The gubernatorial ambition of Senator James Manager in Delta South Senatorial district has divided Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders in the state.
Senator James Manager, representing Delta South in the Senate, Dr. Bradus Angozi, a former commissioner for agriculture and Barr. Kingsley Otuaro, the deputy governor of Delta State, are the three Ijaws vying for the gubernatorial seat in 2023.
Ijaws in Delta State have been working round the clock to prune down the list of aspirants contesting the 2023 governorship election in order to increase their chances of winning the seat.
Manager was said to have been picked ahead of the other two aspirants to slot it out with other PDP aspirants from other senatorial districts, with a view to emerging as the sole candidate of the party for the Delta 2023 governorship election.
The emergence of Manager, politically referred to as Egbage, was said to have been preceded by several rigorous and painstaking processes, which began with the declaration of the ‘Ijaw Agenda’ mantra.
But Prof Benjamin Okaba, National President Ijaw National Congress (INC), the apex Ijaw sociocultural group, faulted the process, saying that the organization has not chosen a consensus Ijaw governorship aspirant as it is being peddled.
He urged the general public to disregard the rumour and that if a consensus aspirant is decided, it would be the duties and responsibilities of the Ijaw apex organization to announce to the public.
He noted that there is a committee in place in respect of working to arrive at a consensus Ijaw governorship candidate, saying that it is a difficult task as all the aspirants are eminently over qualified with high antecedents.
Okaba said although, leaders were working round the clock to see how the Ijaw aspirants could come up with a single governorship aspirant to go for the state PDP governorship primaries soon..
The dilemma led to several interventions and joint sessions with the leaderships of INC and the Ijaw Youth Council, (IYC) of Delta extraction, critical stakeholders, the Broderick Bozimo-led Committee, the three aspirants and an Evaluation Committee headed by former Vice Chancellor of DELSU, Prof. Victor Peretomenele, saddled with the responsibility of interfacing with the three aspirants, in a bid to pruning down the number to a single aspirant to increase the chances of Ijaws winning the ticket.
A reliable source who was privy to the processes said; “The committee interfaced with the aspirants individually and collectively. The three aspirants after several hours of interfacing and discussions among themselves, could not agree on a sole candidate, but declared their intention to abide by the report/decision of the evaluation committee.
“After over 48 hours of critical assessment of the content, capacity, antecedents, political capital and other variables amassed by the aspirants over the years, the committee, after a contentious debate among members at Alaowei Bozimo’s residence, picked Senator James Manager as the preferred candidate.”
Our source also noted that the report on the decision of Manager as a preferred candidate has not been forwarded to the leadership of Ijaw Nation for further action, which the source said would be done soon.
When contacted on if Ijaws had picked a preferred candidate, Okaba said there was a committee responsible for that and its decision had not reached him.
The fight for an Ijaw son/daughter to succeed Governor lfeanyi Okowa was heightened on May 22, 2021, when a committee led by Alaowei Broderick Bozimo convened the ‘Delta Ijaw 2023 For Governor Consultative Meeting’ in Warri.
The former minister of police affairs led other Ijaw leaders to declare their commitment to take over power from the incumbent administration in 2023.
Stressing that unity was all his people needed to emerge victorious, Broderick said, “Delta belongs to all of us, and the Ijaws have the right to become governor. This is our time, let’s unite ahead to form a formidable team to battle for the seat of government.”
The elder statesman’s thoughts were reiterated by Okaba, who said his people would no longer play the role of supporting other ethnic groups.
Okaba particularly called on other sister tribes to support the Ijaws for the 2023 governorship, describing 2023 as a divine mandate.
“We the Ijaws of Delta can no longer be a supporters’ club. This time around, it is the turn of Urhobos, Isokos, Ndokwa, Itsekiris, Anioma, Ika nations to support the Ijaws course for.” he said.
