Loses senator, gains hundreds of APC supporters
BY MAYOWA SAMUEL
Last week, the two major political parties in the country were engaged in a game of tit for tat in Delta North Senatorial District, Delta State.
What started as an intra-party squabble soon developed into a show of strength between the ruling Peoples Democratic Party in the state and the opposition All Progressives Congress.
Until last Friday, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, was the PDP senator representing Delta North since 2015. He was not just a loyal and committed party man, he was the party’s state chairman for years.
In a blistering criticism of the incumbent governor, Senator Nwaoboshi descended heavily on him and wrote off as it were, whatever Governor Okowa thought were achievements by his administration.
“I am a PDP Senator but I have to tell you the truth Urhobo and Itsekiri governors performed credibly well than our own Anioma Governor. What has the Anioma Governor done for Asaba people to show that he loves Asaba more than the Delta Central people?
“Don’t allow selfish people to bring division between us and Delta Central people. I challenge anyone to a debate that Uduaghan loves Asaba more than our Anioma Governor anytime and anywhere. His legacy in Asaba speaks volumes. It’s the turn of Delta Central to produce the next Governor of Delta State,” Nwaoboshi was quoted to have.
An insider told The Point that Senator Nwaoboshi was “reacting to the governor’s politics of 2023. He seems not to be comfortable with the position of the governor, especially on the zoning of the governorship. The governor has consistently maintained that only God knows who will succeed him. It should not be. It is the turn of Delta Central but from what we are hearing, it is like that thing will not work again and Nwaoboshi is saying let it remain the way it used to be. The recent dissolution of the state exco was mainly as a result of 2023 politics, especially, the governorship. But let’s wait and see how it all pans out,” our source said.
For his outbursts against the governor, the state working committee of the PDP last Wednesday suspended Sen Nwaoboshi for an initial period of one month and gave him the opportunity to go and defend himself before a disciplinary committee.
But before anyone could blink an eye lid, hundreds of APC supporters in Nwaoboshi stronghold defected to the PDP on Thursday. They were led by no other than the APC chairman for Delta North, Maj. George Okafor (rtd), who recently held a meeting of the party that went viral where they vowed to remain in the APC and make it stronger.
At the popular cenotaph ground which hosted the defection party and attended by Governor Okowa; his Deputy, Kingsley Otuaro; Speaker, Hon Sheriff Oborevwori; party chairman, Kingsley Esiso and many other party chieftains, the Governor hit back at Nwaoboshi.
He said, “No stranger can cause quarrel among Ibori, Uduaghan and I. No stranger can deceive us in Delta state. Ibori worked, Uduaghan worked, I am working. For the one who said I did nothing in Asaba, either he cannot see or he does not live in the state capital. I refuse to put money in the pocket of one individual. The day is coming, soon I will speak on why someone is bitter, ranting.”
Then on Friday, the Senator representing Delta Central and who doubles as the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, led Senator Nwaoboshi to meet President Muhammadu Buhari in Aso Rock. Nobody saw it coming or that it would be that fast and furious.
Receiving the Senator, President Buhari said “you are welcome to the progressives family.’’
Omo-Agege said Nwaoboshi’s decision to join the APC clearly shows that the effort of the CECPC was yielding fruit, other party members in the Villa at the time warmly welcomed him to the APC, too.
Back in Delta, the PDP issued a statement saying Nwaoboshi’s defection was greeted with spontaneous jubilation.
“During the period of Nwaoboshi’s flirtations with the opposition, he betrayed the people of Delta North with below par representation and never showed interest in matters that concerned them as they cried out against insecurity and open grazing that has left the largely agrarian communities rather prostrate and helpless in the hands of marauding and murderous herdsmen.”
A source told The Point that the ruling PDP in the state has a lot to worry about. He asserted that 1000 party members pale into insignificance where one senator is.
“The party that is saying people are rejoicing don’t want to accept the reality on ground. PDP has just lost a senator to the rival APC. In Delta State, the party now has only one senator out of three, that doesn’t speak well of a ruling party in the state. As it is now, anything can happen. What if it is established that of a truth, the ruling party in the state doesn’t want the Central Senatorial District to produce the governor in 2023? I see more defections coming, especially in Delta Central,” he reasoned.
