Chief Turner Ogboru is a lawyer and younger brother of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Delta State, Chief Great Ogboru. In this interview with Senior Correspondent OKUNGBOWA AIEWRIE, he speaks on the controversy over zoning in the state, the chances of the APC in the March 9 election and other partisan issues.
What is the status of the recent reconciliation brokered by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo?
The reconciliation is ongoing substantially. In principle, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor has accepted the terms that were agreed upon. He is still working to bring some members of his faction on board. But, right now, because the elections are here, we have put the process on hold. So, that everybody can go and work first; after the elections, we can talk about matters of party exco, which is the bone of contention. For now, we have put that behind us and we are looking forward to the presidential and the National Assembly elections, which has been rescheduled to take place February 23 and the governorship and the House of Assembly elections now to hold on March 9. So, after that, we would consummate some power sharing initiative that we have already put in place in principle.
What are your views on the argument by Delta PDP that the zoning is the panacea for peace and development?
That whole thing is conceptually barren and morally jejune. There has never been any such arrangement in Delta State; there has never been any zoning to any particular section at any time. When James Ibori contested elections in 1999, all parts of this state contested with him. When in 2003, he re-contested, every part of the state contested with him. So, there was nothing like zoning. When Emmanuel Uduaghan contested his elections every part of the state contested with him. When he did his second tenure, also, every part of the state still contested. The second term ticket was not given to him on a platter of gold, because he is from Delta South. Nobody ever gave Uduaghan the privilege to contest. On the contrary, when he even failed even the people in Delta North and every other place were working against Great Ogboru. But, if not that Uduaghan and the PDP then had the riverine machinery that got crabs and crayfish to become voters, the resurrected ancestors of the place to rise up from the burial ground to become voters, there is no way Uduaghan would have won. Governor Ifeanyi Okowa himself narrowly missed losing the ticket in the 2015 PDP primary, as the aspirant from Delta Central, David Edevbie, would have defeated him, but for a last minute move. Nobody said that Delta Central should not contest and that it is our turn. It was never turn-by-turn; what happened is that in this election it was Okowa’s machinery that brought up this issue and they sold it to some people in the APC.
They know that if they use Anioma agenda, then, the candidate from the APC that will be running against Okowa will have an uphill task. The election will probably be a work over, because the APC in Delta North does not have any candidate that that would be accepted state wide. Okowa is an incumbent governor. So, he has an advantage: he has appointed SSG, he has appointed commissioners, advisers all over the state. So, he will be head and shoulders above other people in the race. But, with this equation, he can’t do that, so he made sure he played it so much that they zoned other offices in the PDP. So, for the first time in the history of elections in Delta State, Okowa’s second term bid was unopposed. He is the first governorship candidate of the PDP that is returned unopposed; no single person contested. So, it is either his credentials are intimidating or his performance is overwhelming and everybody is begging him to continue. So, we have never had any conference in Delta State where we said we will be having a rotational process; it is not in the constitution of any of the parties. Besides, in the case of Great Ogboru, he is also from Delta North, because his mother is from Delta North and if any child can really say this is who I am it is through your mother, because your father may be from the wrong place your mother might just tell you that that is your father. So, the father may be somebody else, but the mother that gave birth to you and carried you that is the person you can really say is your mother. Besides, Great Ogboru contested governorship elections with Ibori in his second term, he contested again with Uduaghan three times, because he succeeded in nullifying Uduaghan’s first tenure, so there was a re-run and the second tenure he contested with Uduaghan he did not say because Ibori was from Delta Central he will not contest with him. He did not say because Uduaghan Is from Delta South, he will not contest against him. He also contested against Okowa in the election that brought him into power for the first term. He did not say because he is from Delta North he will not contest with him. So, why should he now say okay let us just pause the game? It doesn’t make any sense. The present APC governorship candidate is from Delta North and his wife is from Delta South, because she has Ijaw blood. This whole thing is just a cheap ethnic sentiment that is being pulled, because of the lack of performance of the sitting governor. He is analogue; he doesn’t even know how to make money with what he has. He tries to be prudent with the resources he has so they say there is no money that’s his new name, but this state is getting not less than N20billion every month. Where is the money? We are short-changing pensioners, students that are supposed to be doing JAMB or WAEC. This state cannot even pay for them; instead the state is adding to the burden of the parents. How do you build human capital?
The PDP has alleged that your party plans to use ‘federal might’ to win the elections. Is there any justification in this statement?
The Bible says as a man is, so he thinks everybody is; as a man thinks in his heart, so he is. Who brought rigging into Nigerian politics? It is the PDP that brought writing of results; it is the PDP that brought in all the election vices. The party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, openly confessed recently in Lagos and apologised to the people that it was because of his friendship with Bola Tinubu that he did not take Lagos. How was he taking it? The way he took Ondo, the way he took Ekiti, the way he took Osun, which we got back through the courts. He did all this through rigging; they were just writing results. Obasanjo will sit in Aso Rock and be calling Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) to go and announce results. So, they think the APC will do the same thing. But, unfortunately, Buhari is not in that cast that will be calling INEC boss to go and do contingency result; APC is not planning anything like that.
