Delta Council Polls: PDP Leaders Bicker Over Zoning

The local government council elections coming up in July has sparked disagreements among Peoples Democratic Party leaders in Delta State.

The development prompted recent protests staged by various groups over which clan is equitably qualified to produce the next chairman of the council.

In Ughelli North Constituency 1, Chief Moses Ogegere, chairman and Comrade Ubini Isaac, secretary, Agbarha PDP Elite Forum, (APEF), in an address to the Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, said their ward has not been treated fairly in terms of appointments despite its huge votes during elections. 

Lamenting that they have been least considered for appointments, they said “To balance the equation of power distribution sir, there is a need for Agbarha ward to produce the next council chairman.”

In Aniocha South local government area of the state, a group known as Equity Crusaders in Nsukwa Clan,  claims it is their own turn to produce the next chairmanship candidate.

The three clans that are in serious contestation over which clan is equitably qualified to produce the next Chairman are: Ogwashi Uku, Ubulu-Ukwu and Nsukwa.

They faulted the Delta State Commissioner for Education (Technical) and former member of the House of Representatives member for Aniocha/Oshimili federal constituency, Hon Joan Onyemaechi popularly known as Ada Anioma for trying to disrupt the zoning formula due to alleged greed and avarice.

The group alleged she lost her wards and units to opposition parties in the last governorship and State House of Assembly elections in the state.

But addressing newsmen, the commissioner, Onyemaechi, said, “I refuse to be blackmailed by those who see politics as their farmland. The tussle for power is normal, but when you do it in the wrong way, it becomes injurious to you. I perfectly understand what it means to have power and to be in power.

“Nobody can blackmail me because I am an appointee of the government and my brother at the same time is contesting for the office of chairman in our local government area. I am not the first person who had been favoured to be in government and at the same time having a relation who is also in government.

“My appointment is at the discretion of the Governor, while that of my brother is his right to contest and based on the zoning arrangement in my local government area, he deserves to do a second term as Chairman,” she said.