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Tag: Great Ogboru

  • Political leaders hail conduct of elections in Delta

    Political leaders in Delta state have commended the conduct of the Presidential and National Assembly elections in the state.

    While the former governor of the state and the candidate for the Delta South Senatorial District, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, said Nigerians have finally been given the chance truly vote, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Chief Great Ogboru, and the leader of the Mainstream Delta APC, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, expressed excitement over the smooth run of the exercise.

    Dr Uduaghan, while casting his vote at about 1:00pm in Koko Ward 6, unit 2 of Abigborodo, said the successful conduct of the exercise meant that democracy had come to stay in Nigeria, warning those who might have ambitions that could lead to violence to reign their ambitions in.

    “From what I have seen, it is quite good and I hope it will be like that in other parts of the country. Nigerians are anxious to vote and we give them the opportunity. Democracy has come to stay and we will do everything to make democracy to succeed in Nigeria. The accreditation and voting process have been very good.

    “I advised those who are very ambitious to weigh the gain and effect of their ambition, when you see that it will lead to violence, please control your ambition, four years is not too long,” he said.

    Read Also: Delta youths endorse Atiku, Okowa others

    Also speaking to journalists after casting his vote at Abraka ward 1, unit 8, expressed confidence that President Muhammadu Buhari would win the election, adding that he was excited the process had been peaceful.

    “The environment is quite peaceful, and I just voted, though there were rumours of some technical issues about the machines, though, l have no iota doubt about the victory of APC candidates.

    “l know we shall win, and I hope that the elections will be peaceful in other places, I heard that people are still trying to snatch ballot boxes in some places, but I don’t see the need for that when the election is peaceful,” Ogboru said.

    The leader of the Mainstream Delta APC, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, also speaking journalists after casting his vote at Ewvreni ward 8, unit 5, encouraged his people to be patient in the face of the logistics challenges experienced in the earlier part of the exercise.

    “Everybody is excited because we have the opportunity now, to elect the President and National Assembly members of our choice.

    “Based on some logistics relating to transportation,  they started late,  but I think they will extend the time,  so that everybody can vote,  am also a bit concerned about the time allocated to each person to vote, I hope the machine will pick up so it would be faster,

    “I encourage my unit, ward and local government and the state at large to be patient because this is important and will also give directions to the country,” Emerhor said.

  • Okowa, Ogboru, absent from BBC-pidgin Delta gov debate

    Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta, the PDP candidate for March 2 governorship election and Chief Great Ogboru, his APC counterpart, were absent at the BBC Pidgin-organised debate in Asaba on Thursday.

    Also absent was Mr John Akwara, of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the debate billed to feature candidates of six political parties selected from about 50 registered governorship candidates in the state.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the candidates who participated were Frank Esanubi of the African Action Congress (AAC), Odiakpo Obire of Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) and Brando Omu of All Grand Alliance Party (AGAP).

    Each of the candidates took turn to proffer solutions to problems bothering on security, economy, education, restructuring, sports and jobs creation, among others in the state, urging the electorate to vote them in.

    They accused the current and past administrations of poor performance and promised to speedy up development in the various sectors to bring succor to the people, if elected.

    They pledged to diversify the economy of the state through investment in agriculture and other mineral resources and create jobs.

    Each of them also pledged to invest in sports to create jobs and properly engage the youths as well as address issues bothering on the physically challenged and other disadvantaged groups in the state .

    Esanubi specifically pledged to create 20,000 jobs annually by releasing N1 million to each graduate of the state origin, adding that the party would budget N20 billion annually for that purpose.

    He also pledges to revamp the educational system by introducing skills acquisition into the curricula of the state’s tertiary institutions to enable the graduates acquire skills outside their disciplines.

    On his part, Obire promised to build industries and create opportunities for small scale businesses to thrive in the state as well as create jobs for the teaming unemployed youths.

    He pledged to give loans and other financial support to those willing and capable to run their own businesses in the state.

    Omu pledged to attract one industry to every local government area in the state to engage the youths and also to set up micro-finance companies to support the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

  • Group rallies support for Buhari in Delta, South-South

    An advocacy group; the Delta Rescue Mission for Buhari (DRM4PMB), has called on Nigerians to massively vote for President Muhammadu Buhari next month, to save the country from certain and eventual collapse.

