Delta state chapter of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), has said that the Saturday’s defection of one of its members, Friday Akpoyibo, political associate of the senator representing Delta Central senatorial district in the National Assembly, Ovie Omo-Agege, is nothing but a big gain.
Friday Akpoyibo was reported to have led
thousands of members of the All Peoples Congress (APC) from Orogun, Ughelli North local government area of Delta state who dumped the senator representing Delta Central senatorial district in the National Assembly, Ovie Omo-Agege, to join the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) and were received into the party at the home town of Mr. Omo-Agege by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.
Reacting to the defection, APC in a statement, signed by its acting Publicity Secretary, Leonard Obibi, and mailed to HardReporters, said “Akpoyibo’s absence is our gain. We are very happy that we have fewer “moles”, and as I said, his declaration is inconsequential to our party’s political interests.”
According to APC, “The declaration of Akpoyibo has only demonstrated that APC Senator Ovie Omo-Agege remains a political pillar in Orogun and Delta Central politics, and he continues to deliver top quality representation and support services to his senatorial constituency. You can’t compare his output so far with the wasteful PDP-led Okowa administration.
“This is a government that operates a “blank annual budget” as a tradition, and has not had the courage to show its 2017 budget to Deltans. Let us ask, Who is Gov. Okowa actually accountable to? It is this kind of politics and financial recklessness that APC wants to push out, so that Deltans can begin to benefit from and enjoy their State that is highly blessed and favoured by God Almighty.
“As far as our party APC in Delta State is concerned, the recent declaration of Chief Friday Akpoyibo for the PDP is a matter of
personal interest to him, and honestly is of little consequence to us. Remember that Chief Akpoyibo was a PDP Transition LGA Chairman, and so he was not comfortable, heart and mind, with the political move to APC by Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, who of course was his key benefactor.
ALSO READ: Thousands Of APC Members Dump Omo-Agege In His Home Town, Join PDP
“When you are not a progressive in your heart, you can never be in your mind. Being progressive is about service to the people. We count our strength on the basis of our principles and our desire to do good to the people of Delta State, and we are not disturbed, or in fact, we are happier when those people who do not share in our vision stand apart from us so as not to distort our political message.
“We also exist on the basis of unity of purpose, and one core objective is to take over the leadership of Delta State, for which we have issued a quit notice to the PDP administration come 2019. Talking specifically about Ughelli North politics, we are extremely rooted and comfortable with the giant strides that we have made thus far.
“Many former PDP leaders that have seen the light are crossing over in droves; and we welcome them wholeheartedly, not just of who they are, but because they do share in our common vision to give Delta State a new sense of hope and direction. As a result, we now have a huge followers that is growing faster everyday.
“You can see that PDP, being now a dying party, had to make every effort to get Governor Okowa and major stalwarts of their party to make so much empty fuss over a matter that we in APC have little or no concern about. For us, this is happy sign that PDP is loosing grip daily, and it is now struggling to remain relevant.
“The soul of PDP in Delta State is dead, and what you have left is just the carcass. Remember also that APC had an overwhelming win at the very last
Councillorship re-run election that took place in the State; particularly, we won Orogun and other wards to the surprise of Gov. Okowa” adding that “that was why he had to craftily manipulate the House of Assembly to take down the DSIEC Board so as to pave way for his cronies to conduct the next LGA election due in January 2018.”
APC made it clear that no matter the crafty acts of governor Okowa, “we will meet PDP at the polls and teach them that PDP is now a past tense in Delta State politics, and there is nothing they can do about it. We are not unmindful that Okowa may, as usual, arrange to re-write the LGA election results, as is the tradition of PDP, but we are confident that Deltans will want their voices heard, and we also pray that Okowa will let people’s votes count.
“In summary, Chief Akpoyibo’s absence is our gain. We are very happy that we have fewer “moles”, and as I said, his declaration is inconsequential to our party’s political interests. We are very strong and comfortable on all fronts and we will deal a
strong upper cut to knock out the PDP when the time comes for that contest.” the statement added.
