Omos Oyinbode, Asaba
Not less than 2500 youths drawn from the South-South States under the aegis of South-South Youth Awareness Forum and Pages Group, Wednesday, protested against the various litigations being raised to challenge the electoral victory of Senator Ifeanyi Okowa in the just concluded governorship elections in Delta state.
The protest is coming on the heels of legal actions being orchestrated by the opposition parties in Delta to challenge the outcome of the governorship election in the state.
The Governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Olorogun Otega Emerhor and the Labour Party candidate, Great Ovedje Ogboru, had threatened challenging Okowa’s victory at the tribunal on the ground that the two candidates believe that the PDP candidate did not win the election.
The two groups, which protested through major streets in the state capital, called on the two aggrieved candidates heading to courts to challenge the outcome of the election to sheath their swords and work with Senator Ifeanyi Okowa to develop the economy of the state.
Led by Hon. Daniel Nelson and Chukwuma O. Chukwuma, the youths said “we are here because a lot of rumour has been flying around the state insinuating court cases against Okowa. We are telling all those involved to leave Okowa alone. He has our mandate to lead Delta State. He is now the governor of Delta State. Let him go and work, if he fails, we will also come together and remove him.
“We are also calling on all aggrieved Deltans who lost in the elections who are planning to make the state ungovernable for Okowa, to sheath their swords and join hands with Okowa to develop Delta State. We want peace in Delta. Everybody should embrace peace. We don’t want court cases again to distract the government of Okowa as they did to Uduaghan”.
The youths drawn majorly from the creek areas of the states said Ogboru and Emerhor should emulate the gesture of President Goodluck Jonathan who congratulated Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and downplayed sections insinuating cases against Buhari.
The group said “if Jonathan from the South-South could congratulate Buhari for winning the election, the two Urhobo candidates should see Okowa from Anioma as their brother, so rather than drag him to court and slow down the government, they should work together. Ogboru and Emerhor should join Okowa to build Delta State”.
