By Dapo Akinrefon

Mr Godwin Toritseju Abigor was a former leader of Warri South legislative arm. He contested the primary on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Warri South constituency House of Assembly seat and won and even given Certificate of Return by INEC but his name was replaced by the national leadership of the party in Abuja.

•Godwin Toritseju Abigor

In this interview, Abigor laments the way and manner his mandate was taken away from him by the PDP. Justifying his decision to contest the election on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), he says he has what it takes to represent Warri South 1 constituency in the Delta State House of Assembly. He also maintains that the Delta State governorship candidate, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa is the best among other contenders. Excerpts:

What informed your decision to leave the PDP for the SDP?

I decided to leave the PDP when it became clear that the party has chosen not to take the part of democracy with the process of picking its candidate in my constituency. They violated the same principles and standards set by the party. The party has electoral guidelines and constitution that provide that any aspirant that gets one simple majority, in the party primaries, should be the right candidate of the party.

Since the party deviated from this simple principle and substituted my name, I decided to protect the mandate of the people because the person they chose does not enjoy the mandate of the people of Warri South Constituency. All efforts, in terms of petition, in spite of the all the documentary evidence, police report and the certificate given to me were ignored.

The certified true copy of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is with me and in spite of all that, they decided to give the ticket to somebody who came second. So, all efforts made by me to correct this injustice was thwarted by the party at the national level and the courts are on strike.

Who was given the ticket?

The person who was given the ticket of the party, Mrs  Omawumi Udoh, boasted before hand that she was not relying on the grassroots appeal to get her ticket but that Abuja would always give her the ticket.

She boasted before the primary.

But did you suspect any foul play from any quarters perhaps at the state level?

No. There was no foul play because I have the result given to me by the state chairman of the party and this is the same result that was released from Abuja. As it is, they have two sets of results and to justify what they did, they gave her another result where our scores were swapped.

In fact the question is this: how did she get the result she is parading? Where was the election held that gave her that result? Let her provide documentary evidence to that effect.

Have you petitioned the national leadership of the party?

I have and I even petitioned INEC. She is using a forged result, the police have the authentic result, let her provide documentary evidence to defend the result given to her, she does not have it. That will show you the level of desperation by this woman. She boasted that she would use both the party at the national level and the traditional institution to emerge the candidate. She has succeeded in doing that with the party in Abuja.

Rather than you leaving the PDP, why didn’t you seek legal redress at the court?

If you look at the PDP, there have been so many anomalies. If you recall, the national chairman buttressed this in his comment about it that there were so many injustices in the PDP and mine was just one of them.

I will not criticise the PDP but the fact is that since the PDP has decided to give her the ticket, I just want to prove a point that she cannot steal the mandate given to me. Also, the people at the grassroots are those that will decide who they want to give their mandate to and I know that I enjoy the massive support of the people on ground.

Since the PDP has decided to be manipulative, I decided to seek redress by going to another party to get my ticket so that we can slug it out on the field.

Which party is this?

The Social Democratic Party.

Having gone to the SPD, what are your plans for your constituency?

It is to give them quality representation. The present occupant of the seat was not available to represent our constituency in the house. She was not there, she was absent and if you follow the rule, she was supposed to have vacated the seat because she was absent almost throughout the mandatory time expected as a lawmaker. She could not meet up with the minimum number of sitting. She is supposed to have vacated the seat going by that rule because she was always not there when decisions were taken, when the house was sitting.

Also, she has not given quality representation to the people, she has lost touch with the people. For somebody that has served for 12 years, she does not have anything to show for it and that is why she is afraid to go to the field because she is not the peoples’ person.

She has failed the people in terms of representation, she has not raised any meaningful motion, she has not projected the aspirations of her people and she does not have the capacity to represent her people effectively. That is why there is this agitation to get her out. In the last dispensation, we almost lost the seat to the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria. Because everybody struggled to give her the ticket and also the fact that Governor Emmanuel Udughan is an Itsekiri person, that gave her an edge.

Do you think you stand a chance to win the February election on the platform of the SDP?

Of course. We talk about the individual driving the process. I have been a councilor three times and with that, I have been a grass root politician; I contested for the chairman of the council in 2002 but due to the crisis within that period, I had to go to the state. I have been leader of the legislative arm, I have been in touch with my people because they know me so well. I was born and brought up in Warri, they know my family and my root and I have that strong bond with my people. So, they know me as a thorough Warri man and that is a big advantage.

Also, the manifesto of the SDP share the same ideology with the PDP. In terms of ideology, we do not have a clash there.

How do you see the chances of Senator Ifeanyi Okowa?

Dr Okowa is somebody I am affiliated with for so many years. He is a man I believe that has the administrative acumen with the current governor, he is a very thorough person and he understands the feelings of the different ethnic groups in Delta State. He knows Delta state. I believe that among the candidates, he has what it takes to move Delta State forward.

He is the best man for the job because he is a thorough administrator who will continue from where the governor stops. He also has the capacity to take Delta State to greater heights. So, the choice of Okowa is the right choice, because he has what it takes to move Delta State forward.