Still On PDP Zoning And Delta 2023: Charles Aniagwu Misfired

We had hoped that because discerning members of the public, particularly in Delta State, could easily see through the hollowness of his position, or that they would take his exuberant pronouncement for what it is: a huge joke and abuse of privilege. However, following recent efforts by some individuals in government to amplify the state information commissioner, Mr Charles Aniagwu’s statements about power rotation in the state from the perspective of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) through sharing his television interview on social media, we have found it necessary to set the record straight.

We wish to briefly address certain misconceptions or blatant lies, which the commissioner attempted to sell to the public as facts relating to the matter.

In the said television interview, the commissioner said that there is definitely zoning in the PDP, giving the impression that he knows the nitty-gritty of the said zoning formula. By trying to sound authoritative about it, Aniagwu might have been the sole initiator or at least was a member of the highest echelon of the PDP leadership that fashioned it more than 22 years ago.

The commissioner argued that those canvassing for their ethnic group to produce the next governor were acting in error and from the position of ignorance. That is, that power (gubernatorial) in 2023 will go to Delta Central senatorial district and the position of Deputy Governor may go to either Delta North or Delta South.

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We are shocked that the state information commissioner could speak of the future as if he were God. As a matter of fact, he portrayed the impression that he understood these things more than even His Excellency, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, his employer party leader.

If the facts of history are anything to go by, Aniagwu was still a worker with DAAR Communication’s AIT (African Independent Television) outside the state when the PDP assumed power in Delta State. He definitely could not have been in the leadership of the party in the state. So, why this know-it-all posturing?

For the avoidance of doubt, the governor has made it abundantly clear that he is not aware of any existing “gentleman agreement” on zoning or power rotation in Delta State. Dr Okowa also stated – contrary to the commissioner’s argument – that he did not come through zoning.

Now, our position is this; if there was indeed a zoning agreement in the party, how come David Edevbie emerged as the first runner-up (second to Okowa) in the 2015 gubernatorial primary? Is Edevbie not from Ughelli North Local Government Area in Delta Central senatorial district? And, lest we forget, the former finance commissioner and the immediate chief-of-staff to the governor was not the only aspirant from Delta Central who contested for the PDP ticket in 2015.

It is, therefore, strange that despite the fact that even the chief press secretary (CPS) to the governor, Mr Olisa Ifeajika, had made this clarification at a widely publicized media briefing recently, the information commissioner chose to play a different tune altogether.

The pertinent question every right-thinking Deltan would be constrained to ask is, what exactly is Aniagwu saying? Who is he speaking for? When has Aniagwu become the de facto spokesman of the PDP in Delta State?

Signed:
Mr. Francis Bekesuode Abulu, President Justice and Equity Forum
Tamaraukuro Pere-Owei Forteta, Secretary Justice and Equity Forum