By Emma Amaize, Regional Editor, South-South

Intrigues have set in as the sacked governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, and his main challenger, Chief Great Ogboru, get set for the rerun election in the state ordered by the Court of Appeal.

Chief Great Ogboru and Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan

THAT Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has  been ousted as  governor of Delta State is stale news. The contemporary matter now  is who between him and Chief Great Ovadje Ogboru of the Democratic Peoples’ Party, DPP, will emerge as the next governor of Delta State within the 90 days that the Court of Appeal ordered in its November 9 judgment.

The news itself came like a bombshell to many. But former Federal Commissioner for Information, Chief Edwin Clark, told Sunday Vanguard moments  after the Court of Appeal panel headed by Justice Monica Dongban-Mensah delivered the verdict that it did not come as a surprise to him, adding that he was celebrating it with food and wine in his Abuja residence with over 100 Deltans.

Uduaghan, who believed he needed more years to complete the good works he started in 2007, has also accepted the verdict of the court and packed out of  the Government  House, Asaba,  to enable the acting governor, Prince Sam Obi, who was inaugurated 24 hours after, to take over the mantle of leadership. The former governor met with President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja, on Wednesday, to brief him on the state of things and probably seek his support for re-election.

By virtue of the order of the court for a re-run election in the state,  Uduaghan and Ogboru , whose appeal paved the way for the nullification,  are the major contenders, as the then Action Congress (AC) candidate, Chief Peter Okocha, was excluded from the exercise.  Okocha  challenged his exclusion but the court held that he was not duly nominated by his party.

What is not clear at the time of this report is if the candidates of the other parties in the 2007 governorship election in the state will be involved in the fresh poll. Some political analysts believe that since the court ordered a re-run, all the cleared candidates by INEC for the election in 2007 would automatically be eligible. The two principal contenders, Uduaghan and Ogboru, are, however, talking tough about their chances. Their campaign teams and supporters are also not left out.

I’ll be re-elected- Uduaghan
Emerging from a close-door meeting with  Jonathan, on Wednesday, Uduaghan told newsmen he was confident of being re-elected, adding that he was waiting for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to set the date for the re-run election.

He assured that he had taken his sack by the Appeal Court in good faith, pointing out, “The electorate will decide.” Asked why he was in the Presidential Villa, Uduaghan replied: “The President is the political leader of the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).  I owe him a duty to brief him on the current event in the state.”

I am  the next governor- Ogboru
On his part, Ogboru, who was being expected in Delta State at the time Sunday Vanguard visited his Abraka country home on Wednesday, said Uduaghan did not win any election in the state in 2007 because none was conducted. The DPP gubernatorial candidate said  he would emerge as the next governor of the state by popular votes in the re-run poll.

His words, “At this point in time, I am telling you that the people of Delta State have spoken. Uduaghan cannot be governor of Delta State in any shape to come. No matter how contrived the elections will be, he will not be governor. He has left office and he won’t get  there again”.

Campaign organisations trade words
The campaign organisations of both men are also trading words on the re-run. The ‘Field Marshal’ of the Ogboru Campaign Organization, Chief Julius Ogboru, the Ekugbere of Abraka kingdom, said in Abraka, “Without being told, Chief Great Ogboru has won the election.  Uduaghan cannot withstand Ogboru in an election in Delta State; nobody is going to vote for him. PDP is dead in Delta State”.

But the Director-General of the  Uduaghan 2011 Campaign Organisation, Prof. G.G. Darah, told Sunday Vanguard, ”Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan is a law-abiding person. He has accepted the verdict, we are battle-ready for the next election and we are going to win.

“Dr. Uduaghan and the PDP have the political structure on ground to win the state and the campaign organisation has been working since it was inaugurated for election any day. There is no cause to worry. We are on ground”.

Uduaghan, Ogboru strategise
According to information available to Sunday Vanguard, Uduaghan and  Ogboru have already started strategising with political leaders and party faithful on how to outwit each other in the crucial poll.

Uduaghan shrugged off the lethargy of the ‘bad’ news early enough to pack out of Government House, Asaba, Tuesday evening, and woke up the next day with a new confidence and trust in God  after a marathon prayer, thanking Him for His mercies upon his life. It was with the new spirit that he flew to Abuja to meet with the President  on Wednesday.

