LAGOS MARCH 18TH (URHOBOTODAY)-Members of Delta State All Progressive Party (APC) under the aegis of Coalition Of APC Support Group has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari and APC National Working Committee led by Comr. Adams Oshiomhole to set up a board of inquiry to investigate how APC Delta State governorship candidate in the 2019 election, Chief Great Ogboru disbursed the huge sum of fund made available to him for election mobilization in the state.
The group which was disappointed with the poor performance of the party in the in state in the just concluded election alleged that N3bn was presented to Great Ogboru for the prosecution of the governorship election in the state, but there was no evidence anywhere that he spent N1 billion for the elections.
“He refused to properly disburse and chose to release paltry amounts only to his few chosen supporters. Even for his LGA rallies, he never released one kobo, instead he directed that local leaders and supporters task themselves to fund such rallies, and because most leaders couldn’t raise such funds, a lot of LGA rallies were either abandoned or turn out to be huge flops. We also have it on good authority that commissioner positions were sold N50 million each in advance to raise funds that were diverted from the campaigns. APC, as a Mega Political Party, cannot be brought to the low level of mushroom political parties where Ogboru has been practicing his hit-and-run politics of election racketeering and getting away with the dubious acts. Ogboru should be probed.
“We reiterate our demand that the National Working Committee (NWC) of our great party to set up a panel of enquiry to immediately review the outcome of the Delta APC overall performance in the just concluded election: The funds received by the campaign council, the disbursement of funds and those who received the funds at various Local Government Areas in the State and to review the results from each polling units across the State as it was noticed that most leaders played anti party at various levels in the State,” the statement signed by Prince Daniel Ekiugbo, the Convener of Coalition of Delta APC Support Groups demanded.

SEE FULL STATEMENT BELOW:

BEING TEXT OF A PRESS CONFERENCE ORGANIZED BY THE COALITION OF DELTA APC SUPPORT GROUPS ON THE OUTCOME OF THE JUST-CONCLUDED 2019 GENERAL ELECTIONS

Gentlemen of the Press:

It is with an air of the mixed feelings of both Joy of APC’s Victory in the Presidential Election and Sadness of the Party’s Failure at the Gubernatorial Poll in Delta State, that we, the Coalition of Delta APC Support Groups, address you today in this post-election briefing, after our crucial urgent meeting held in Asaba, to clinically and critically appraise the just-concluded General Elections.

2. First and foremost, we whole-heartedly Congratulate our beloved President, His Excellency, General Muhammadu Buhari, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, his vice, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, the All Progressives Congress, APC Family across Nigeria, and, indeed, Nigerians on the well-deserved victory at the Presidential elections.

3. There is no doubt that the good works the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has been doing since first being elected in 2015 has been appreciated by Nigerians who decided to display an overwhelming support and demand for more from Mr. President in the next four years through the massive votes.

4. We are, indeed, saddened by the unfortunate loss of the gubernatorial election in Delta State, where Chief Great Ovedje Ogboru was the Party’s (APC) Candidate to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the most traumatizing and shameful manner despite the enormous support and opportunities provided by the National Leadership of the Party.

5. We were not surprised at the outcome of the Saturday gubernatorial election in Delta State, as the stage for failure has since last year been set when Chief Great Ogboru who just joined the party took the destructive decision to hijack the party in display of desperation! Unfortunately, working with Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, they were able to hoodwink and secure the undeserved backing of our National Chairman Comr. Adams Oshiomhole and the National Working Committee of the Party.

6. It was disheartening to see that after they achieved their objectives which ended up factionizing the party, they made no efforts to unite the party by stooping to conquer. And worst still, inspite of commendable efforts by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo to unite the party in the State ahead of the elections, Chief Ogboru still didn’t seize the opportunity to reach out to the Ogodo/Emerhor side to procure peace and unity. Even worse, he also either pushed aside or completely ignored other key stakeholders particularly in the Delta North like Engr. Hyacinth Enuha, Rt. Hon. Engr. Victor Ochei, Professor Pat Utomi, Mrs Marian Ali, Dr. Cairo Ojuogo and others thereby unwittingly conceding the whole of Delta North District to Okowa right from the get go!. In the South District, Ogboru neither cultivated in key person nor did he have any persons, nor plans in place to win, while at home in his Delta Central District, he naively believed he would win 100% without making any efforts to unite the party in Central for such task.

