By Francis Sadhere
Delta State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC during the weekend said it is set to wrestle power from the ruling People’s Democratic Party, (PDP) in the state come 2019 and free the people from the political enslavement PDP has subjected them to for the past 18 years.
Chieftain of the APC and Chairman of new Delta APC political pressure group, Consolidated Dynamic APC (CDA), Surveyor Peter Akarogbe said this during the inauguration of the CDA coordinators held at the country home of late Senator Francis Okpozo at Ozoro, Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta state
Akarogbe said the pressure group which is made up of both pioneer legacy party members of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP), Light of Labour (LOL), People’s Democratic Party and others was set up to “create awareness of the APC in the consciousness of the citizens of the state.”
While inaugurating the various coordinators of the CDA, Akarogbe tasked them not to engage in any anti party activities that will bring disrepute and unhealthy rivalry between members of the party.
“We assure the State Working Committee (SWC) of our constant cooperation on how to move our great party in Delta state forward and to support the various candidates of the party at all levels in order to ensure electoral victories – especially in Delta state where its citizens are yearning for the alternative leadership that our great party alone can provide,” Akarogbe said.
On the Delta state local government election that will soon take place this year, Akarogbe said they party is doing all it can to make sure that they give the ruling party “a run for their money.”
Earlier the Delta APC chairman, Prophet Jones Erueh who was represented by his Deputy, Chief Cyril Eboh said that the party was given its support to the pressure group because it knows that the CDA coordinators across the 25 local government areas in the state would work assiduously to ensure that the party takes over the reigns of power from the PDP.
Also, Barrister Dennis Nwanokwai, Secretary of CDA, promised the party that the political pressure group would go into all the nook and cranny of the state and make sure that they sanitize Deltans on the need for the them to join the alternative party, APC.
He said, “Delta State is like a state that has been under siege for a long time and there is a lot of work to be done. The siege we are under is very visible to everybody and a lot of people are yearning for change. What has happened to day is a constitution of a body of a body of agents for change.
“So much advocacy needs to be done immediately and we need to go back to the drawing board and hit the ground running. We need to change the political landscape of Delta State and it is a huge responsibility that has been given to us. So it is with a high sense of responsibility that I have accepted this challenged. The challenge is huge and I am going to call for all the help that I need to do this work.
“If you look at Delta State today both the infrastructural deficit and the human deficit you will know that so many things are wrong in this state. Delta state should be one of the best states in this country. If you travel to states like Akwa Ibom and Lagos state, things are working out in these states.
On her part, Dr (Mrs) Veronica Ogbuagu, APC chieftain and former Delta State Commissioner for Education in her brief remark, advised the CDA coordinators to be servant leaders that would lead APC to victory in 2019.
She also charged the CDA coordinators not to tore the part of some APC leaders who have in the past been involved in money politics and deceit, adding that this attitude was what brought the party to its knees in the state.
On her part, the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Social Media, Mrs. Lauretta Onochie said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointment was not lopsided, stressing that the president has been fair in his appointments contrary to what some people believed.
She said about 60 percent of people appointed by former President Goodluck Jonathan are still in government, adding that Buhari has appointed people from all the nook and cranny of the country.
Speaking on the 2019 election, Onochie advised politicians in the country to work harder, stressing that it would not be business as usual because electronic voting might be used to conduct the election.
“You can see that in 2015 election the rigging that took place across the country was not as it used to be in the past. It was minimal. President Buhari has gone ahead to introduce a lot of measures to ensure that there is free, fair and credible elections in the country and one of these measures has to do with electronic voting. Thank God that National Assembly has also toed that line.
“In this 2019, I will counsel every politician that wants to contest to hit the roads and streets and do whatever they want to do to appease the people because if they do not do that, they are going to lose elections because everybody’s votes must count in 2019,” the Presidential aide added.
