Members of the Exco of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Delta State have rejected the Governorship Candidate of the party in the 2023 general elections, Chief Kenneth Gbagi and embraced the State Governor-Elect, Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori.
The Delta State Chairman of the SDP, Ambassador Oke Idawene, speaking on Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023 when he led Exco members of the party on a courtesy visit to the State Governor-Elect, Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori in his office in Asaba, made it clear that that they had nothing to do with Chief Kenneth Gbagi, saying he was on his own.
According to him, they were not part of any litigation brought against the state Governor-Elect, Rt Hon Oborevwori by the SDP Governorship Candidate, adding that Chief Kenneth Gbagi imposed himself on members of the party in the State.
While saying that the dream of making Rt.Hon Oborevwori as a Governor has been realised collectively, Ambassador Idawene said that; “We want to let you know that we are not part of any litigation against your emergence as Governor-Elect of Delta State This visit is calculated to tell the world that we did not do it in hiding , we did it to say that before SDP, there was a Delta State and that you are the Governor-elect and in few days, you will be sworn in as the Governor of Delta State and not PDP. The entire Exco here is saying that everything we will do to ensure that Rt. Hon Sheriff Oborevwori succeed in Delta, we will do it”.
“We are Deltans, we are doing what Delta State stands for and not party affairs, our members will be in the tribunal as agents of the party to say that Chief Kenneth Gbagi was never ready for elections, he did not pay one single agent and that we have rejected him body, soul and spirit. During the elections nobody here voted for SDP, we all voted PDP, we also voted for our Governor, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa for Presidency . Having said so, we can testify from Olomoro there was zero vote in SDP in my unit. We are identifying with this coming administration in Delta State”, the SDP Chairman said.
He added that; “You are leading us for eight years and not four years. All litigations will go away, we are not going to say you are for someone else tomorrow whether PDP, SDP, APGA, there is a Delta State and that is what we stand for. From now on, we stand with you by the grace of God and we will not defer, like I told you earlier, we will never leave you. Delta State must move forward”.
Responding, Delta State Governor-Elect, Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori, expressed gratitude to the SDP members for the visit, saying that; “I have told our people that I want to be Governor for all Deltans. I want to use this opportunity to thank all Deltans for the organic love because in all, we were able to win 21 local governments out of the 25 local governments in the state by the special grace of God with a margin of 119,880. I believe Deltans have spoken and the victory is for all of us”.
The Governor-Elect who is also the Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly and National Deputy Chairman of the Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria added that; “I have told Deltans that I am a Pan-Deltan, I want to serve Deltans. You can see that the transition committee is all about inclusiveness, comprising of the youths, Christian community, public and private sectors which shows that the government that is coming is for all of us. I want to serve, I want to be a servant leader”.
“Thank you for coming, we will continue to work together to see how we can take Delta State to an enviable height and I know by the time we are done with our first tenure by the special grace of God , Deltans will be very happy and Nigerians will be very happy as well. Thank you for coming for this show of love. God will continue to bless SDP, PDP and other political parties in Jesus Name, Amen”, he also said.
