Delta 2023: How Supreme Court Victory For Obroevwori Will Hit Delta Forever

Undoubtedly no political case has held the imagination of political actors in Delta State since the remarkable ex-convict saga involving former Governor James Ibori as the ensuing forgery case between Speaker Sheriff Oborevwori and Mr David Edevbie at the Supreme Court.

At the centre of the case is the allegation that Oborevwori who won the governorship primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP was not qualified to have contested having allegedly forged documents including school results and presented different names.

GWG.NG reports that Edevbie who was a contemporary of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s in the Ibori cabinet, and subsequently served the outgoing governor as chief of staff did not get the imprimatur of the immediate past boss for the succession. However, he got the nod of their former common political godfather, Ibori. He also annoyingly in the perception of the Okowa camp, got the endorsement of the Urhobo Progress Union, UPU, the apex cultural umbrella for the Urhobo nation.

It was an endorsement that was wildly celebrated and which in the opinion of some got the governor angry over the determination of the group to foist a successor on him.

There are various theories on how Speaker Oborevwori got Okowa to endorse him, but the governor has not opened up on the particular reason. However, many in the state who allege that his choice is intellectually deficient were unable to convince the rather urbane and academically sound Okowa on why he should choose someone in his class or near his class as a successor.

Willy-nilly, with the party establishment behind him, Oborevwori won the primaries pushing Edevbie to second and the politically sagacious James Manager to third.

Whatever, Edevbie immediately went to court and an Abuja Federal High Court was quick to disqualify Oborevwori. That judgment was overturned by the Court of Appeal putting suspense in the state ahead of the final decision by the Supreme Court this Friday.

GWG.NG reports that the outcome of the case would be decisive for the political current in the state.

Should the learned jurists of the country’s apex court return Oborevwori as the PDP’s candidate, the implications would impact upon the PDP as no other political case since the return of democratic rule.

1. Edevbie will remain in the PDP while his political group known as the Delta Untied Group, DUG, will dig it out in the trenches as active saboteurs of Oborevwori in the governorship election.
2. Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege will have a bounce effect especially in Delta Central. A source says that 75% of the voters in Delta Central aligned to Edevbie would cast their votes for Omo-Agege in the governorship.

• Okowa and Oborevwori in the event of a victory in the Supreme Court on Friday will have to cultivate more Delta Central and Delta North leaders for backing and people like Senator James Manager will be key.

Senator Manager who did not get Ibori’s support in the PDP primaries and also did not get Okowa’s support would be key in navigating the interest of the Ijaw in Delta.

GWG.NG reports that a victory for Oborevwori in the Supreme Court could turn into a pyrrhic win if he does not move fast to build alliances in Delta North and South as his options in the Central would be considerably weighed down by the already formed image put out about him.

COMING NEXT: How Supreme Court Victory For Edevbie Could Damage Omo-Agege, Secretly Help Okowa  

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