April 11 polls split Urhobo people

Tension is heightening in Urhobo land in Delta State as the April 11 governorship and House of Assembly elections draw close.

On Monday, a group of Urhobo professors and a former member of the House of Representatives, Solomon Edoja, called on the people to support the candidature of the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate, Chief O’Tega Emerhor, following the victory of the APC in the last presidential and National Assembly elections.

But another group countered the move by urging the Urhobo people to stick with the position of the majority faction of the Urhobo Progress Union to back the candidacy of Chief Great Ogboru of the Labour Party.

Chief Daniel Iriferi, representing the pro-Ogbru group, told journalists in Warri on Monday, that the eleventh hour move to get the people of Urhobo to back the APC candidate would not work.

He said the Urhobo would stand by the Uvwiamuge Declaration, which made Ogboru the consensus candidate of the Urhobo for the governorship election.

Iriferi said the Urhobo people’s stand would not shift because their support for Ogboru was not based on party affiliation but on his personal qualities.

Ogboru and Emerhor however have to contend with the candidate of the PDP, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, whose party has more spread in the state being the party of the state government. Okowa, a current senator, hails from Delta North Senatorial zone.

Meanwhile, the APC has said that nothing will make its candidate to step down for Ogboru. The state Women Leader of the APC, Dr. Janet Oyubu, said nothing could intimidate Emerhor to step down for Ogboru.

Oyubu said the APC had all it takes to win the election and provide good governance for Delta State and therefore would not be intimidated by anybody.

Oyubu told newsmen in Warri on Monday that it was callous to suggest that Emerhor would step down for Ogboru.

She said with Emerhor, Delta State was already on the move for positive change.

While pleading with the people of the state to repeat the same feat they achieved in the March 28 presidential election, Oyubu advised the electorate to be armed with their Permanent Voter Cards, explaining that it was the card that would enable them to vote for the candidate of their choice.

“The party is all out to vote for Emerhor this Saturday and we will resist any attempt to rig the election,” he said.

Copyright PUNCH.