THE year 2015 may still be light years away, but subterranean moves to succeed incumbent Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State and the long clamour by the Anioma people of the North Senatorial district for power shift, seem to have gathered momentum, even before the echoes of last year's election fade away.To the people of Aniomaland with nine solid local councils out of 25 in the state, it's been a long wait, almost 21 years after the creation of Delta from the former Bendel State, in July 1991.For the sake of equity, the zone should be next in line to produce the governor as both Central and South Senatorial districts have had their turns in the persons of Chief Felix Ibru and James Ibori from Central and Uduaghan from South.Prof. Sylvester Monye, Special Adviser to the President on Monitoring and Evaluation and former Managing Director of the United Bank of Africa (UBA), Mr. Tony Elumelu are said to be lurking in the shadow.At present, the youthful Speaker of the House of Assembly, chief Victor Ochei, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, former member of the House of Representatives, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, Chief Godswill Obielum and a host others from Delta North are said to be warming up for the race.Uduaghan had tacitly threw his weight behind the Anioma governorship project recently, when he advised them last October at rustic Onicha-Ugbo, Aniocha North Council, that they should be united to have a formidable strength to realise their political, cultural and economic aspirations.As political scientists will say, nobody or group gives up power without a bruising fight, Old Delta Province Stakeholders Forum (ODPSF) which comprises of the Urhobo, Ijaw and Itsekiri ethnic nationalities are fully up in arms against any move to shift power.That sermon by Uduaghan on unity did not go down well with ODPSF, who fired the first shot in anger. The trio of Mr. Fegor Omokome, Peterson Umuajefe and Comrade Preye Brisibe had let it be known that the governor has no right or power to decree where the next chief executive would come from, as there was no arrangement or understanding for the next governor to come from Anioma.They said that the state was not the governor's personal estate and so, whatever he said at Onicha Ugbo was his personal opinion and cannot be imposed on Deltans.They said: 'We want to believe he did not mean what was credited to him. But if he actually wants it to be so, then he should be prepared for war. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which we all belong to, has no such understanding among the various constituencies. If PDP dares the might of the people, what happened in the last election in the state would be a dress rehearsal for more heart breaks.'Omokome, Umuajefe and Preye warned that if the party makes the mistake of zoning the 2015 gubernatorial candidate to Delta North, the resulting war would be too much for the sycophants to handle. It is not the thinking of PDP in Delta State, the statement said.According to the group, Anioma should not start talking of producing the governor in 2015 because the old Delta Province has not recovered from the injustice of locating two state capitals in the old Benin Province, one in Benin City and the other in Asaba, adding that if the people of the defunct Delta Province which fought for the creation of Delta State where cruelly denied the privilege of hosting the state capital, no power on earth can compel them to concede the governorship position to Delta North.However, undeterred, another group, the Anioma Political Forum (APF) has vowed to pursue the aspiration to occupy Government House Asaba in 2015 with all legitimate and civil weapons, no matter whose ox is gored.In a direct allusion to ODPSF, the Secretary, Mr. Alex Onwuadiamu of APF insisted that a call for political war cannot and will never deter the Anioma People from its legitimate aspiration for the governorship of the state, beating its chest that APF wishes to state unequivocally, that it will support with all its might an aspirant of Anioma extraction to vie for the governorship on the platform of PDP come 2015.While warning the stakeholders and all political organisations to eschew rancour in their quest for relevance and attention in the political sphere, Onwuadiamu remarked that the Anioma People recognise Uduaghan as the leader of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) in the state and by implication the political leader of Delta State.The scribe argued that by so being, the governor has the inalienable right to offer political direction at all levels of our politics, saying, all over Nigeria, no ethnic nationality has ever been denied governorship on grounds of it hosting the state capital.He said: 'Whilst we lay claim to the governorship of Delta State come 2015, we recognise the fact that Delta State, being a multi ethnic society, we shall at the appropriate time seek the understanding of other ethnic nationalities in pursuance of our quest for the governorship of the state.'Incumbent Chairman of the party, chief Onyeluka Nwaoboshi may have also retained his seat, but not before a spat between some top members of the party, in the person of chief Isaac Anwuzia and chief Solomon Edoja, over his demand that Delta North should relinquish the state chairmanship if it is desirous of producing governor in 2015.Anwuzia, a former vice chairman of the PDP in the state said that the tradition in the state since the inception of the party is that the senatorial district that produces the chairman normally has it for eight years.He recalled that in 1999, when chief James Ibori emerged as governor, chief James Manager (now a Senator) was the chairman of the PDP, a position he had to relinquish to Captain Pius Sinebe, both from the South Senatorial district when he (Manager) was appointed commissioner for works.Anwuzia said: 'Captain Sinebe handed over again to chief Emmanuel Ogidi, also from Delta South as chairman of our great party, to complete the eight year tenure for Delta South in respect of the chairmanship slot. Chief Ogidi held the position until the emergence of Uduaghan as governor in 2007.'He added that Nwaoboshi, from Delta North Senatorial District took over from chief Ogidi, who is from Delta South as chairman of the party in 2008 after the zone occupied the office for eight years.Notwithstanding the fact that the whistle for the competition to Government House, Asaba has not yet sounded, there is no denying the fact that the plot for an emerging rat race is fully on.
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