By Emma Amaize, Regional Editor, South-
South
Classified information
FORMER Minister of State for Education,
Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi, called Saturday
Vanguard period before the Akwa Ibom, Rivers
and Delta States Governorship Election Petition
Tribunals delivered their verdicts to relate
what he said what he would have loved not to
reveal. It was meant to be off record at the
time.
Gov. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa
He made the phone call when the Akwa Ibom
and Rivers Tribunals eventually nullified the
elections of Governors Udom Emmanuel (Akwa
Ibom) and Nyesom Wike (Rivers) almost in
sequence penultimate week and swore, “We
will not allow it in Delta because our candidate
(referring to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa)
unmistakably won the election.”
Five days to October 26 judgment of the Delta
State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal,
he invited Saturday Vanguard for an interview
at his country home at Oginibo in Ughelli
South Local Government Area to discuss his
unsettling concerns. Still, he kept meat of the
matter a top secret, chiefly saying in the chat,
published, last Saturday, that it would be
illegal for the tribunal to annul the election of
Okowa, as Deltans overwhelmingly voted for
him. It was no doubt an attempt to preempt
the tribunal from executing what he believed
was a hidden plan.
He claimed that anxiety had built up in the
state over alleged plan by the tribunal to
invalidate the election, and order a rerun,
adding that some people were already boasting
that it was a done deal. Gbagi urged the
tribunal to uphold justice.
The judgment came and went on Monday. The
three-man tribunal presided over by Justice
Nasiru Gunmi threw out the petitions by All
Progressives Congress, APC, governorship
candidate, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor and
Labour Party’s Chief Great Ogboru on grounds
that they woefully failed to prove that the
election of Okowa was not in substantial
compliance with the Electoral Act.
Unwary confirmation
Unwittingly, a chieftain of the All Progressives
Congress, APC, who was knowledgeable on the
affair confirmed to Saturday Vanguard 24
hours after the judgment that the clandestine
high-level plan was actually to sweep out PDP
in Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Delta states.
He said, “It was sealed and delivered until
Saturday, two days to the judgment when those
behind the scheme aborted it. It was easy in
Akwa Ibom and Rivers states because of certain
factors that worked in favour of the APC
candidates there, but in Delta state, we had a
different case because of our candidate.”
Emerhor
“The game plan was known only to selected
leaders in the state, two other South-South
states and Abuja because we did not want it to
leak. The problem that came up at the last
minute was if the tribunal cancelled the
election and ordered a rerun in Delta, who
would APC field for the election? It was not a
question of that Delta could not go; after all, it
was the same thing that happened in Akwa
Ibom and Rivers.
“When Wike tried to do something funny, the
tribunal was moved from Port Harcourt to
Abuja, this was done to tell him that he was
not in charge and cannot be in charge under
this dispensation. Our challenge really was our
candidate, O’tega Emerhor, whom many think
is not strong enough to dethrone Okowa.
“You see, there was no need to nullify the
election and also leave the room for PDP to
win again. We tinkered with the option of
getting a replacement from the Delta North
(Anioma), Okowa’s senatorial district, recall
that Emerhor is from Delta Central (Urhobo).
The APC leaders involved agreed to the
replacement option but there was a problem,”
he said.
Obstacle
According to him, “The INEC guidelines do not
allow substitution of governorship candidate in
a rerun. So if the tribunal ordered a rerun, it
would still amount to the same thing that we
were trying to avoid, that was how we had to
let it go.”
APC had no power to control judges –
Emerhor
Olorogun Emerhor, who was still waiting for
his lawyers to obtain a certified copy of the
tribunal judgment as of Wednesday. He
dismissed the theory when Saturday Vanguard
contacted him. He said, “People are just trying
to speculate, some people are throwing up the
theory, which they fabricated to gain
significance. I have not heard of such plan
before now, somebody is trying to be smart.”
“APC does not have the power to control
judges, if there are people who have the power
to influence judges, it is not APC, which is why
I told you that I am waiting for the copy of the
judgment to read it and know what the judges
even said,” Emerhor said.
The APC governorship candidate said from
what he heard, the tribunal said it did not
annul Okowa’s election because the petitioners
were unable to prove that the data uploaded
by INEC, which they relied on was the
complete one, adding, but they did not say
that the respondents proved otherwise.
“I think it was just a loophole they created to
pave way for Okowa, but it is not going to
stand at the Appeal, that I can assure you,” he
confidently asserted. For those saying he
should forget going on appeal, Emerhor asked
them to perish the thought, as he was not only
going to the Appeal Court but Supreme Court if
need be.
APC’s game plan is to takeover S-South
states
Gbagi, who spoke again on Wednesday to
Saturday Vanguard, said, “All these 14 days to
15 days before the judgment, the people had
completed what they wanted to do; they were
already nominating commissioners in Delta
state ahead of the October 26 judgment
because of where their power was coming
from. The target of APC is to take all the
South- South states.”
“What I can tell you is that we did what we
needed to do and at the end of it, we agreed
that we must unleash several projectiles to put
them in check. Everything put together, Okowa
should go and thank God and for being
sensible, to make the contacts that he made at
the right time. Otherwise, the plan to throw
him out had been concluded.” he said.
Gbagi asserted, “In Nigeria, it is not enough
that you won an election, you have to struggle
to sustain your victory. Like I told you before
this time, it is not everything that one can
discuss, some of the information will be too
shocking to talk about now, a lot of
mathematics went into play. Nobody in APC
gave Okowa any chance to continue, but we
proved them wrong. “
“When it is time to declassify the information,
we will do so but for now, let us watch their
next and subsequent moves,” Gbagi said.
Opposition cohesive against Okowa- Jaro
An APC stalwart, Olorogun Egbo Jaro, who
corroborated Emerhor’s claim, said it was
fallacious that the opposition in the state was
at each other’s throat over how to dethrone
Okowa. “I am a firm believer that the
opposition should work together in Delta state
and there is an understanding that we will all
work together to present a candidate. We are
already in advanced negotiation between
Emerhor and Ogboru to maximize our potential
to present a single candidate,” he said.
Jaro said PDP has been on 16-year hegemony
in the state and “we know that we cannot
break the hegemony if we fight from a
disunited front, we have not determined who
will run the ticket, but we are hopeful that the
Appeal Court will overturn the judgment of the
Delta tribunal and order a rerun.”
APC leaders, however, claim that the PDP
influenced the tribunal with N3 billion to turn
the verdict against it. They pointed to the
report in an online medium same day the
tribunal delivered judgment.
Okowa never influenced tribunal- Aniagwu
However, Mr Ehiedu Aniagwu, Chief Press
Secretary, CPS, to Governor Okowa, said
anybody that believes the story of the medium
in question could believe anything.
He told Saturday Vanguard that Governor
Okowa, who was looking for money to develop
the state had no such fund to throw around
and there was nothing like that. He maintained
that PDP was the only party on ground in the
state and those hoping that tribunal would
overturn the wish of the people would fail
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/10/intrigues-that-aborted-apcs-conquest-in-delta/