By Dennis Akpotu

LAGOS FEBRUARY 7TH (URHOBOTODAY)-As the year 2023 draws closer, many governorship aspirants in Delta State in the two major political parties, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the All Progressives Congress, APC, are clandestinely working behind the clock to actualise their dreams to Government House, Asaba.

2023 is not going to be business as usual. I make bold to say that a surprise candidate may spring up. Voters in Delta have come of age, maturing with time, and they can identify the fakes from real contenders irrespective of the political parties or moneybags.

The PDP has held sway since the advent of the Fourth Republic without commensurate structures on ground compared to the huge sums of money allocated to the state.

It is high time the APC took control of the state and let’s check out the difference. It will surprise the people what the outcome will be.

Despite the fact that Chief Great Ogboru had contested many times and lost, will it not be enough reason for him not to go in for the ‘kill’ in 2023. This might be his last chance and just probably he will get it right this time.

Ogboru is a man who never gives up on his dreams so easily. He is a dogged fighter to the core. One of the reasons he lost in the past has to do with the internal squabbles within APC in Delta which never forged a unified force to give him the necessary support. It is, therefore, no gainsaying that “a house divided against itself will fall”. It is our fervent prayer that this anomaly will be rectified in 2023.

The popularity of Ogboru within Delta and beyond cannot be questioned. He has been a successful business mogul for decades. He is kind, compassionate and has sympathy for the downtrodden. With the little God has blessed him with, he touches lives. Such a personality is a huge asset to Delta.

Ogboru’s huge followership and popularity must be harnessed and given total support by the APC to make manifest his candidature of the party. It would be a great miscarriage of justice if they write him off at this stage and go for a fresh candidate, who is simply going to start the process all over again.

Ogboru has a strong belief that all Deltans can shape and guide their lives according to their highest ideals, no matter how insignificant and powerless they might feel themselves to be.

He has a workable manifesto for the three senatorial districts that make up Delta. He understands the yearnings, cries and needs of the people these sundry years. More so, he is not the type that discriminates because he is deeply rooted in cultural and religious heritage while utterly opposed to all forms of social, ethnic or religious intolerance.

The force that propels him all this while is that he strongly believes Delta should not be where it presently is. It should be the “Eldorado” of Nigeria. Something is definitely not right. There is so much rot going on beneath the bridge.

Ogboru’s main goal is freeing Deltans from the shackles of poverty and deprivation.

It is not a lamentation, but a call for change.

There is no other time than in 2023 when incidentally the PDP is zoning their governorship candidate to Delta Central. Nothing stops the APC from taking advantage of this. And, too, nothing stops the APC from fielding Ogboru as its flag bearer, if only for the last time.

It would definitely work out. Ogboru’s wife is from Delta South while his mother is from Delta North. He definitely stands on a tripod, which should be maximally harnessed to the fullest.

I respectively say that Ogboru’s candidacy in 2023 is a win-win situation for the APC and Delta in general.

• Akpotu lives in Asaba, Delta State

Vanguard