    The group, in a statement signed by its Director-General, Martins Mukoro, said it decided to go all out to sensitize Nigerians, especially in the South-South, to the vision and achievements of President Buhari because the alternative to having him come back will be taking the Nation back into socioeconomic peril.

    According to the group, President Buhari’s moral integrity is high, as he has no link to anything corrupt, adding that he is an upright man, whose words are his bond, saying “he has said he would give a free, fair and credible election and that is what he’s going to do”.

    Read Also: Buhari campaign train arrives Maiduguri

    The group also charged the people of Delta state to cast their votes for the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Chief Great Ogboru, adding that he has a political structure in place, with which he had won previous elections in the state. It opined that same would be used to deliver President Buhari in the state.

    “We must free Nigeria from bare fangs of the self-acclaimed owners of Nigeria, who are already in a coma because of their absence from Aso Rock for just over three years.

    “We must say no, emphatic no at the polls to those only occupation and lifeline for survival is preying on the resources of Nigeria and masquerading as presidential candidate of the party that led this country to her knees and who failed in their blind ambition to rule our country for 60 years.

    “The DRM calls on all well-meaning Nigerians, who wish the country well, who know that the sacrifice of transformation being currently undertaken by the PMB government is the necessary foundation for Nigeria to break away from the miserable path of economic dependence on a monoculture economy to the blissful era of economic sufficiency and multiple income regime”, the group said.

  • We’re out to end PDP’s oppressive rule in Delta – Ogboru

    Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC)  in Delta state,  Great Ogboru has said that the APC was ready to put an end to what he described as 19 years of oppressive governance by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state with a clear victory that will return power to the people.
    Ogboru who spoke with reporters at the APC national secretariat in Abuja is confident that ongoing reconciliation efforts within the party will position it as a winning party on the state.
    “I have heard people saying Delta State is a PDP State, that is highly untrue because majority and a very significant number of our people are not PDP complaint. Most of the people in Delta State, the electorate have been oppressed by the PDP government for the past sixteen years, maybe for the past nineteen years.
    “But as you all know, the PDP has been able to sustain itself in many parts of our country, Delta State inclusive by means other than true or proper votes of the electorate. That is history now because times have changed, circumstances have changed, power has changed, the leadership of our country has changed and the thinking of our people across the country generally has also changed.
    “So, I believe that those limiting factors that militated against us in the past are not quite there anymore to make it impossible for us to achieve what we need to do which is to make sure the votes of Delta people will count, translate those votes into victory and to put the government in place for Delta people which is government for the people, by the people and for the people. That is why I am a candidate.
    “The crises are in two folds. One was the crisis that started during congresses, and those skirmishes that followed the primaries. We have done a lot as a party in the State to reconcile factions and aggrieved persons and the National leaders have sent a reconciliation committee.
    “At the governmental level, I know that the Vice President called aggrieved members and some warring factions to come and sit on the table of brotherhood to find a way forward. Largely put, I think progress is being made. A few grievances are still lying unresolved,  but now the party has put better input and resources in place  to put its house in order as much as it can to make sure that Delta State APC emerges victorious in the next election.”

