{"id":9205,"date":"2016-05-22T20:03:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-22T20:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=9205"},"modified":"2016-05-22T20:03:00","modified_gmt":"2016-05-22T20:03:00","slug":"no-merger-deal-between-delta-apc-and-labour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=9205","title":{"rendered":"NO MERGER DEAL BETWEEN DELTA APC AND LABOUR"},"content":{"rendered":"

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PREAMBLE: There has been rumpus in the Delta state’s Labour Party, LP, since serial governorship aspirant, Chief Great Ogboru declared to collapse the entire Delta structure of LP, on which platform he made another failed governorship bid in 2015, to now move same to the All Progressives Party, APC. In this chat with Vanguard, 2015 Delta APC governorship candidate, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor affirms that Ogboru and former Delta Speaker, Victor Ochei will be admitted into APC in June, but that the romance does not amount to party merger.<\/p>\n

Q: Delta APC is basking in wining a growing class of high profile entrants from hitherto rival political camps in determination to capture Delta state in 2019? How is APC making this happen noticeably?<\/p>\n

EMERHOR: Is no surprise that APC as the national ruling party is attracting expected interest of critical political players in Delta state who share the common mission of dislodging the PDP that has misruled the state for nearly 17 years. We are excited at the decision of known opposition leaders and former PDP power brokers now joining forces with us in this endeavour. In particular, Chief Great Ogboru is leading the LP in Delta state to join us.<\/p>\n

Former Speaker, Delta State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Victor Ochei, aside being the state leader of Accord Party, also set up a statewide structure to pursue his then governorship aspiration while in PDP. Ochei is also collapsing these structures into the APC. There are others, former commissioners, other government appointees and party stalwarts of the PDP who have joined us or are warming up to do so.<\/p>\n

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Q: As it affects Chief Ogboru, there was controversy recently where his party, through its state Chairman, Chief Tony Ezeagwu, denied LP’s involvement in any merger talk with APC or any intention to do so. The party even went as far as suspending Ogboru and a number of other persons. How do you overcome this threat to your merger talk?<\/p>\n

EMERHOR: To start with, LP got it wrong. APC was never in any merger talk. Mergers don’t take place at state level. In any case, APC merger of parties ended in July 2013 when the party was born. The discussion with Ogboru\/Labour was to fuse his\/LP structure in Delta into the APC. They are to join the APC, not merge. Two, it is common knowledge that Ogboru, with his group, is the soul of LP in Delta state. There was no tangible LP until Ogboru led then DPP members in to populate Labour and there will be no LP once Ogboru and his group leaves the party as it’s bound to happen.<\/p>\n

Obviously, Chief Tony Ezeagwu’s real intent is to play the spoiler in attempt to halt the emergence of a more robust and formidable APC in Delta. This is a time weakened political tactics. We at APC are not falling for it. We know the purported controversy is contrived, so we are going ahead with our discussions and arrangements with Ogboru and his people. Be reminded that Ogboru has resigned from the LP and together with his people formed a new group known as Light of Labour. This is how we will relate to them going forward.<\/p>\n

Q: To the larger Delta APC, how welcoming are these arrangements with Ogboru and Light of Labour, against reports that the existing APC State Executive Committee (EXCO) is to be dissolved to give way to a Caretaker Committee that will accommodate the new entrants?<\/p>\n

EMERHOR: That is not true. Our existing EXCO will not be disolved. It can’t be disolved until new congresses are held in the future. Delta will not be different. Across the country, individuals and groups are joining the APC daily and the affected state Excos are not dissolved. What the APC in Delta did was to set up a Welcoming Committee to handle all issues of individuals and groups wanting to join. The 9 man committee is headed by Hon Fred Okpowhoro. However, in recognition and appreciation of the capacity each individual or group is bringing into the party, as in the case of Ogboru, Ochei and others who are bringing in strong groups and impacts, the committee is empowered to reach arrangements that will provide them comfort and sense of belonging and to let them have say in the affairs of the party.<\/p>\n

