Why PDP won Delta guber poll –Okubor, Chief Strategist, Delta State Government

By Sunday Ani

Dr. Festus Okubor, Chief Strategist, Delta State Government on Tuesday spoke extensively on various issues including why the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) clearly won the recent governorship election in the oil-rich state. He spoke on the Arise Television Morning Show.

What is your take on the petition against the election of the Delta State governor-elect, Oborevwori in the last general election?

What I expect is that the case filed by the APC will be thrown out, the case makes no sense; it is a waste of everybody’s time. But this is a democratic practice and they have the right to go to court. But as far as the facts of the elections go, they don’t have any case whatsoever. At elections, everyone is in his polling unit, you sit in your polling unit and you tell me that there was over voting in my polling unit, but you were not there. I was at the polling unit and I am telling you that there was no such thing. You must believe me; I don’t want to go into this issue because it is subjudice, it is in court, but going through the papers, the APC has no case and the lawyers will show it in the court. Our lawyers are ready.

You know how they say it, a clear conscience fears no accusation. We are not worried in the least. We are preparing for life after the tribunal in victory.

From the presidential elections, if you looked at the votes and the pattern on how the PDP got her votes and the votes of the APC and where and how they got their votes, you will agree that the gubernatorial election result was the true reflection of the tendencies in the state.

So, we will keep being with them in the courts until the matter is resolved.

But it would have been better for the political evolution of our state as we called upon them immediately after the election for them to have extended a hand of fellowship to the PDP gubernatorial candidate. It would have been nice but since they didn’t take that opportunity and have taken the path of litigation, we will meet in court.

We have gone through their papers, I do not see anything in them. Though we don’t take any case lightly, we will meet them in court. But my earnest expectation is that the matter as filed by the APC gubernatorial candidate will be thrown out for want of merit.

What effort have you made to reach out to them?

Well, the best thing that would have happened would have been that the APC being the main opposition in the state among the other political parties was to extend the hand of fellowship immediately after the election. I do know that several calls were made, people have talked to them, our gubernatorial candidate and governor-elect now, has made efforts to reach them at various levels. Efforts have been made to reach them, gentlemen, why can’t you change the story line in Delta. Must we go to courts every time and lots of resources being expended in hiring lawyers to handle your litigations. Why can’t you move on and let everybody know that we are one people.

All of them are children from PDP, PDP is our mother, we know ourselves, we do not need to quarrel…our people tell you that the face you know is not one you need to scratch and wound because you will always see that face. At this point, they are in court and all the issues that they have raised, to me, they make no legal, political or social sense. That matter as filed will be thrown out of the court. I have no doubt about that. But the matter is subjudice.

As a layman, you cannot build something on nothing, they have no case.

What clarifications would you like to make on the allegation of rigging from your party, PDP?

In the PDP we do not rig, we work hard. Your teams are here. We go from unit to unit, from ward to ward. We went to local governments, we campaigned everywhere, we dealt with the issues.

You heard that they were chased out of government in the assumption that being in government is a right. In a state of over four million people, you can’t be in government every time. If you are, glory be to God. But once in a while, opportunities are given to other people and that’s what inclusiveness is all about and then because someone is included and you are not included…that’s the problem with Nigeria. Husbands and wives, homes are breaking up at the slightest inconvenience, people are jumping ship, that’s not the way to live.

As a party, we believe in hard work and we kept saying throughout the campaigns that the APC as a party were not prepared for election. Every time they opened their mouth, it was a lie. But the people are the judge and I keep saying that if you look at the outcome of the presidential election and see the vote distribution between PDP and APC, you will see a near replication of it at the gubernatorial election.

So, the gubernatorial election outcome was a true reflection of what is or what was on ground, electorally speaking. If you also look at the gubernatorial election, the only  place where you had violence in Delta were in Orogun in Ughelli and in Ethiope West.

So, they may have expertise in rigging, but how do you rig when the people do not desire to make you the victor in that election and that’s the only explanation that the PDP beat them very clearly at the federal elections and beat them very clearly at the state elections.

Out of the 12 federal seats that were up, PDP took seven and the rest were shared by all the other parties. Is that not a reflection of what happened in the gubernatorial election? I can’t understand why they cannot let these issues go and stretch out hands and be sportsmen.

What is very clear is that the PDP for reasons more than one, got the support of the people and the confidence of the electorate in Delta and then won the election.