Immediate past governor of Delta State, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, has charged the pro-Urhobo lobby group for the 2023 governorship election, Delta Central 23 otherwise tagged: DC-23, to eschew utterances that could set ethnic nationalities against one another.
The two-term governor also admonished the group to apply an in-house mechanism to produce a consensus candidate before the governorship primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) come up.
Uduaghan gave the advice when members of DC-23 paid a consultation visit to Itsekiri political leaders recently.
He commended the group for its bold steps but warned against unguarded utterances capable of creating tension and polarising the PDP family across the state.
“Try and bring down the number of aspirants jostling for the governorship of the state from Delta Central to one and avoid the use of words that can breed disunity between ethnic nationalities because such can lead to political crises that we cannot manage.
“So, I appeal that as you go round your lobby, maintain peace with your utterances to avoid ethnic crises. We must continue to douse the political tension to maintain the existing peace in Delta State,” he pleaded.
He noted that Itsekiri, as an ethnic nationality, also has points of agitation and that at the appropriate time, they will give an answer to the appeal for ‘zoning in line with senatorial districts to sustain’ as requested by the DC-23.
He stated further that those who fought against zoning in the state usually lost election woefully.
“We the Itsekiris have great respect for former Governor James Ibori and are also loyal to the government of the state led by Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa.
“We will continue to give him every support to ensure that he ends his administration gloriously,” he prayed.
Earlier, the National Chairman of DC-23, Chief Ighoyota Amori, expressed appreciation to the Itsekiri for the warmth.
He posited that the plan on how the PDP can rule beyond 2023 was their major aim, as they cannot afford to lose the state to an opposition party.
He said the DC-23 was a lobby group made up of members of the PDP in Delta Central Senatorial District with the aim to lobby for the governorship seat to rotate to the Central come 2023.
He noted that the DC-23 was not different from the G-3 of Delta South Senatorial District that was formed to drive the process of his (Uduaghan) election and Anioma Agenda that was formed in 2014 to propel the process of election of the current governor of Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa.
“Our Ijaw brothers that want to contest against aspirants of Delta Central Senatorial District have their argument for the governorship seat likewise us but we can’t talk of zoning on ethnic lines because the state is made up of various ethnic groups like Urhobo, Ijaw, Itsekiri, Isoko, Ika, Ndokwa, Oshimili, Aniocha and few others, hence the appeal for us to maintain the zoning arrangement on senatorial districts order.
“We want to establish a sustainable system where when it gets to the turn of your senatorial district, no one from other senatorial districts will contest against the benefitting district. So the argument that Urhobo or other ethnic groups contested during the turn of other senatorial districts will no longer be there,” he added.
He appealed to the political class of the Itsekiri nation to support the zoning arrangements for peace and stability of the state.
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