Great Ogboru has lost several governorship elections in the past. Will this election be different?
Great Ogboru has contested this election five times and this is the sixth time. This time around, he has the blessing of God to rule this state. It will not be like previous elections. Ask any person who knows anything about the PDP, they will tell you that they have been the ones who have been using toxic votes to top into the boat. Then, the PDP was at the helm of affairs at the centre. So, they had the ‘federal might’ and they had the security, but for the first time in this state, the PDP is not having that advantage.
Do you have faith in INEC to deliver a free, fair and credible election?
I have absolute faith in the current INEC to deliver free, fair and credible elections. INEC has been having incremental gains in this current election. The Card Readers that they are using have been enhanced such that you cannot tamper with it like before. Hitherto, INEC Card Readers were subject to manipulation. But now INEC, with its in-house soul-searching, saw all this defects and so it has upgraded the Card Readers. The thing is just that PDP is the one dividing the country with false propaganda.
The party just cries wolf where there is none; it is not politicking, it is criminal of them. Nigeria is divided today because of fake news; everybody is so angry with Buhari, because they accused him of aiding herdsmen. Where were the herdsmen when the police and army will come yet they will not see any goat or ram. How is that the activities of herdsmen? People who are moving with fast motor vehicles that can go through three villages and burn them in one day and then disappear; nobody will see anyone by day break and you are calling them herdsmen. Where do herdsmen operate like that? Herdsmen don’t operate like that. If herdsmen operate, you will see them fighting the people; you will see the farm where they entered. If they kill people there, you will see them before you can apprehend them. Even if they run away, you can see their cattle, but since Atiku too as a herdsman has come into the race they have gone back to Boko Haram attacks and communal clashes, because now we have two herdsmen that are Fulanis and Muslims they are the only two choices we are choosing from in the pack.
Deltans are apprehensive of violence during the election, judging by recent killings in the state. What is your message to Deltans?
The whole country is apprehensive. People like Prophet T.B Joshua have been crying to Nigerians to pray to avert the things that they are seeing, so as not to truncate the democracy. Joshua has been speaking in parables, but he has been pleading with us very extensively, because what he is seeing is not pleasant. That means there is so much violence, there is even possibility of coups and counter coups. That is what the man is seeing in the spirit, but the man doesn’t want to say such thing in public, because he doesn’t want to cause panic. So, he just tells us to pray. People like Papa Adeboye coming up today that this year he is going to speak in parables. He just says it is of the Lord’s mercy that we aren’t consumed in Nigeria and for Redeemed people he gives them Psalm 91 that they dwell in the secret place of the Most High. When you look at these things then you will know that there is potential crisis, if God does not intervene. There is potential crisis that people can just stand on the line and they will just come and stab them and shooting into the air to carry ballot boxes, because I am trying to make it look like I am calling for international sympathy and support for a particular candidate. Those kind of things on the ground you can’t rule them out; that’s why we need to pray for the aversion of this thing and telling everybody please don’t destroy Nigeria because of herdsmen, because the two major candidates are Fulanis and herdsmen too.
There is no point for everybody to be apprehensive; all we need to do like, I told the Commissioner of Police, we have identified a lot of young men who are potential trouble makers. Call them and advise them; let them know that if they cause mayhem they will be in trouble and will be made to pay the full penalty of the law. Voting is a competition like Chelsea playing Man City. Man City beating them 6-0 nobody died, even though they are supposed to be equal. So, when we beat them mercilessly they should have left and just go home and wait for another day, when there is a return match. When they defeated us in all the previous matches, whether by referee support or hook or crook, we accepted go to court. Don’t resort to self-help, don’t go and announce yourself president and start a Venezuela-type situation in Nigeria. If you lose its of God; if you are a Muslim or Christian, you should know that power belongs to God and that he gives it to who he wills. Whether you get it by hook or crook it’s either God looks away for you to steal it or God personally wants you to stay there, but nobody gets into the throne, because you are God’s minister not by accident. You may look funny or credible, but the man that is still there God knows something about why he is still there. So, Deltans should not be apprehensive; Deltans should go about their work, especially our youths they should shun the violence and go about their duties, by voting for the person of their choice, stay and wait for the result in your polling units to be counted. After they have sorted and counted and announced the result, get a copy of the result; text it to your party, but just watch and see how it is collated and don’t resort to violence. It’s only in the peace that all of us will fulfill whatever we want to do with our daily bread. None of this people are feeding you right; they are not paying your school fees right now, so why do you want to kill yourself for them?
