The National Chairman,
All Progressives Congress (APC),
National Headquarters, Abuja.
Your Excellency,
IJAWS OF APC DELTA STATE DEMAND JUSTICE AND EQUITY
AS CONDITIONS FOR RECONCILIATION, PEACE AND UNITY
1.0 Preamble
We wish to thank and appreciate your leadership in piloting the affairs of our great Party and leading us to victory at the 2023 Presidential Elections with majority of State Governors, National and State Assembly Members.
We congratulate you on the success of our Party at the keenly contested 2024 Edo Governorship polls.
We also want to thank and appreciate our President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Sen Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR and our Distinguished Senator of Delta South Senatorial District, Sen. Joel Onowakpo-Thomas, FCA, for the good works being done in our Country and Senatorial District respectively.
We have keenly observed some developments in our Party; particularly the recently concluded Reconciliation Exercise in Delta State. We agree with the State Chapter of our Party on the need to carry out a Reconciliation Exercise, considering the poor outcome of our Party at the 2023 Governorship and State Assembly Elections and the post-election activities of governance.
But a Fact Finding Exercise ought to have preceded a Reconciliation Exercise of this nature; all immediately after the 2023 General Elections when the matters that generated our failures were fresh in the minds of our people.
We observed with dismay that the processes, interventions and the outcomes of this exercise were cornered by some leaders to misinform the National Secretariat and present themselves as the only persons who deserve political appointments as a basis for genuine reconciliation of our Party.
However, the issues for grievances within the Party present different and varying reasons from one Senatorial Districts to the other.
2.0 THE UNDERLYING ISSUES OF THE STATE CHAPTER OF THE PARTY
Marginalization and Lopsided Federal Appointments. Since 2015 to date, we have had Ministers from Delta North and Central Senatorial Districts.
Again, about 90% of appointees of the Federal Government, such as Ministerial and Boards of Parastatals, are from Delta Central and South Senatorial Districts.
This marginalization and outright discrimination of the Ijaw ethnic nationality, the predominant group in Delta South Senatorial District, have limited our steadily improved performances in the 2019 and 2023 General Elections.
3.0 OUR MAIN GRIEVANCES IN THE DELTA SOUTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT
Marginalization, lopsided Appointments and Poor Handling of Party Affairs.
No doubt, the general underlining issues of the State Chapter of the Party mentioned in 2.0 (a) and (b) above were applicable to the component LGAs and ethnic groups in the Delta South Senatorial District.
In addition to these, the Ijaws dominantly constitute 40 of the 87 Wards and in 6 of the 8 LGAs with over 65% of the voting strength.
Despite this significant representation and dominance, the Ijaws have been systematically marginalized and out rightly neglected in terms of political appointments, distribution of party offices and empowerment of party faithful in the District.
Poor reward system of the APC
Our Party has totally neglected the founding members of the Party in the Ijaw areas who made valuable sacrifices for the growth and development of the Party from the cradles.
Political appointments and empowerments are given without recourse to those who worked tirelessly to win their Units and Wards.
Equally painful is that our APC led Federal Government will hand over our Party’s manpower development programs and palliatives to alleviate poverty to the PDP led Delta State Government.
In turn, the PDP led Government in the State uses our APC largesse to exclusively patronize their party loyalists who gave us a ‘fight to finish’ at the 2023 polls. It is our appeal that special consideration should be given to APC followers in the release of these programs and palliatives.
Outcome of the Reconciliation Exercise
As stated earlier, the timing of this exercise ought to have been carried out shortly after our 2023 Governorship and State Assembly Elections due to the magnitude and complexity of the issues.
It has become obvious to us that this exercise was not carried out with the primary purpose of addressing the underlying issues mentioned above.
Two major interventions were made by our people in two platforms: APC Delta South 3is Forum led by Chief Jerry Esigie and the informal Voice of All Ijaw-speaking Men and Women of Delta State coordinated by Dr Emibra Agbeotu.
Whilst the former made consultations with our people who were part of this pressure group in the Party with properly constituted meetings, the latter spearheaded by Dr Emibra Agbeotu was not mandated by the Delta Ijaw Leaders and Stakeholders Forum.
It is obvious that from the inception of the APC, the Ijaws of the APC have made tremendous sacrifices to keep the Party very competitive in our Communities, Wards and LGAs.
It is inappropriate, offensive and utterly unacceptable for the Dr Emibra Agbeotu’ doctored communique to ascribe the success of the Party in the Ijaw LGAs only to Elder Godsday Orubebe and with incorrect statistics.