  • Oyegun interfering unduly in congresses, says Great Ogboru

    A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Delta state, Great Ogboru has accused the National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie Oyegun of unduly interfering in the congresses of the party in the state against the provisions of the party.
    Ogboru who accompanied the Chairman of the Delta state Congress Committee t9 present its report to the National Working Committee said the Chairman was unduly interfering in the congresses, pointing out that the actions of the chairman run contrary to the party constitution and the guidelines for the congress.
    He said “I felt last week that the national chairman of the party interfered unduly, unjustly and unconstitutionally in the conduct of the congress in Delta state but I am not so sure if this is the appropriate place to say it.
    “It is sufficient to say that there was undue interference in the process which we felt that the chairman has no authority to do and which we told him to his face that what he did was not only unconstitutional but a slap on democracy.”
    The Chairman Ward and LGA Congress for Delta state, Alhaji Dododo told newsmen that the congresses conducted and supervised by him were peaceful and carried out in line with the party guidelines.
    He said “Last week, we submitted the report of the ward congress conducted in Delta state and we are here today to submit the report of the Local Government Area congress. I had gathered all the  delegates and stakeholders in Asaba and after addressing them we had swung into action with the conduct of the election in the presence of the INEC representative.
    “There was no violence, rancour or intimidation during the congress. All the stakeholders are in the same page. There was only one single congress held in Delta state and it is the one I chaired. Senator Omo-Agege, Minister of State for Petroleum, Great Ogburu and all the state leadership of the party among other stakeholders are with me. We had lots of challenges but they are part of politics.”
    He claimed ignorance of a parallel congress in the state, saying he was sent to ensure unity of the party in the state and worked the relevant stakeholders to actualise the task given to him.
  • Appeal court upholds Okowa’s election

    Appeal court upholds Okowa’s election

    The Court of Appeal in Abuja has affirmed the election of Ifaeanyi Okowa of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as governor of Delta State.

    The court, in a unanimous judgment by a five-man panel led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji upheld the decision of the Delta State governorship election tribunal delivered on October 26 this year.

    The court dismissed the appeal filed by Great Ogboru of the Labour Party for lacking in merit.

    The court is currently delivering a single judgment in the three cross-appeals filed by Okowa, PDP and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against the tribunal’s judgment.

  • We established case of over voting in Delta – Ogboru

    The Labour Party gubernatorial candidate in Delta State, Chief Great Ogboru, on Wednesday closed his case at the state election petitions tribunal sitting in Asaba.

    He said his petition had established incidence of over voting at the April 11 governorship election.

    The petitioner’s counsel, Mr. Dele Adesina (SAN), noted that after calling 16 witnesses they are very sure that justice will be done in this case.

    Dele Adesina said: “We are very confident that justice will be done on this matter because we believe we have put our facts across to the tribunal. Our case we very simple, the petitioner case is that there was over voting in the governorship election of April 11, 2015 in Delta State.

    “There were also cases of non compliance with principle of the electoral act, the manual and approved guidelines and this none compliance substantially affected the result of the election.

    “We have pushed in the voters’ register and the list of total number of accredited voters in Delta State. We have also put in the result of that election which in any event has been admitted by the respondents. So the task is very simple, you compare the result received and the numbers of accredited voters.

    “It has been established that there was a case of over voting. In other words, people voted without due accreditation and the law says, such polling units where such irregularities occurred, the result of the election should be nullified.”

  • Crisis in UPU as faction picks Ogboru as sole candidate

    Crisis in UPU as faction picks Ogboru as sole candidate

    •‘Plot to adopt Jonathan’ stirs row

    The Urhobo umbrella body in Delta State, the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU), has adopted Labour Party (LP) govenorship candidate Chief Great Ogboru for the February 28 election.

    The endorsement, according to UPU’s President General Joe Omene, followed series of consultations with the 24 kingdoms’ leaders of Urhobo nation, their womenfolk (Eghweya), the traditional rulers, the leaders and elders and the youth wing.

    Omene said of the 14 members of the executive, who voted at the meeting, 10 supported Ogboru and four voted for All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Chief O’tega Emerhor.

    But another faction, led by First Vice President-General Chief Tuesday Onoge, faulted the decision.

    The Onoge-led faction noted that the decision of the Omene-led faction negated the controversial Uvwiamughe Declaration, a resolution of the Urhobo Assembly, which sought the election of an Urhobo politician as governor.

    The declaration, which was made last February, stated that the Urhobo would vote en bloc for either the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or the All Progressives Congress (APC), depending on which of them gave its governorship ticket to an Urhobo candidate.

    The disagreement among UPU’s leaders reached a crescendo on Sunday evening when the Onoge-led faction refused to follow Omene’s declaration of Ogboru.

    A member of the Onoge faction, who spoke in confidence, said the Omene group had been planning to force the UPU to adopt President Goodluck Jonathan, although the PDP did not give its ticket to Urhobo’s adopted candidate.

