Omon-Julius Onabu in Asaba and Sylvester Idowu in Warri
The last may not have been seen of the legal tussle rocking the Delta State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), following Monday’s decision of the appellate court in Abuja, setting aside the July 7, 2022 judgment on who is the authentic and Iegal party’s governorship candidate for the 2023 election.
Olorogun David Edevbie, yesterday, declared his intention to proceed to the Supreme Court to challenge the August 29, 2022 verdict of the Federal Court of Appeal, Abuja upturning the removal of Sheriff Oborevwori as the Delta PDP governorship candidate in the 2023 election and declaring him as the legally qualified gubernatorial candidate of the PDP.
The Edevbie Campaign Organisation, at an expanded meeting yesterday, in Asaba, broke its silence on the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which reinstated Sheriff Oborevwori as the Delta State PDP governorship candidate for next year’s general election.
Director-General of the David Edevbie Governorship Campaign Organisation, Chief Clement Ofuani, appealed to Edevbie’s supporters across the state to remain calm and optimistic about victory as their principal heads for the Supreme Court.
The enlarged meeting of the organisation had various volunteer groups, including the Delta Unity Group and Edevbie Movement ‘23, which has various PDP stalwarts, and numerous David Edevbie supporters from the 25 local government areas of the state in attendance.
The organisation assured its supporters and all well-meaning people of Delta State that it was confident that justice would be served at the Supreme Court.
A former Commissioner for Urban Renewal, Karo Ilolo, who presided, said the meeting was to reassure Deltans that hope was not lost on their dream for modernised and more prosperous state under the leadership of David Edevbie.
“What the appellate court did was a miscarriage of justice, but we will recover our mandate at the Supreme Court,” Ilolo said.
Director-General of the Edevbie Campaign Organisation, Chief Clement Ofuani, appealed to Edevbie’s supporters across the state to remain calm and optimistic about victory, stressing that the organisation was already on its way to the Supreme Court.
“We received with shock the judgment of the Appellate Court, Abuja, upturning the judgement of the Federal High Court Abuja but we are not deterred to pursue the cause of integrity for our dear state.
“Olorogun David Edevbie’s competence and capacity is widely known by Deltans and they have been looking forward to the period for him to set the state on high developments grounds. It is not about him, it is about the good of the people and the movement is more than a revolution.”
Former Speaker of Delta State House of Assembly, Hon Peter Onwusanya, said the Appeal Court judgement has come only to spur Edevbie Delta Modernisation Movement to harder work, saying Edevbie’s supporters were unperturbed by whatever ill-treatment that a section of the party’s lol leadership might mete out to them as they remained dedicated members of the PDP.
Hon Godwin Tuoyo also said, “Our legal team would be directed to approach the Supreme Court against the judgment and we will surely pursue the matter to victory. We trust God and believe that victory will be ours eventually, for no matter how fast falsehood and injustice appear to travel, truth and justice will ultimately overtake both in the fullness of time.”
The decision of David Edevbie to challenge the legal position of the appellate court is coming on the heels of war of words between the camp of the 2023 governorship standard-bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Ovie Omo-Agege and his PDP counterpart, Hon Sheriff Oborevwori, with the state party’s leadership.
Shortly after the appeal court pronouncement on the PDP gubernatorial candidacy, the Omo-Agege governorship campaign organisation’s media unit headed by former President Goodluck Jonathan’s spokesman, Ima Niboro, described the outcome at the appellate court as a welcome development, hinting at the fact that the APC considered Oborevwori as an underdog in the fight for the Delta governorship seat in 2023.
Specifically, Niboro said, “The embattled Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Sheriff Oborevwori, is the weakest link in the 2023 governorship election in the state.”
He maintained that judgment was good news to Delta APC, because “Oborevwori is a weak and compromised candidate” who allegedly lacks the capacity and competence to hold the exalted position as Delta’s democratic Chief Executive Officer.
Reacting to Omo-Agege’s claims, Oborevwori, dismissed the APC standard bearer with a wave of the hand, saying no Deltan would take Omo-Agege serious about his assertion that he (Oborevwori) would be “the weakest link” in the gubernatorial battle in Delta State in 2023.
He said his claim was an obvious indication that he was nervous and overcome with fear at the prospect of facing a formidable opponent of Oborevwori’s political stature in the 2023 gubernatorial election in the state, hence the resort to face-saving campaign tactics.
Speaking through his press secretary, Dennis Otu, the PDP governorship candidate (Oborevwori) said, “Senator Ovie Omo-Agege’s latest rant is a clear indication that he is not only suffering from delusions of grandeur, but also a confirmation that his worst fear is coming to pass.
“It goes without saying that the restoration of Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori’s mandate by the Court of Appeal has sent shivers down the spine of the Orogun Senator. But to put up a front, failed former presidential spokesman, Ima Niboro, who now parades himself as Omo-Agege’s Director of Communication, issued a meaningless press statement in a futile taunt of the PDP candidate.”