He was said to have met with some of his key political strategists to appraise the situation on  Tuesday.  His campaign director, Prof Darah, however, said  it was not a new thing, as the governor had been meeting with his political think – tank every week before now to plan for the 2011 election.

Uduaghan confirmed this when contacted, “I am ready. My works will speak for me; those who voted for me in 2007; those have seen our good works; those who have been impacted by our vision in the last three years; those who share our vision for a future Delta State; and those who want us to complete the good works we have started will renew our mandate to the glory of Delta State and God Almighty”.

Ogboru was understood to have been consulting with  Clark and other leaders of the Delta Elders, Leaders and Stakeholders’ Forum (DELSF) on how to outwit  Uduaghan in the rerun  election. He was adopted as the consensus gubernatorial candidate by the forum in the 2007 election that was just nullified.

The forum almost lost hope when Ogboru’s case was dismissed by the Election Petition Tribunal, Asaba and its hope that the tribunal would nullify the election on the grounds of the AC candidate,  Okocha’s exclusion from the election by INEC was dashed. Ogboru was missing from the meeting of the forum after his case was dismissed and that created some doubts about him, but his staying power, which led to the final nullification, November 9, has paid off.

The intrigues

The real battle is in getting eligible voters in the state to vote for either Uduaghan or Ogboru. The Clark group, which is obviously going to champion the Ogboru campaign as it did in 2007, would be asking Deltans to vote the DPP candidate  to save the state from the dynasty of former governor, Chief James Ibori, and his cousin, Uduaghan. They would argue that the sacked governor  assisted Ibori in looting the state and that he should not be given a fresh mandate. The arguments are not new;  they were the same arguments  presented to Deltans in the campaigns ahead of the annulled  2007 election.

But with the resounding success of the Clark group in chasing Ibori out of the country with the EFCC, the forum is confident that Uduaghan would be “put in the cooler” within the 90 days period that fresh election would hold. Already, Clark, at a news conference, on  Wednesday, in Abuja requested the anti-corruption agencies to arrest and prosecute Uduaghan.

“Our court has spoken once again. Uduaghan is no more a governor and, therefore, has no immunity, paving the way for him to account for the alleged commission of financial crimes with James Ibori, which has been confirmed by a plethora of cases in London crown courts,” he added.

Those in Uduaghan camp contended, however, that the former governor had not been found guilty of any crime and the attempt to use the EFCC to intimidate and stop him from contesting the fresh election would not sail.

Coordinator of the Ijaw Monitoring Group, IMG, Comrade Joseph Evah, told Sunday Vanguard in an interview, alleged that there were plans by some powerful persons in the state to manipulate the Presidency, INEC and the EFCC to stop Uduaghan from contesting the fresh poll because of their fear that “he (Uduaghan) will floor them in a free and fair poll; so what they want is to stop him by all means.

“What I want to tell you is that Deltans will not allow such manipulation. The Court of Appeal did not say that  Uduaghan rigged election. It said the election was fraught with malpractices, the same thing that the Supreme Court said about the late President Umaru Yar’Adua administration, which the current president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan,  is part of. So, those who claim they are powerful should go and mobilie the people and test their popularity with Uduaghan in the poll.

“It is going to be one man, one vote. So let us watch and see who is more popular in Delta State. The late President Yar’Adua himself confirmed that the election that brought him to power was not entirely free and fair. So, nobody should classify Uduaghan as a fraudster, which he is not. They should meet him  at the poll  with Deltans as judge”.

Reality on ground
The facts on ground is that the DPP and  Ogboru do not have a formidable political structure to bulldoze the PDP from the state, but the candidate surely enjoys the support of those, who, for one reason or the other, have fallen out with  Uduaghan, either because of Ibori or the former governor’s failure to cater for their interests.

Clark and a handful of others are in the first cluster, but  a majority is in the second. The case of the Minister of State for Education, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi,  is, however, different. He neither believed in Ibori nor Uduaghan. For Chief Ovie Omo-Agege, a gubernatorial aspirant who recently defected from PDP to ACN, he had no problem with Ibori, who is his political mentor, but  his problem with Uduaghan may not be unconnected with power-sharing after the former governor assumed office in 2007.

Omo-Agege campaigned for and worked for Uduaghan’s election after he lost to him in the governorship primaries at Ogwashi-Uku. However, their relationship got sour after Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa was appointed Secretary to the State Government, SSG, a position that was held by Omo-Agege before Uduaghan’s climb to power.