Q: How does the party plan to achieve these ‘accommodation and comfort’ for new members without offending existing members?<\/p>\n

EMERHOR: key arrangement by the party is to put in place a Leadership Council having memberships from existing and new entrants. We are looking at a deliberately expanded Caucus of the party to accommodate new entrants. This will be done at the state, council and Ward levels, ensuring that a high level of integration is achieved throughout the state. This organ will act to accommodate all views and work in harmony with the state, LGA and ward Excos to entrench the party. Further arrangement involves setting aside minimum two weeks for intensive registration exercise for new entrants.<\/p>\n

Q; What’s the timeline for making all these arraignments happen?<\/p>\n

EMERHOR: In a week or two from now, the expanded State Executive Committee (SEC) of the party will be meeting to approve all the arrangements reached with groups joining the party; in particular, the Ogboru, Ochei and PDP groups. At that meeting, timetable for welcoming the new entrants will also be approved include the period for intensive new entrants registration, visit to the national leadership of our party, and a grand rally to receive the new members and groups. In touch with our party at the national level. the indications we are getting is that this total package will likely happen in June.<\/p>\n

Q: How unified is Delta APC as you prepare to receive new members? Chief Adolo Okotie Eboh’s faction already expressed exception to these moves?<\/p>\n

EMERHOR: We have only one APC in Delta State. We do not have any faction. The Exco headed by Prophet Jones Erue is the only one duly recognised by the party at the national level. Yes, Chief Adolo heads a group consisting mainly of his former executives in defunct ACN that merged into APC. What we know is that he went to court to challenge his loss at the state congress held in 2014 that saw emergence of the current Exco. The case is currently at the appeal court. No known leader or party stalwarts are with him other than a few of his old ACN Exco.<\/p>\n

In any political party, there are always a few individuals or tendencies nursing varied grievances within. This does not qualify for categorisation as factions. But I believe your question is to know what the party is doing about internal dissents and what is being done to unify the party. We are indeed working hard at that. To the Adolo group and others, we are continually extending an olive branch for reconciliation. And much progress is being made.<\/p>\n

Q: Federal appointments is also generating problems for the party in the state; that no party member from Delta has been appointed to any position because of infighting. How worrisome is this problem?<\/p>\n

EMERHOR: This is very untrue. Delta APC has not been treated differently from other states. Some persons just appear out there to cause disenchantment on non issues. Delta state got a Minister like every other state. We are awaiting appointments of party stalwarts as board executives very soon. This process is being handled by the federal government in conjunction with the
\nparty at national level. The party at the state is eager to have members well represented in these appointments which we believe will further position us to be stronger in the state.<\/p>\n

Q: It’s been continuing hardships and suffering for Nigerians; worsened power situation, return of fuel queues, worsening economy etc since APC took over power. People say this is not the change they wanted or voted for. Why is it that bad.?<\/p>\n

EMERHOR: Nigerians must exercise more patience and continue to support President Buhari. From my personal experience in corporate restructuring, most times, things do get worse before they start to improve. Our economy has ran on corruption for so long that the abrupt attack on corruption has the unfortunate effect of defuelling the economy initially. Even when we feel the President is slow, the deliberate steps he is taking in the critical sectors of infrastructure, power, petroleum and agriculture will soon yield the desired results. Patience and support will pay Nigerians handsomely.<\/p>\n

VANGUARD\"ogboru\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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PREAMBLE: There has been rumpus in the Delta state’s Labour Party, LP, since serial governorship aspirant, Chief Great Ogboru declared to collapse the entire Delta structure of LP, on which platform he made another failed governorship bid in 2015, to now move same to the All Progressives Party, APC. In this chat with Vanguard, 2015 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[2014,1080,1842,475,1983],"class_list":["post-9205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state","tag-all-progressives-party","tag-great-ogboru","tag-labour-party","tag-olorogun-otega-emerhor","tag-victor-ochei"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/ogboru.png","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-2ot","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9205"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9206,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9205\/revisions\/9206"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}