Calls For Keyamo, Ogboru Expulsion As Delta APC Boils Over Election Loss

The All Progressives Congress, APC in Delta State has been thrown into deeper crisis with some party operatives calling for sanctions against Festus Keyamo, Great Ogboru and their allies after the party failed to make a headway in the Isoko South State Constituency by-election at the weekend.

APC chat rooms were at the weekend seething with rage at what was alleged as the internal sabotage that led to the party’s defeat in the constituency of the state chairman, Prophet Jones Erue.

The APC candidate, a former board member of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Dr Ogaga Ifowodo narrowly came second with 1,301 votes ahead of the Social Democratic Party, SDP candidate, Michael Emumena who polled 1,291.

The PDP candidate, Ovuaokpoye Evive had polled 6,957 votes to win outright in the election that was held in the backyard of the state chairman, Prophet Jones Erue.

 GreenWhiteGreen GWG reports that the by-election was seen as a validity test for the enduring chairman of the opposition party, Erue.

Erue and the APC campaign were helped by the state party leader, Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege who came twice during the last days of the campaign to mobilise party supporters ahead of the election.

However, it was gathered that a different tendency within the APC with a determination to rubbish Erue sponsored Emumena who had contested the APC primaries with Dr. Ifowodo.

After failing to pick the APC ticket, Emumena according to sources, with the encouragement of some party leaders defected to the SDP on whose platform he contested the election last weekend.

Though there is no evidence of active support from Ogboru, Keyamo or their associates, party operatives in Delta in between cheeks say that the SDP candidate was actively backed by the APC tendency that is in dispute with the Omo-Agege/Erue mainstream of the party.

There are also allegations that the Ogboru group was jubilant at the news of the fall of the APC candidate.

As the election results distilled over the weekend, APC operatives were boiling with rage over what they alleged as internal sabotage with the claim that the party shot itself in the foot entering into the election a divided house.

Besides Keyamo and Ogboru, others being mentioned as not having actively backed the APC candidate or perhaps worked against the APC were foremost politician, Victor Ochei, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh and an Isoko stalwart of the party and business tycoon,  Joel Onowakpo (J.O.T).

JOT and Erue, GreenWhiteGreen GWG gathered, are from the same Emede ward and were engaged in a supremacy battle going into the by-election.

Asked why party leaders including the minister and the party’s immediate past governorship candidate would want to work against Erue or the party in the Isoko by-election, one senior party operative said it was all aimed at rubbishing Erue who has stood with Omo-Agege in the internal politics within the APC.

There were also suggestions that it may have been directed towards forcing Erue to resign ahead of the state congress.

Erue who has played a leading role in the opposition to the PDP in the last 10 years has not given any intention towards seeking another term in office, but a source said that the rivals in the Ogboru camp were determined to reduce him to insignificance whether he is contesting or not.

While some party activists were calling for the expulsion of Keyamo, Ogboru, Ojougboh and others in the rival camp, some other party activists were also calling for unity and healing.

Some called on the national party to address the issues that have promoted the strife in Delta APC towards ensuring that the party goes as a united body into the 2023 round of elections.

Another source also affirmed that the party candidate, Dr. Ofowodo who spent two years as NDDC state commissioner may also not have endeared himself to the constituents having not provided enough stomach infrastructure while he was in the position.

Meanwhile, in the midst of the bedlam within the Delta APC, Keyamo, Ogboru and their associates have kept mum.

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