7. Chief Ogboru acted like a man determined to fail at all costs by ignoring and refusing to carry along even the old APC members who joined him with Prophet Jones Erue. He stubbornly chose to work only with the few Labour Party people who he came into the APC with. Even at that, he couldn’t manage things properly within his inner circle as there were open hostilities and in fighting between his core people and those of Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege on one hand, and former Gov. Emmanuel Uduaghan’s people on the other hand.

8. While the PDP was busy going round the nooks and crannies of the State with an aggressive campaign, Chief Ogboru refused to embark on intensive grassroots campaigns round the State to market his manifesto to the people simply because of his total dependence on a so-called Federal might, which made him to also ignore every other critical stakeholders and groups, even including Buhari Support Groups in the State. He had not a single bill board or posters particularly in Delta north and South of the State. He only held rallies, sometimes, combining 3 LGAs in one location, and then naively went away believing he has campaigned in those two Senatorial zones!

9. It is pertinent to note that the National Working Committee’s recognition of the Jones Exco was nothing but handing over the Party’s Gubernatorial Ticket to the electoral merchant, Chief Great Ovedje Ogboru – a Man with no electoral value who was over-sold himself to our National Chairman Comr Oshiomhole! His destructive deception then left the Delta APC comatose with the attendant implications which is the woeful failure that the Party suffered in the hands of the PDP at the Saturday March 9 elections.

10. While we are not ignorant of the fact that a winner must emerge in every contest, the loss of APC in the Delta 2019 gubernatorial election becomes more painful to us when we realize the enormous opportunities available to the APC to win the election but which were misappropriated by Chief Great Ovedje Ogboru who has proven himself as a man without a strong political structure that has been responsible for his failures in the previous 5 consecutive governorship elections he participated in since 2003 to 2015 before crossing over to APC.

12. For the first time for Delta APC, we had the massive power of the federal government at the centre behind us, our National leadership stood firmly for us providing enormous support in resources and otherwise. The masses of Delta State were ready to effect a change in Delta. But what we clearly did not have was a focused and determined Governorship candidate to translate the opportunity to victory! In fact, we consider it a notorious fraud for Great Ogboru to waste the 2019 APC Gubernatorial Ticket in such questionable and shameful circumstances where the Party won a paltry 2 Local Government Areas out of 25 with an alarming figures of 215,938 against PDP’s 925,274.

13. In the light of the above, we call on the National Leader of the Party, His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari and our National Working Committee led by Comr. Adams Oshiomhole to immediately set inquiry for Chief Great Ovedje Ogboru to explain the whereabouts of the huge Financial Provisions for the entire 2019 General Elections. It is of public knowledge that Great Ogboru presented a budget of over THREE BILLION NAIRA, which budget was over funded and availed to him. There was no evidence any where that he spent N1 billion for the elections. He refused to properly disburse and chose to release paltry amounts only to his few chosen supporters. Even for his LGA rallies, he never released one Kobo, instead he directed that local leaders and supporters task themselves to fund such rallies, and because most leaders couldn’t raise such funds, a lot of LGA rallies were either abandoned or turn out to be huge flops! We also have it on good authority that commissioner positions were sold N50 million each in advance to raise funds that were diverted from the campaigns!
APC, as a Mega Political Party, cannot be brought to the low level of mushroom political parties where Ogboru has been practicing his hit-and-run politics of election racketeering and getting away with the dubious acts. Ogboru should be probed!

14. Be that as it may, our deepest sympathies goes to the teaming population of Delta APC membership who dearly desired change as encased in our slogan of “APC – TAKE OVER DELTA STATE”, which however could not materialize following this misadventure of Great Ogboru which was purely driven by a selfish ambition to rake-in election funds without any strategies put in place to guarantee victory.

15. Finally, we reiterate our demand that the National Working Committee (NWC) of our great party to set up a panel of enquiry to immediately review the outcome of the Delta APC overall performance in the just concluded election: The funds received by the campaign council, the disbursement of funds and those who received the funds at various Local Government Areas in the State and to review the results from each polling units across the State as it was noticed that most leaders played anti party at various levels in the State. We demand for ‘Operation Show your ward results from every leader in Delta APC’ irrespective of who they are or the positions they hold. We understand that Chief Ogboru and a number of his supporters who could not even win their polling units, not to talk of wards, have all concluded arrangements to beseech Abuja and again lie and hoodwink our National Chairman and other National leaders in a bid to secure juicy federal political appointments!

We must separate the Sheep’s from the Goat’s in Delta APC and only empower performing leaders in order to so have a formidable and strong party in our State going forward.

Thank you and God bless!

Prince Daniel Ekiugbo
Convener
Coalition of Delta APC Support Groups