Ethiope East: Ward 18 Kicks, As Ogedegbe Allegedly Imposes Councillorship Candidate

By Daniel Dafe

Members of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in Ward 18, Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State, have condemned in strong terms the alleged imposition of Eyanu Oghenemarho as the party’s Councillorship candidate for the said ward in the July council elections in the state.

One Comr. Akpeghughu Henry blamed the party’s chairmanship candidate in the forthcoming election, Chief Augustine Ogedegbe as the brain behind the imposition of Oghenemarho, saying such antics can further weaken PDP and sow seeds of division in Ethiope East and the state at large.

In an open Letter addressed to Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and stakeholders of the party in the area, Henry, said: “We the concern people of DSIEC Ward 18 Ethiope East LGA write this open letter to you the aforementioned names in order to express our dissatisfaction over the oppressive tendencies and unwarranted boasting with the Governor’s name by Chief Augustine Ogedegbe who wants to upturn the collective decision of the Leaders of DSIEC Ward 18 where he does not have a voting right.”

According to the letter, “DSIEC Ward 18 like other wards in Ethiope East LGA received the guidelines on how to go about the nomination of councillorship candidates from the various wards.”

The letter continued: “One of such guidelines is that Leaders ( People who have voting rights) from a particular DSIEC Ward should meet and nominate their candidate for the given Ward.”

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He said that “all the Leaders in Ward 18 Leaders led by Chief Abel Esievo, Chief Mrs Tessy Torru (PDP South South Woman Leader), Comr. Kelvin Omomarho (Ethiope East PDP Youth Leader), Mrs Faith Igben (PDP LGA Ex-Officio), Chief Oba Adavwo ( Secretary PDP Ward 5), Chief Avwerosuo Igben ( SA To the Governor), Mr. Godwin Kokoricha ( Organizing Secretary PDP ward 5), Chief Pius Idogho ( Immediate Past President General Ovu), Barr. Fred Aburu ( Leader), Mr. Agofure ( Ex-Officio PDP Ward 5) and Hon. Fortune Agadama Okoro ( Former Councilor) met and appended their signature to the nomination of Hon. Chief Stanley Emuejevoke Igbi ( AKA Young Chief) as the consensus councillorship candidate.”

Continuing, he said “the emergence of Young Chief was widely celebrated across the various villages that make up Ward 18.”

Adding: “Upon knowing that Chief Stanley Emuejevoke Igbi emerged against his wish and witch-hunting, Chief Augustine Ogedegbe who has used all means possible to stop the nomination of Chief Stanley Emuejevoke Igbi ( AKA Young Chief) as a councillorship candidate for DSIEC Ward 18 resorted into gathering signatures from unknown individuals in DSIEC Ward 18 and as God may have it, they finally shot themselves by forging the signature of Chief Avwerosuo Igben and Mrs Faith Igben in favour of his preferred councillorship candidate, Eyanu Oghenemarho who was wholeheartedly rejected by the people of DSIEC Ward 18.”

He wrote further: “Chief Avwerosuo Igben and Mrs Faith Igben have written separate letters to the PDP State Chairman Barr. Kingsley Esiso through the LGA Chairman Hon. Felix Erhimedafe, saying that their signatures were forged by Comr. Eyanu Oghenemarho ( Ogedegbe preferred candidate) and they are ready to press criminal charges of forgery against him ( Comr. Eyanu Oghenemarho) as was done in Ethiope East Federal Ward 8 Okpara.”

He noted that “Comr. Eyanu Oghenemarho lives at Ugolo thus he is not known to the people of Ward 18 unlike Chief Stanley Emuejevoke Igbi who lives with his people at Okoroke Ovu and has done much during his first term as a councilor.”

He revealed that “Chief Stanley Emuejevoke Igbi AKA Young Chief in his first term as Councilor built two bus stops and a vigilante post.”

“We the peace loving people of DSIEC Ward 18 wish to use this medium to inform every one of the kind of politics that is being played by Chief Augustine Ogedegbe who wants to by means all possible to impose his puppet, Comr. Eyanu Oghenemarho as Councilor in a DSIEC Ward where he (Chief Augustine Ogedegbe) does not vote thus does not also have the right to dictate to the Leaders of DSIEC Ward of who to be their councilor.

“We call on those concerned to call Chief Augustine Ogedegbe to order by allowing the wish and the decision unanimously reached by the Leaders of DSIEC Ward 18 to stand as anything other than this will mean doom for the party ahead of the 2027 general election.

“The world should also know that Ogedegbe is boasting with the name of the Governor, His Excellency Elder Sheriff Oborevwori, saying that he will help him remove the name of consensus candidate, Chief Stanley Emuejevoke Igbi AKA Young Chief who the Leaders and faithful of our great Party in DSIEC Ward 18 have chosen to represent them

“We know that His Excellency Elder Sheriff Oborevwori is a perfect gentleman and cannot stoop so low as to imposing a councillorship candidate on DSIEC Ward 18 talk more of overriding the collective decision of the reputable leaders from DSIEC Ward 18 who have nominated their preferred candidate in the person of Hon. Chief Stanley Emuejevoke Igbi AKA Young Chief as a practice done in other wards,” the letter concluded.

When contacted, Ogedegbe denied the allegations, saying it was a cheap blackmail.

He said: “You know in the social media, anybody can upload there and say whatever they want to say. I think it’s only the social media I know that you are free to be mad. Some people use the weapon of blackmail and I do not do that. I don’t know what they are even talking about because the fact remains that if I have an opportunity when people from any part of Ovu meet me, I can only advise. They are all my brothers and all my boys. Like I normally tell them, whoever emerges in Ovu is my person even in the whole of Ethiope East. There is nobody that I cannot work with. Is there any councilor that has the power to pull me down on social media?

“So I’m not aware of what they are really talking about just that they are looking for a way before now to blackmail me. Even when I was contesting, most of them also blackmailed me. They said I am boasting that the governor will put me there.”

He wondered why his people from Ovu are always using blackmail to try to stop him.

Speaking further, he said: “In the history of Ovu, despite that Ovu are the people who fought to see how Ethiope East was brought to Ethope East from Ethiope Federal, Ovu has not been able to produce an elected executive chairman, adding that he is excited to have made history this time.

Asked who the councillorship candidate of the said ward, he said: “The leaders there should be able to determine that. Almost all of them contesting are my people and the only thing I will advise if I have the opportunity, is that they should consider credibility especially taking a clue form the previous election so that they can encourage hard work.

“They should look at results produced in the last election. In Ovu, we lost the last election. We did not win; we failed in Ovu and if we failed in Ovu, then let’s look at some of those results and see those that did very well.”
This, he said will encourage people to win their units.
“But, I do not want to be involved,” he stressed.