APC congresses: Leaders in the dark, as Omo-Agege holds sway in Delta

Although the Ward Congress of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is billed to hold today, feelers on Saturday revealed that most leaders of the party in Delta State are still kept in the dark.

Further checks revealed that Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, who’s the undisputable leader of the party in the oil-rich state is in total control of the exercise.

One of the leaders of the party from Delta Central, which Omo-Agege represents in the Senate, who would not want to be mentioned, affirmed that there’s no clue as to what is going to happen in the state today.

“No information about it yet, party leaders are kept in the dark; Omo-Agege people have taken control of everything.

“We are all kept in the dark; nobody knows the venue for the Ward Congress or those nominated to conduct the Congress from Abuja,” he quipped.

Recall that during the week, emotion rose among party members over the sales of Application Forms for Wards, Local Government Areas and State congresses in which three bags of the items were allegedly hijacked by a faction loyal to the State Caretaker Committee Chairman, Prophet Jones Ode Erue.

Erue and Senator Omo-Agege are of the same faction of the party.

Earlier in the week, too, some leaders of APC in the state including the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Chief Festus Keyamo and the party governorship candidate in 2019 elections, Chief Great Ogboru, had threatened to boycott today’s party’s congress.

The threat was over an allegation that materials sent to the state for the party’s ward congresses had been hijacked by some chieftain of the party in a bid to exclude members from participating in the congresses.

It was gathered that other leaders of the party threatening to boycott the entire process were former speakers of the Delta State House of Assembly, Victor Ochei and Monday Igbuya; former Executive Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Cairo Ojougboh, Mrs Mariam Ali, and Air Vice-Marshal Okorodudu.

The aggrieved stalwart had written a letter dated July 21, 2021, to the National Organising Secretary of APC, Abuja, insisting that the state caretaker committee had been pocketed by a “so-called leader.”

They alleged that the hijack was a “sinister and reckless plot by some unscrupulous officials to hand over the entire fortunes of our great party in Delta State to one man, and freeze out other genuine leaders in the state

“That would be a recipe for total disaster for the party in a state where we are already struggling as opposition. We do not claim to be the only leaders in the state either. There are other leaders.

“However, we cannot be denied the right to associate within the party to promote a common interest, like we have agreed to do.”

The leaders had called for the arrest of one Nick Ovuakporie, believed to have hijacked the materials, and requested the “immediate release of the materials to the authorised officials, who are now stranded in Asaba, to perform their legitimate duties.

“We shall boycott the whole process and look at other legal options if genuine party members are denied access to the forms by these characters.”

Reacting to the allegation, Ovuakporie had described the allegation as spurious and unfounded, denying ever being in possession of the congress materials.

In a statement by the Publicity Secretary of the Delta APC caretaker committee, Sylvester Imonina, it was disclosed that the materials were in the custody of the state chairman, Prophet Erue.

Imonina said the statement by the seven leaders contained nothing but “complete lies and unfounded conspiracies by the authors in order to create a state of chaos and panic in Delta State in a bid to discredit the conduct of the forthcoming congresses.”

But in another twist, in a message credited to Comrade Okonji Chidi, APC Delta Caretaker Committee Secretary; Elvis Ayomanor, Deputy Chairman; and Sir Amorighoye Sunny Mene, APC Delta State Caretaker Committee State Organizing Secretary in Asaba, it was alleged that 50 per cent of the ward congress materials were missing as of July 23, 2021.

“We, on behalf of the 24 out of the 34 EXCO members of the Delta State APC caretaker committee wish to draw the attention of APC members in Delta State and the whole world to the unsavoury development concerning the sales of Congress Application forms in the Delta State APC,” they stated.

They accused a media aide of the APC State Caretaker Chairman of masterminding the hijack of the congress application forms by allegedly impersonating the state party caretaker organising secretary with the apparent endorsement of the caretaker chairman, Jones Erue.

“With us at this press briefing are the three-man national committee on the sale of Congress Application forms in Delta State. The sale of Congress Application forms to interested applicants for the ward, to hold all over Nigeria on the 31st of July, 2021, commenced all over the country on Thursday, July 22, 2021.

“Today is Day-Two of the sales of forms but half of the total forms, that is, only three out of the six bags (of the forms) taken away were dumped last night (Thursday) at the State Secretariat.

“The three-man national committee on sale of forms has informed us that on arrival in Delta State on Tuesday, 20th July 2021, the S.A. (special assistant), Media to Prophet Jones Ode Erue, the State Caretaker Chairman, a certain Nick Ovuakporie, with the assistance of security officials, posed as the State Organising Secretary and requested that the forms be given to him for safe custody.

“On the release of the forms to him on the 20th of July, 2021 till now, the Mr Nick Ovuakporie has remained incommunicado, and the forms have not been returned to the three-man national committee on Delta State APC sales of Congress Application forms.

“The State Caretaker Chairman, through a release on social media by his known media aide claimed that the forms were in his custody and that sales would commence at the Delta State APC Secretariat on Thursday, 22nd July 2021; but as we all can see today is Friday, 23rd July 2021, both the State Caretaker Chairman and his aide, Mr Nick Ovuakporie are nowhere to be found.

“Mr Nick Ovuakporie is not the Delta State APC organising secretary as he claimed to the three-man national committee on the sale of the Congress application forms in Delta State. The State APC Organising Secretary is Sir Sunny A. Mene and he did not send Mr Nick Ovuakporie.

“Members of the three-man national committee have never seen or met the State Caretaker Chairman, Prophet Jones Ode Erue, and they did not hand over the Congress application forms to him to issue the forms out on their behalf. There are clear guidelines on how the forms are to be sold, and only they have the mandate to do so.

“The forms snatched/hijacked from the committee members are of no value and lack any authority having not to be issued by authorized persons. They are consequently declared null and void.

“The party leadership in Abuja headquarters is hereby urged to direct the way forward to restore peace and order in the party in the state,” the trio of Comrade Okonji, Ayomanor, Deputy Chairman; and Sir Mene, noted.

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