Delta Central 2023 and Dafinone’s day of glory

Forum 1 year ago

Delta Central 2023 and Dafinone’s day of glory

The 2023 general elections will surely pose a grave challenge to unpopular candidates. From the way and manner INEC promises to conduct the polls, there will be little or no interference with the power of the ballot. By implication, the people will decide on the next senator.

The people are surely going to vote for individuals and not political parties. Awareness is now at the rooftop. The era of the party is supreme and is waning by the day. And there are many reasons why PDP should be worried that for the third time in a roll, the party is losing the game to the opposition.

The elections are not simply four weeks away. Since January 1, 2023, the PDP has lost over five thousand members to the opposition in a series of spontaneous defections to the opposition APC. What is more worrisome is the decision of government officials in the Okowa-led administration, to dump him for the opposition which suggests that all is not well with the party. The biggest harvest by the opposition was when thousands of PDP members under the auspices of the Delta Unity Group, dumped the umbrella for the broom on Sunday, January 22 at Obinoba in Ndokwa West Local Government Area. It was a massive catch for the APC. The group which is styled the intellectual arm of the PDP in Delta State, moved masses to the APC to register their displeasure with the management of the party by Governor Okowa and Chief Kingsley Esiso.

If the polls would be conducted in line with INEC guidelines, then every reasonable PDP stakeholder should be worried that the wall of Jericho is crumbling. In a true democracy, every vote counts and could make a difference. So when quite a sizeable number of party faithful and political appointees resign their appointment and dumped the party a few weeks before a major election like this, one should be worried. PDP is facing the heat as never before. While it is true that the APC also lost some members to the PDP in recent times, the defections had been more in favour of the APC. And there is nothing on the ground to suggest that the defections will stop anytime soon. PDP has continued to bleed profusely as the polls get closer. The battle between Ede Dafinone of the APC and Ighoyota Amori of the PDP is therefore being won and lost already.

Everything points to the fact that Dafinone is already winning the elections. The defections are more in Delta Central than in other senatorial districts. And besides the defections, there is another very crucial issue that is playing out behind the scene. And that is the implication of the cold war between Governor Okowa and Chief James Ibori, former governor and benefactor of most of the politicians in Delta State. There are clear signs that for the sake of his ambition, Chief Ighoyota Amori has abandoned Ibori to lick Okowa’s ass. Amori wants to win at all costs, even if it means spitting Ibori to please Okowa. He hopes to beg and seek Ibori’s understanding later. But for now, the only thing that matters to Amori is the coming election.

First, he sacrificed the ambition of his son who was running for the House of Assembly to get the support of his people. This has torn the Amori family apart with the wife nursing grievances against the Odidimadi. While Ede Dafinone is at peace with his family and people, Amori has internal and external forces to contend with. Amori is betraying Ibori’s stand on the 2023 polls for sake of personal survival yet Dafinone is building bridges and making critical inroads into the heart of the PDP in Delta Central. There are a thousand and one PDP members waiting for February 25th to teach Amori some lessons about previous betrayals. Amori is losing grip of the trophy while Ede Dafinone is gaining ground by the day. From all indications, February 25th is Dafinone’s day of glory.

Considering where they are coming from, nobody would believe that Chief Ighoyota Amori could ever betray Chief James Ibori for anything. Amori wants to be a senator at all costs and he is prepared to sacrifice anybody for that ambition. On the other Ede Dafinone, being the gentle and contented man he is, is doing everything to win within the window of decency without having to sacrifice the general for personal interests. Amori is so obsessed with his senatorial ambition that he has refused to listen to the pulse of the people, or what Urhobo truly desire at the moment. All he thinks about is himself and how to achieve his ill-fated ambition of becoming a senator, not minding how many hearts must be broken. His desperation has gotten the better part of him and he has lost the voice of reasoning.

February 25th remains Dafinone’s day of glory and all the efforts by Amori to sacrifice his family and Urhobo interests for selfish reasons will amount to nothing. The people will decide the winner and no sane Urhobo man will choose Amori, a political bully and adult delinquent over the decent, well-cultured, urbane and classy professional that Dafinone is. The changes we seek can only come when we choose men of integrity and sophisticated intellectual clout above politicians who are primed to trade off the honour and dignity of the people for selfish reasons. Ede Dafinone is the man for the job and Urhobo will do well to send him to the Senate.

Onoriode Esievoatokpota is from Agbarha-Otor, Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State.