By Godwin Anaughe

Since 1999, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has ruled Delta State. And in all the 17 years, it has been a history of missed opportunities to develop the state.

Now that the opposition has joined forces under the platform of the ruling party at the federal level, it seems victory for APC in the 2019 general elections in Delta  is inevitable. However, the reality is a little more complicated. And that is because the gap between desire for victory and successful execution is still very huge.

Defeating PDP in the 2019 general elections won’t be a cake-walk. It requires hard work. Delta APC members must be put on alert that the Buhari federal government, unlike PDP federal governments of the past that took no prisoners in their political battles, will not rig elections for anyone. After all, APC lost elections in Bayelsa and Rivers states last year.

To win and end PDP 20 years misrule in the state, APC has to be strong.

As a consequence, the party needs to be smart and strategic going forward. Smart in expanding the tent and strategic in nominating winning candidates. Unfortunately these are two words that cannot be associated with the Prophet Jones Erhue State Executive Committee.   It’s not smart when members of the State Executive Committee of the ruling federal government allegedly takes money from the state government it wants to send packing.

Clearly, the Prophet Jones State Executive Committee’s understanding of the party’s best interest is very poor. They have failed to see the harm their continued stay in office does to the party. Holding on to power at all costs  may be a good way to be relevant. However, it’s not a smart way to defeat an incumbent, especially when you have become the source of disunity in the very party you claim to lead.

Prophet Jones Erhue and his associates have the moral responsibility to resign in the overall interest of the party. But now that they have refused to do what is right, the national leadership of the party should step in to save the party from the iron grip of those who are determined to spoil our groove in 2019.

Another compelling reason for the present SEC to go is the incompetence of the team. The APC Take Over Delta State task needs a capable project manager who can unite the party, oppose the PDP government relentlessly and ruthlessly, lay out an alternative agenda and set up a contrast for future elections beginning with the local government elections this year by showing to the electorates that Delta APC is the change Deltans want. The Prophet Jones Erhue exco has not provided that kind of vibrant opposition.

What is more, the opportunity cost of its existence is already too high. The crisis it has caused, not only threatens the party’s ability to build on the progress made by the conflation of members of APC, Labour and Accord, but also previews the conflicts that could appear if the parties who seek nominations lose unfairly in a congress organised by the present Exco. That could potentially leave the party too damaged to mount a successful challenge to PDP in the state. It’s hard to do well when there is no unity among members.

And given the political stakes, now is the time to get the ball rolling. A caretaker committee which the APC constitution empowers the National Working Committee to set up in place of any organ where there exists (in the opinion of the National Working Committee), a lacunae by virtue of any act or omission done in furtherance of the constitution.

For a caretaker committee to be effective and lead to greater unity, and not more rancor, it has to be broad, inclusive of all interests and led by the non-aligned in the party with the mandate to harmonise all organs of the party at the local government and ward levels and to run the party until a new congress is held as directed by the Benin High Court that declared the Prophet Jones Erhue led Exco illegal.

• Anaughe is resident in Asaba.