Incidentally, Uduaghan was a former SSG in the Ibori government. He resigned to contest the governorship poll in 2007. Omo-Agege, who was appointed in his stead, also resigned later to contest the same election and Okowa has  also resigned  to contest for the Delta North Senatorial seat in the National Assembly, next year.

But having ruled for eight years, 1999 to 2007, under Ibori, not minding that an Urhobo man in the person of Olorogun Felix Ibru was the first civilian governor of the state, many Deltans think that the Urhobo ethnic group in the Delta central senatorial district should give the Delta north and Delta south senatorial districts the opportunity to rule for eight years apiece before dreaming of coming back to power in the state.

It is the power-shift agitation by the two senatorial districts that led to the governorship moving to Delta South Senatorial District in 2007. Ibori bought the idea, which was championed by Delta north and Delta south leaders, but  Clark, who is from the south senatorial district, got angry with him for supposedly picking his successor from the district without consulting the leaders.

By endorsing Ogboru in 2007, Clark went against the power-shift arrangement he had earlier canvassed from Delta central to the south and he is ready to do same again in 2010, all to ensure that Uduaghan did not return to power.

A top member of the DELSF from Delta south and former commissioner for health, Dr. Richard Tosanwumi, who is a campaign manager for a Delta south gubernatorial aspirant, Admiral John Kpokpogri (rtd), does not  agree that power should shift to Delta central so soon. His words, “We of Delta south senatorial district wish to reiterate our resolve to complete our years of occupying the governorship office of our state just like the Delta Central Senatorial District did with James Ibori as governor.

“It will be a grave error for the other districts to underrate the capability of Delta south district to defend this assertion. Ibori transferred power to his cousin, Uduaghan, based on power shift (zoning) in 2007 and we plead that Delta south district be allowed to finish its eight-year tenure peacefully without any acrimonious disregard for the sensibilities of the people of Delta south district for Delta central district to aspire for the Governor’s Office in 2011”.

According to him, “Notably, Delta north district has not shown interest in Delta 2011 gubernatorial race and there is a fierce battle for Delta north senatorial seat instead of the governorship”. He, therefore, warned, “The ill-thought out governorship ambition of persons from Delta central district must not lead to confusion and disharmony in our state.

The zoning principle must be upheld in a multi-ethnic Delta State for equity, justice and fairness to reign supreme. Delta-south certainly has capable persons to complete its eight years (2011-2015) governorship period. The overall interest of the entire Delta State must prevail over that of dubious individuals flaunting ill-gotten wealth around. Delta State needs peace and political stability under capable hands to achieve meaningful development in the years ahead”.

An Ogbe-Ijoh leader, Chief Couple Oromoni,  told Sunday Vanguard that the Ijaw people were behind Uduaghan and not Ogboru in the re-run and that any person canvassing for him was not working in the interest of Delta south senatorial district because power shifted from Delta central in 2007 and had to go round the other districts before any detour would be made.

Clearly, it is because of the understanding that power would shift to Delta north in 2015 that the senatorial district has not shown interest in the 2011 governorship and the wisdom of the power shift arrangement is not lost on the people of Delta north and south senatorial districts.

Political experts think that since a re-run has been ordered, Delta south should be allowed to complete its tenure and if the cap fits Uduaghan by virtue of his being the PDP candidate once again, so be it. This, they argue, is for the unrecorded understanding on power shift in the state not to be disrupted.

Ogboru, as a good political student, decoded the signs intelligently and, in a recent interview, he said, “Zoning in Delta State has become a means to disable competent and better candidates. There was no issue of zoning the governorship until 2007 when Ibori was looking for a hireling to cover his bad track and so, he came up with this idea that the governorship has to be zoned.

“There was never any meeting in which the people of Delta State said they wanted to zone or share power among the senatorial districts, there were never such meetings at all. But Ibori imposed it on the state. I actually see the Delta people as being  one because of our shared paths. We are more homogenous than any other state in spite of the fact that we have different languages.

“The people of Delta State have been united by the pidgin English they speak, so we see ourselves more as one and we look at the more competent persons among us to be able to lead. Even if you were to zone and you come with a candidate that the people consider inferior, people will vote against him. What I’m trying to say is that the zoning thing will work only as far as we can have credible candidates who are better”.

No date has been fixed by INEC for the re-run poll, but, who Deltans give their mandate in the election will determine their position on zoning and who is an inferior candidate as vocalized by Ogboru.