LAGOS JUNE 1ST (URHOBOTODAY)-Barring any last minute fence-mending move to save his face and new found party, Chief Great Ovedje Ogboru, supposed candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance for the 2023 general elections may not participate in the election as his candidacy status is in jeopardy following insistence of the Chairman of APGA in Ethiope East Local Government Area, Barr Sunday Ikwe to demand due process in running of affairs of the party in the area.

According to the Ethiope East APGA Chairman, he had already filed a case against attempt by Great Ogboru to remove him and plant his stooge as Chairman of the party whereas, he had been Chairman before Ogboru dreamt of coming to join APGA.

He told newsmen that following the case he instituted at the High Court, Isiokolo and the prayers before the court, he was sure of securing a restraining order from the court against INEC and the party and that there was no way Chief Great Ogboru could be candidate of the party as INEC would be restrained from participating or observing the conduct of primary elections by APGA without duly certified delegates list from Ethiope East under his watch.

Barr Ikwe told newsmen that one Mr Lydon Ogbume, whom Great Ogboru intend planting as Chairman of APGA in Ethiope East will equally be restrained from parading himself as Chairman of the party in the area, just as the court has been duly notified on the need to stop APGA from conducting any primary elections in Delta State particularly in Ethiope East, adding that it was these prayers that stopped INEC from involvement in all the processes for election of candidates for APGA ahead of the coming polls.

Some members of the party who spoke on condition of anonymity expressed worries with the development, warning that if the issues are not resolved on time within the time frame for conduct of party primaries, all the primaries conducted so far particularly in Ethiope East may be null and void as Chief Great Ogboru may be leading the party to the rocks without a validly nominated gubernatorial candidate in the long run since his Ethiope East Local Government Area will not provide the base for him to fly the party flag.

Our sources added that Chief Great Ogboru had gotten it all wrong by trying to remove the party Chairman whom he met in his home LGA, stressing that without laying a proper foundation for the coming battle, he may not fly as the party candidate as issues affecting Ethiope East may not affect candidates from other LGA.

Those who spoke to our correspondent appealed to Great Ogboru and the party leadership to urgently wade into the matter and resolve it so as to retain him on the ballot instead of standing his candidacy on quicksand. They added that with litigations currently going on over his status in the party, people will soon lose interest and confidence in Great Ogboru and that his participation may yield no appreciable impact if the issues are not laid to rest now.

The party members noted that many of them were already considering quitting the party in the realization that all those who followed Great Ogboru since 2003 when he first appeared on the political stage are either dead or living in abject penury.

Daily Independent