By Oghenekevwe Laba
LAGOS sEPTEMBER 14TH (urhobotoday)-The recent pronouncement of adoption of Chief Festus Keyamo as All Nigeria Peoples Congress (APC) senatorial candidate for the forth coming Delta Central Senatorial election by some people who claimed to be members of Delta State Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change CPC and All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) that unite to form All Progressive Congress (APC) has been condemned by Urhobo youths under the aegis of Urhobo Youths for Change.
The group in a press statement made available to Urhobotoday dated September 13th , 2013, signed by the National President of Urhobo Youth for Change, Hon Martin Ovweghre said the pronouncement of the adoption of Keyamo through reading of communiqué is undemocratic, adding that the Urhobo youths were expecting a situation whereby a primary election would have be conducted among the APC aspirants and the one with majority votes declared as the winner,
It would be recalled that in a publication disseminated in the media recently, the three parties in Delta State — Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), and Congress for progressive Change (CPC) — that united to form the All Progressives Congress (APC) were reported to have adopted Festus Keyamo as their consensus candidate for the Delta Central Senatorial bye-election.
According to the pronouncement, the chairmen, elected officers and leaders of the legacy parties from the eight local governments comprising Delta Central Senatorial District made the revelation in a communique released after several hours of meeting in Effurun on Wednesday, 11th September 2013.
Reading the communique to newsmen and party faithfuls, APC leader in Ethiope West LGA, Chief (Capt.) Victor A. Sota affirmed that their decision to adopt Keyamo as a consensus candidate is binding on all the legacy parties in Delta Central.
Reacting to the publication, the group argued that mere pronouncement of Keyamo as the APC candidate for the forth coming Delta Central election by few members of the party is unacceptable and undemocratic in this present democratic setting, adding that as youths seeking for change such dictatorial or military autocracy as exhibited by those who did the adoption is not tenable in a democratic setting.
They argued that under democratic setting and with a party like APC which is look at as the last of the common man, the contest should be thrown open for free and fair election among the different aspirants and the one with the highest number of votes declared as the authentic representative of APC in the coming election, adding that anything short of that is undemocratic.
The group said they are disappointed with the way and manner Keyamo who claimed to be an activist and defender of democracy accepted the offer with jubilation as shown in the pictures exhibited in the media, adding that if it were to have happened to another candidate, he would have not only condemned the action as undemocratic , but would have headed to court to seek for redress.
The group who doubted the sincerity of those who adopted Keyamo as APC candidate appealed to APC executive at the state and national level to jettison what they described as’ kangaroo’ adoption of Keyamo and conduct a true and fair primary election to determine a true popular candidate, arguing that if this is not done APC will lose its credibility as the party expected to fight for the course of the down trodden through the practice of true democracy.
The group who described the action of those who adopted Keyamo as making mockery of democracy wondered what yard stick they used in determining the popularity of Keyamo in the party to other candidates to have hurriedly arrived at their decicion of adoption.
“ We felt there is something fishing here that is beyond what the eyes can see. This is a case of the more you look the less you see. If not how could Chief (Capt.) Victor A. Sota who claimed to be APC leader in Ethiope West LGA, Delta State, pronounced the adoption of Keyamo as a concesus candidate of APC without recourse to due democratical process. The party executive at the state and national level should quash the adoption and organize a proper primary election, if not APC will lose popularity in the coming election,” the group made up of no fewer than three thousands Urhobo youths advised.