    He also alleged that Omene flouted the declaration by placing Ogboru, whose party was never part of the declaration, against the choice of the APC candidate.

    Sunday’s closed-door meeting at Omene’s Mosogar home was deadlocked. Onoge’s faction walked out.

    A few minutes later, Omene announced that those who stayed back with him had chosen Ogboru.

    But the Onoge faction accused him of imposing his will on the Urhobo, adding that he had been removed as UPU’s president-general.

    Onoge was appointed by members of his faction as the acting UPU’s president-general.

    A statement by Onoge in Warri, which was read yesterday by his faction’s Assistant Publicity Secretary, Mumakai Unagha, reads: “…Chief Omene seems determined to make a mockery of the Urhobo by dumping the sacred and collective will of the people as expressed in the Uvwiamuge Declaration.

    “In spite of the directives by the forum of Ivies (kings) and Urhobo clergy to the contrary, he is determined to coerce and rush the Urhobo into a fatal decision to support the PDP/Jonathan, Labour/Ogboru tickets, which are alien to the Uvwiamuge Declaration, when PDP failed to give its governorship ticket to an Urhobo and LP is not a national party.”

    The statement also accused Omene’s camp of endangering Urhobo’s collective interest in the rush to push Urhobo endorsement of the PDP/Jonathan ticket before the outcome of the presidential election against the advice and position of well-meaning Urhobo.

    It added: “Not knowing which party will win the presidential election, the imminent danger is that in the event of a miscalculation, the Urhobo will be in the opposition and elongated suffering.

    “UPU will stand firm and uphold the honour and integrity of Urhobo people by not abandoning the Uvwiamuge Declaration and to accord its beneficiaries full recognition.

    “Accordingly, the qualifying ticket of APC/Gen. Muhammadu Buhari/Emerhor is hereby endorsed by the UPU.”

  • ‘Confab without referendum is meaningless’

    ‘Confab without referendum is meaningless’

    Chief Great Ogboru was the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) governorship candidate in Delta State in 2011. He spoke with reporters in Akure, the capital of Ondo State, on the proposed national conference and the tasks before the delegates. LEKE AKEREDOLU was there.

    The Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), is no longer active. Are you planning to defect to another political party?

    Discussions, consultations and talks towards merging are on for now. What I have always told the press is that we don’t join political parties; we are a political party, the Democratic People’s Party. And, if we are going to do anything, it will be done as a party. So, if as we expect in the no distant future, our party will take a decision, it will be to merge with some other political parties. Certainly, not defection not as you put it. Not that I as a person will defect to another party. That will never happen.

    But your younger brother, Julius, defected to the Peoples Democratic Party last year. Is this not a setback for you?

    The issue of Julius, my brother, is not an issue at all. It has been given attention in the press, but it is really no issue because, from our place, we have leaders and we have followers. We have families and we have friends and kinsmen. I am not sure that the decision he took is popular, not in the immediate community and not in the wider community. So, to that extent, his moving to the PDP is not a big blow at all. His joining the PDP is a question of choice. Having said that, I will conclude that it was a very unpopular decisionwhen it was taken, how it was taken and the activities he continues to propagate.

    Are you in Akure to hold talks with the governor of Ondo State on the possibility of joining the Labour Party?

    We are looking at optional alternatives where the interest of people of Delta State in the DPP will be best protected. Yes, we are discussing with the Labour Party. It is a very good option and we are looking at it very closely.

    What is your position on the proposed national conference?

    It depends on those who are pro or against the conference. Those who are against it believe that nothing good will come out of it and it will end up like a talk shop. My own view on that issue is that, nevertheless, we have to talk. I am not sure that the mood of the country today would permit a talk shop for the sake of it. I want to believe that, whatever agenda setting will be put in place, restricting the parameters of the conference may not necessarily hold water because from the agitations, so far, from the ethnic nationalities, some opinion leaders, the tendency is that people want to get to the roots of the problems that bedevil this country from the time of the amalgamation till today and they believe that we have to do it in such a way that it ends up on the table of the people of this country. It must go beyond what we have today as a national assembly. It must go for a referendum and let the people decide their fate once and for all. And, if you want to look at it, why are we talking in the first place? If we are satisfied with what we have today, there is no need for the conference. If there is a conference in the first place, knowing that we have a National Assembly in place, it shows that something is lacking, which is beyond the capacity and capability of the National Assembly. If that is the case, it goes to the root cause of our ethnic nationalities, who we are, where we are and how we got to where we are today, which is to say that such a conference, whatever the outcome, cannot be restricted again to that National Assembly, which by the convocation of this conference, have been proven to be unable to handle the issues. Therefore, the people must decide through referendum.

