By Zik Gbemre

With regards to a recent online published interview of Chief Joe Omene, the President General (PG) of Urhobo Progress Union (UPU), on his analysis of the concluded Delta State Gubernatorial election, in which he claimed that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa supposedly “worked hard” to win the said election, and that he deserves the victory, I am strongly of the opinion that, that statement and assertion has no iota of truth to it, and it does not represent the real situations of what really happened in the said election.

To say that we are surprised by Omene’s statement is to put it mildly and politely. What ‘election victory’ is our respected Omene referring to? Can we honestly say that Okowa won the said Gubernatorial election? In my own blunt and sincere opinion, it is absolutely not! Okowa did not win any election in Delta State.

When a people are ready to turn a blind eye to what is evidently wrong, then it is our society as a whole that suffers the decay over time in morality and upright values. Many stakeholders in Delta State have, sadly, become a set of people who have smeared their conscience with hot iron, especially in the face of what is evidently wrong. Like we have repeatedly said, there was no real Gubernatorial election in Delta State on March 9th, 2019. What we had was a situation where elections were seen to be going in favour of the State’s opposition APC, and suddenly the ruling PDP in the State with the hired armed PDP thugs, hijacked the Electoral process and forcefully maneuvered the outcome of the election. At the end of the day, the final election results were simply written and announced with the collaboration of compromised INEC Officials and the Delta State PDP. So, the only supposed “hard work” that Okowa and his PDP supporters did to supposedly win the said election, was to allegedly use the resources of the State to maneuver the Electoral process in his favour.

I repeat, if there was a free and fairly Gubernatorial election conducted in Delta State, Chief Great Ogboru would have won Okowa hands down no matter what. When they claimed that the population of some rural riverine communities for instance, are more than the Warri Urban and Effurun/Ekpan Urban areas,can that be said to be an election that is a product of real hard work? Or an election that is built on and won on falsehood. This alone, is evident of the fact that the Delta State Gubernatorial election results were simply written and announced. It is evident of the fact that what was announced does not tally with the realities on ground in Delta State. In all the places they knew the APC would win, the PDP thugs were armed to go there and cause confusion, destroy election materials or ensure that there was no election in those areas. This also led to loss of lives of voters. I was in Iwhrekan Community in Ughelli South LGA, Delta State, and I witnessed how PDP thugs came to Iwhrekan and shot someone dead, and set ballot papers on fire that was not in favour of the PDP.

With such cases of election results that were burnt and distorted in APC strong areas, how do we expect any person with conscience to accept the results that Okowa won the election? Okowa didn’t win any election! Whether they were officially declared or not, well-meaning Deltans should never have accepted such a bloody and fake victory of Okowa. Is that the type of election results that people should celebrate about? Is that the type of election that people should be excited about, and exclaiming that: “na so e be,” – “that is how it has always been.” So, because that is how it has always supposedly been, we should continue to swallow such rubbish of an electioneering process in Delta State. When a society and people start being comfortable with things that are wrong, then that society and people are treading the path of doom.

What Chief Omene should have commented on in his interview, was to commend and appreciate Ogboru and the Delta State APC for the maturity they exhibited during this dark experience of an election. If they had acted like the PDP did in that Gubernatorial election, the situation would have been very bloody. In fact, Delta State would have been burnt. I respect Ogboru for that. He had the opportunity of doing what Amaechi and Wike allegedly did in Rivers State, but he refused. Okowa on the other hand, allegedly gave a blanket order to all his aides to ‘deliver’ their various villages/towns/ Wards by all means necessary. Is that a product of hard work to win an election? Absolutely not! And that was exactly what they did. Instead of convincing the Electorates of their manifesto, they chose the path of using force, which has always been the trade and stock of the PDP in Delta State since the last two decades.

You don’t use force to win an election. Okowa didn’t win any election as declared by compromised INEC officials. Ogboru still remains the most loved by majority of Deltans across all tribes. If others accept Okowa’s victory, I will not mortgage my conscience for what I know is wrong and fake. If others have accepted this charade and sham of an election, I will not accept such fake victory that was the outcome of the compromised INEC officials. No politician in Delta State can defeat Ogboru. Who were those who casted the claimed of 900 and something votes for Okowa? The election results were simply written and announced. And I hope the election Tribunals/courts will eventually address this great wrong done against Deltans.

Ogboru is the UN-DECLARED WINNER OF THE DELTA STATE GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION. IT IS CLEAR AND SEEN BY MANY. Nigerian elites should not accept illegality as legality. Omene statement on Okowa’s supposed victory is a surprising and shocking news. He spoke well on other issues, but missed the point on Okowa’s “bought” victory.

I respect Omene as a patriotic Urhobo leader, but his statement on Okowa is totally uncalled for.

Zik Gbemre.

National Coordinator

Niger Delta Peace Coalition (NDPC)

No.28, Opi Street, Ugboroke Layout, Effurun-Warri,

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