and more than fifty other founding and prominent members of PDP in Delta state who now belong to the James Ibori faction. The Okowa group is now the minority faction of PDP in Delta state.

The men and women who built the PDP in Delta state and made it win elections since 1999 have abandoned the Okowa faction and are backing Chief James Ibori to lead PDP in Delta State. These men and women, election winners from the three senatorial districts of the state are all now in the James Ibori faction and have refused to participate in the present campaign of Sherriff Oborevwori to become governor of the state in 2023.

The Director of media of the PDP in the State tried to explain to TVC News this morning that the absence of these personalities in the campaign launch of the PDP early in the week does not signify a division in the party in Delta state.

“The absence of Chief James Ibori, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, Mr. James Manager and Olorogun David Edevbie at the campaign launch does not mean that these leaders dissociated themselves from the party”, he said.

But a rally was held today in a big tent erected for the purpose in the home of rival party governorship candidate Mr. David Edevbie who came out strongly to say it loud and clear that the fight in the party is not ended and that he is still in the race to be governorship candidate of the PDP in Delta state.

David Edevbie made his assertions before a massive crowd gathered in his house this morning. The crowd had all the paraphernalia of a big political gathering much bigger than the campaign launch of Sherriff Oborevwori in Asaba, even with the presence of governor Okowa. David Edevbie addressed the crowd saying:

“I came here to say thank you. Thank you for supporting me from the beginning and I know some people are expecting me to say “to the end”. It has not ended. Let me correct you so you are aware. I’m still fighting. It’s not yet over”.

Division started within PDP in Delta State when the Governor Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa insisted on submitting a list of his own loyalists as delegates and paid them $7000 each to vote for Sherriff Oborevwori in the primaries to elect the PDP governorship candidate in Delta state. Sherriff eventually scored 597 votes out of a total of 824 ballots cast to win the primaries.

Sherriff Oborevwori was earlier rejected by the PDP South-South screening committee in Port Harcourt for forgery of a School Certificate and other credentials submitted to the committee which rendered him ineligible to contest and unqualified to be governor of Delta state.

It was alleged that a bribery of $2 million changed the mind of the committee and thereafter included him in the list of qualified candidates for Delta state primary. The matter became subject of litigations and was disputed up to the Supreme Court. The case was eventually won by Sherriff Oborevwori and the PDP who backed him in the legal disputation all the way to the highest court.

The supreme court judgement did not end the quarrel over Sherriff’s qualification and eligibility for the governorship election and instead deepened the division within PDP in the state. The absence of a final pronouncement by the supreme court on the status and legality of Sherriff’s qualifying documents did not bring closure to the dispute and it is believed that more litigations on the matter are being awaited.

As it is, the James Ibori faction has become the mainstream tendency within the PDP in Delta state even if the Okowa faction holds the executive power of governor and the de facto governorship candidate Sherriff Oborevwori.

Pundits believe that the deep disunity within the PDP may not be mended before the 2023 governorship election and this will lead to the loss of the governorship election and mark the end of the era of PDP dominance in the politics of Delta state.