    You are an Uhrobo leader. Are you working with others to present a common agenda at the conference?

    If you say I am an Uhrobo leader, that will be restricting my person to an ethnic nationality. I do not speak for an ethnic nationality. I speak about the Nigerian state as we have met it or as we inherited it and we are looking for a solution for the so-called nationality question. And I think that is what the national conference is all about. The nationality issue, how do we address it?

    Do you subscribe to the idea that there must be no-go areas at the conference?

    There should be nothing like no-go areas. No-go areas presuppose that there should be no conference at all. If there is a conference, the outcome cannot be determined. I want to believe that those fears being nursed by some Nigerians are uncalled for. The fear of no-go area is to imagine that there are some persons coming to the table of brotherhood to ask for the country to be disintegrated. That is not going to happen. I want to believe that 99 per cent of this country believes so much in this country. They have lived together for the past 100 years under one nation called Nigeria. Therefore, they have acquired mutual understanding, mutual benefits, mutual tolerance and they have lived together for over 100 years. So, the basis for discussing our unity, which was absent in 1914, is actually there today because we have mutual understanding. We are interdependent. So, what is going to affect the Northern part of the country is mostly to affect the Southern part of this country. To that extent, we have to look for a solution that will make us unite. The philosophical underpinning for that kind of union has to be defined from the conference. What are those areas we have found in the past that make it impossible for our union to work effectively, to have that cohesion, to make us have strong and a virile nation? What are those things lacking? I believe that these are things that should be discussed at the conference. It is also possible that we have fears that are misplaced. In that type of conference where all issues are inclusive, no restrictions. Everybody can come there and say whatever they want to say. At the end of the day, Nigeria will better off for it.

    I will ask all of you here, you are all educated people, you come from different parts of this country, if I were to ask you today, how did your ethnic nationality come into Nigeria? With all your education and exposure, you will be looking at me. All you can say is that Lord Lugard amalgamated us in 1914. Where are the amalgamation documents? What are the conditions for that amalgamation? What are the limits of that amalgamation? We cannot be living under a treaty or a union that is not defined. Those are the things we have to discuss. Forget about the fears of disintegration. That is not going to happen. But, we have to build a lasting legacy for generations to come. I am very sure the President of our country doesn’t have a copy of the treaty and we call ourselves a nation. There is no document that has replaced that Lugardian treaty that is not right. And then, the constitution that you have in place talks about the Nigerian people and they did not participate in giving our nation a constitution. It was given to us by the military. These are the issues that the conference must talk about. We as educated Nigerians, with our experiences, now after 100 years of living as one nation, it does not matter the imperfection of that existence.

    The fact that we are realize that now we are mutually vulnerable and interdependent means we are ready to look at the hundred years that we have lived together and the shortcomings to have a direction for the future, a working arrangement for the future, an arrangement that can lead to a better Nigeria, that is what this conference should be about. Where there is peace, there will be prosperity, there will be security of lives and I am very sure that we will be having a better environment, a more prosperous nation, a healthier nation and a better country. That is what the conference should be about, nothing short.

     

     

    are thing that should be in place, if you can make a tribunal a fact finding tribunal, you did not even need 90 or 70 days to understand the truth.

    Do you have confidence in Jega in conducting a free and fair election?

    Nobody is perfect, we all learn from our mistakes. We will see what he will do in Ekiti and Osun States and then we take a final swipe at him. But if he fails in the two places, we will not allow that he should conduct an election in 2015 and we must stop him because that will be one mistake too many. We are excusing him for Anambra, we are excusing him for the senatorial election that was conducted in Delta State but to have one more excuse for him means we he should pack and go.