It was Kahlil Gibran who explained that “… your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul. If either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas. For reason, ruling alone is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction”. Reason says that if the Delta State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) remains divided against itself, it will not stand; passion says to burn it all down, as long as the enemy is inside.
It was recently reported that the APC of Delta State are currently undergoing something of a last supper before everything blows up to hell. A kind of civil war was reported to have taken place (and is still allegedly going on in the backcloth) between two factions of the party. This war has been laid on the feet of the two proponents of the factions, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege and Chief Great Ovedje Ogboru.
The start of their animosity is not exactly clear. However, it is understood that there was always a spark there, and that spark became a full-blown forest fire when a disagreement hatched between Prophet Jones Erue (the state chairman of the party), Senator Omo-Agege, and Chief Ogboru. The disagreement was allegedly centred on whether or not Erue should hold the party chairmanship position and also be the chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
There are layers and layers more to their tiff, including the fact that Senator Omo-Agege deliberately sabotaged Ogboru’s ambition to be state governor in the 2019 elections.
Interestingly, these two have worked beautifully together before. It is always pointed out within the party that it was the strong presence of Ogboru in Delta Central, added to the fierce and headstrong contribution of Senator Omo-Agege that helped the duo to push out Olorogun Otega Emerhor, the former leader of APC in Delta State, and install Prophet Erue.
Alas, their issues have led to the suspension, dismissal and flat firing of notable members of the party. The latest of this particular unintended consequence is the suspension of eight officials of the party including that of the deputy chairman of the party, Elvis Ayomanor; the Southern Senatorial chairman, Tosan Awani; and the state woman leader, Mrs. Janet Oyubu.
Reason continues to say break the fight; passion says burn everything; nobody else is forthcoming to settle them.
