LG poll: Crisis rocks Delta PDP over Ibori’s ‘imposition’

The just-concluded primary elections of the Delta State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party for the upcoming local government election in the state has thrown the party into turmoil.

This is no thanks to the alleged imposition of candidates on the party by a former Governor of the state, Chief James Onanefe Ibori, who is serving a jail term in the United Kingdom.

The state’s Independent Electoral Commission has fixed October 25, 2014 for the poll across the 25 Local Government Areas of the state.

The imposition crises on Monday assumed a new twist following the alarm raised by a political pressure group, the Aniocha South Political Forum, which condemned how one Chief Isaac Ozor Anwuzia was imposed as the party’s flag bearer in the council area.

In a co-signed protest statement made available to The Eagle Online by Engr. Mike Ifegaeme, Hon. Chukwuka Uwanine, Nkeiruka Tobechukwu and Comrade P. Y. Nwokoro in Asaba, the group wondered why Ibori was still holding the state in hegemony.

According to the group, Anuwzia had boasted before the primary election that Ibori had endorsed him and instructed the state Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, to work with the Chairman of the party in the state, Chief Peter Nwaoboshi, to deliver him at all cost.

Besides Anwuzia, the emergence of three other loyalists of the former governor, including an aide to the incumbent governor, have generated crisis in Delta Central Senatorial District.

While the forum said the action of Anwuzia abused Governor Uduaghan’s avowed promise of not fronting for any aspirant, it debunked the claim that he was a foundation member of the PDP in the oil rich state, maintaining: “Anwuzia had crisscrossed many political parties before joining the PDP.”

Since the primary election was conducted on August 9, different political groups have kicked against the manner some candidates were single-handedly foisted on them by the powers-that-be in the state.

But Anwuzia has told those who care listen that his emergence was ordained by God, maintaining that the antics of “mediocres and unprogressive minds” would not retard meaningful development to the council area.

He urged his detractors to desist from associating him with “stagnation and underdevelopment.”