It is equally derogatory to say “Prior to 2023, APC had minimal membership in Delta Ijaw LGAs”.
It is they that have “consistently failed to secure victory at the polls”. Elder Godsday Orubebe only came into this Party when the Party had already attracted important personalities to its fold in Ijaw areas.
However, he was first introduced to the leadership of Delta Ijaw Leaders and Stakeholders Forum on 5th August 2022 at the residence of our Leader High Chief Michael Johnny where he was addressed and he also pledged to work with us. We have several other leaders who had made sacrifices and suffered colossal losses with no support, reward or patronage from the Party over the years.
Your Excellency sir, in the Ijaw LGAs, we contributed substantially to the victories of our President Sen Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, Sen Joel Onowakpo-Thomas FCA and the only State Legislator of the Senatorial District in 2023. In Burutu for example, our Legislator, Hon Alapala Ebitonmo together with the patriotic and dedicated Party Leaders across the Units, Communities and Wards spent fortunes far beyond the resources provided by the Campaign Council and the Party to prosecute the most expensive campaigns, elections and bye-election in our history.
Again, we also observed with dismay that after the public hearings, the Reconciliation Committee headed Chief Otega Emerhor visited leaders across the Senatorial Districts without visiting any Ijaw leader. Does that mean no Ijaw APC leader is aggrieved in the State? This is how they systematically take us for granted in the Party.
4.0 RECOMMENDATIONS AND OUR DEMANDS
From the facts presented in this communique, it has become obvious that for a proper stocktaking and true reconciliation to take effects in Delta State APC, there must be fairness, equity and justice in the administration of Party affairs, moving forward.
As Ijaws with a dominant 40 of the 87 Wards and in 6 of the 8 LGAs with over 65% of the voting strength in the Delta South Senatorial District, we make the following demands:
We demand an inclusive approach, fairness and justice to reflect our dominance in the affairs of our Party in Delta South senatorial District.
Having natural inclination to the Blue Economy and with the abundance of oil and gas resources in our areas, we should also be appointed on the Boards of NPA, NIMASA and Parastatals of the Petroleum Industry.
We demand for the State Chairman of our Party in the forthcoming Party Congresses. We equally deserve this Office to stabilize the Party and enhance our contributions to the overall success of our Party in 2027 and beyond.
We respectfully submit this communique to the National Secretariat of our Party with our best assurances for a better and stronger APC in Delta State.
SIGNED
BURUTU LGA
1 SIR THEODORE EZONFADE
2 HON. EBIAKPO EZEBIRI
3 CHIEF HON. AUGUSTINE SEIBI JP
4 DR. EBIDE OGBOTUBO
5 ENGR. VICTOR WAREFA
6 ENGR. FELIX BRINEMUGHAN
7 HON. GODWIN MASAH
8 AMB. TIMI COLEMAN
9 CHIEF ODUMA ALOKPA
10 HON. ISAIAH INGO
11 HON. JOHN OGOGO
12 CHIEF JOHN AKPOTUDOUGHA
13 LOKODE NANAH
BOMADI LGA
1 BARR GABRIEL YABAKA
2 HON. OKUBO OJOTO
3 HON. CHRIS ANTHONY
4 CHIEF DAVID AMANAH
5 DAVID EREBOH
6 HON. KARUNA EZEBU
7 OGBOWEI REMEMBER
8 CHIEF BRIZIMOR SHELL
9 SAPELE TAFFY
10 OWODO OLE
PATANI LGA
1 JOSEPH EKIYOR
2 GODWIN EBI BENJAMIN
3 AYABOWEI GOOD FRIDAY
4 CHIEF BRAKORU A.SAMSON
5 ADOH MARIAN EBI
WARRI SOUTH WEST LGA
1 HIGH CHIEF MICHAEL JOHNNY
2 CHIEF DAVID OMARE
3 HON. CLEMENT TEKEDOR
4 DR. MOSES YABRADE
5 BEAUTY WAREJUOWEI
6 HON. SATURDAY TIMINIMI
7 LIZZY BUBOR
8 ERIKE RAPHAEL
9 HON. GRACE ABDULLAHI
10 AMBROSE BRAMOR
WARRI NORTH LGA
1 CHIEF PROMISE LAWURU
2 HON. SIKO EYENMI
3 HON. BLACKMAN MIKE
4 MATTHEW OGUNUKU
5 HON. BARRY APATAIMINI
6 HON CLEMENT WODO