The dark days are over for the Delta State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). The party seems poised to challenge the ruling party in the state in the coming local government elections in 2015. Correspondent OKUNGBOWA AIWERIE reports.
The Delta State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) appears to be stabilising after a period of internal crisis which severely hampered the party’s growth in the state. The subsequent poor showing of the party at the 2011 gubernatorial elections has also been attributed to the crisis.
At the party’s congress which held in Asaba in 2010, Chief Adolor Okotie-Eboh, son of Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, Nigeria’s first Finance Minister in the First Republic, emerged chairman after the warring factions agreed to sheathe their swords and resolved to work in the interest of the party.
However, despite the relative peace which reigns in the party, there are still pockets of discontent as represented by the strident calls by such people as Dr Veronica Ogbuagu, Harvest Igben and Senator Adego Eferakeya for the removal of the newly elected state chairman.
The chairman has, however, dismissed such calls describing them as vain attempts to continue to cause disaffection within the party. He said the party has moved beyond the era of few people hijacking it for their selfish interest.
His words: “No, these are just three individuals in the party causing trouble because they have discovered that they cannot penetrate me and make me work against the goals of our party, which in my opinion is why they are bitter.
“They have not come out to say which rule I have broken, all they say is I am a former PDP man. Who is more PDP than a former commissioner under Chief James Ibori like Dr Ogbuagu or Senator Adego Eferakeya, a former member of PDP who represented Delta Central in the Senate? I never held any position even though I was a PDP member in the past. Omo-Agege used to be with us and was our principal and as our principal at that time we were loyal to his cause. He has gone back to PDP and we have moved on. We are rebuilding the party in order to make the sort of impact we want to make in 2015”.
Aside the minor irritations of these dissenting members within its fold, a more pressing challenge for the party, according to Okotie-Eboh, is the forthcoming local government elections in the state.
Although the Delta State House of Assembly recently passed the Delta State Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC) amendment bill, it is yet to screen nominees presented by Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan.
This crucial task of screening of nominees by the legislature lies at the heart of the petition by the opposition ACN.
The delay has opened the state government to attack by the opposition over its management of the process leading to the local council polls, thus setting the stage for an inevitable collision between the government and opposition parties.
Aside the lethargy displayed in the amendment of the DSIEC bill by the State Legislature, the opposition in the state is miffed at the composition of nominees to serve on the board of the state election commission.
Okotie-Eboh told The Nation that his party is opposed to the government’s move, stressing that some nominees presented to the Assembly by Governor Uduaghan were politicians.
His words, “Local council election is a state affair, but I do not know why the House of Assembly has not considered our petition about some nominees presented by Governor Uduaghan to the House. Some of them are politicians; they are card carrying members of the PDP. We are not comfortable with those names and I hope they look into it and make replacements. Until there is a constitutional amendment on administration of local council polls, I guess we are stuck with the shenanigans of state government”.
A copy of the petition made available to The Nation, signed by the party’s publicity secretary, Mr. Frank Egbomien said Uduaghan lacks the power to recommend persons to be screened by the legislature.
Part of the petition reads:“The Delta State ACN wishes to draw the attention of the PDP government to the most recent decision of the Edo State High Court, sitting in Ekpoma on 16th May, 2012, wherein, Hon. Justice Akomolafe Wilson declared, among other things: “By virtue of Section-7(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), the Governors lack the power to handpick or recommend persons not democratically elected, to be screened or ratified by the House of Assembly, for the purpose of appointing such persons as members of the Local Government transition committees.”
The party further alleges that the state government is plotting to install caretaker committee to run local councils. “Surprisingly, however, it has come to the knowledge of the Delta State ACN, that the PDP government of Delta State has perfected a plan to illegally constitute care-taker/transition committees to run the affairs of the Local Government Councils in the State,” it said.
It continued: “The Delta State ACN wishes to condemn, in very strong terms, the PDP government’s ill-advised intention, which is undemocratic, unconstitutional, and contravenes the extant provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and a subsisting court judgment on the matter. Section-7(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2010 (as amended), states clearly, that democratically elected structures must be ensured at the Local Government levels. This is the position of the law, which has been repeatedly upheld by the court.”
But the State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Chike Ogeah denied the allegations leveled against it by ACN, stressing that the government was desirous of organising a free and fair local council poll and would ensure the integrity of the board of electoral umpire.
He said: “The state government is not going to put PDP members into such a non partisan commission. The opposition should be patient until the list is made public and desist from working on hearsay. The state government fully realizes the importance of local government council polls and is determined to organize a free, fair and credible poll.”
Okotie-Eboh is confident about the chances of his party in the local council polls and ultimately the 2015 Delta State gubernatorial elections.
“I can tell you that the ruling party is in for a shocker, it is not proper to disclose our strategies on the pages of the newspaper. I can assure you that we are not sleeping we are working hard across the three senatorial districts with party faithful across the 25 local government areas and I hope we will make a good showing across the state in the local council polls and ultimately the gubernatorial election in 2015,” he declared.
