Warri South Constituency I Bye Election: The Power Of Unity

By Benjamin King-Bunor

From time immemorialand all over the world, the power of unity cannot be overemphasized. Unity is power as it is commonly said and believed. From Scriptural perspective, unity is such a strong and viable force that it is an inevitable ingredient for achieving set goals. Psalm 133:1-3 says,

1Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity!2It is like the precious oil upon the head, Running down on the beard, The beard of Aaron, Running down on the edge of his garments.3It is like the dew of Hermon, Descending upon the mountains of Zion; For there the LORD commanded the blessing — Life forevermore.(NKJV)

The above quoted verses of the Bible make it clear that it is at the point of unity that The Lord Commands His blessing; this is equivalent to achieving an organization’s set goals. The victory comes when the team is united and work together as one.

As a former football player and an ardent follower of the game till date, I very much understand the power of unity and team spirit. I have come to understand from experience through many years that no matter how star-studded a team may be, once there are internal cracks and conflicts, the team will begin to have bad results. This has made certain football clubs perform very poorly soon after winning a trophy and achieving one great feat or the other. Football fans understand what I mean here.

Once it is a team game, then there must be unity in a team; every member of the team must possess and exhibit team spirit and therefore be a team player for that team to get the desired results and, or achieve its set goals. It is foolhardy to be individualistic and play in isolation as a member of a team as it is unproductive, wasteful, and self-destructive in all its ramifications.

The PDP had continued to dominate in Delta State, not really because they have done well in governance; infact, with regards to governance, the PDP has failed and continued to fail woefully in Delta State. They have proved beyond every reasonable and unreasonable doubt that they have nothing- and I mean nothing good to offer Deltans. However, they have continued to take the stage and hang on to power because, to a very large extent they have remained united, howbeit in perpetrating evil; while on the other hand, the opposition in the state have remained disunited and strategically misnormal and inept.

The Bible says in Luke 11:17- He knew their thoughts, so he said, "Any kingdom at war with itself is doomed. A divided home is also doomed. (New Living Translation); put in the most commonly used language, this Scripture is saying that a “House divided against itself cannot stand”. In other words, it doesn’t really matter the calibre of individuals that make up that “house”; no matter how influential, wealthy, or powerful each of the individuals in the “house” may be, the fact remains that once they fail to synergize their individual strengths, influence and wealth and choose to put these powerful factors to play on an individual basis and platform, the end result is simply an undisputable “failure”.

By this I mean to say that the APC in Delta State has been suffering and languishing in disunity and self-destructive division and factionalism and the result have been constant and consistent failure in elections and total irrelevance in the eyes of the people. This is worse in Warri South LGA where the Party has remained almost non-existent in the eyes of the electorates. Disunity is a killer cancerous disease that can kill any group without remedy.

On the other hand, for some time now, the PDP has been facing a terrible challenge and an uphill task of factionalism right from the National level to the grassroot (ward) level. There are presently two factions in the PDP, one led by Ali Modu Sherrif, and the other led by Markarfi. While so many people have not seen the destructive potential of this division and factionalism in the PDP, careful observers and analysts know the gravity of its potentials.

The present division and factionalism in the PDP made Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa to advise his “anointed” candidate, Princess Shola Daibo to contest the Bye-election on the platform of the Accord Party as it is explicitly unsafe to do so, on the platform of the PDP. The reason being that Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa and most other PDP Governors are in the Markarfi faction, and this can render the Princess to end up not being a candidate at all in the bye-election since in the eyes of the law, Ali Modu Sheriff as at now is the recognized National Chairman of the PDP thereby making his faction the authentic PDP.

The implication of the above is that even if the Governor manoeuvres things and imposes Shola Daibo as the PDP candidate and flagbearer in the bye-election in question, there is every possibility of her being thrown out by the court as the faction that would have produced her is unknown to the law. With this in mind, the governor decided that his “anointed” candidate should better not take the risk of forcefully taking the PDP ticket as the risk was on a zenith height, and can be backbreaking and ignominious.

It is noteworthy to say that, an issue that can make a sitting governor to advise his candidate to go for another party’s ticket must be a very serious problem which the eyes of politically unlearned persons may not be seeing. It means that if the SupremeCourt does not give judgement in the PDP factional case before the time of primaries to the 2019 general elections, there is every possibility that Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa may dump the PDP for Accord Party to avoid the risk of losing his candidacy in that election. This is what division and, or disunity can cause.

On the above backdrop therefore, it is pertinent to state that this is an open cum blank cheque for the APC in the Warri South Constituency I House of Assembly bye-election holding on 26th April, 2016. It is an opportunity that gives the APC an edge and very strategic advantage to win this election bearing in mind that with all the movies that took place in the primary election that produced Prince Stanley Emiko as the APC candidate, the aggrieved group decide to look beyond themselves, put the party’s supremacy first, buried their hatchets and called themselves together to work together as one.

This decision of the APC in Warri South Constituency I to forget about factionalism and division, throw away anger and grievance must have shaken the PDP to its foundation. Princess Shola Daibo the flagbearer of Accord Party (PDP in disguise) and Hon. Ojere of the PDP must be fidgeting right now; knowing that the decision of the APC family in the LGA and constituency I in particular to team up and fight a common course in synergy is a very big advantage to the APC especially for the fact that the PDP has occupied the seat since 1999 and without any bias, there is nothing to show for the almost 20 years.

As it stands right now, the PDP has about three groups in this election-those standing with Princess Shola Daibo of Accord Party, those standing with Hon. Ojere of the PDP and those standing with SDP. This division is already a heavy and conspicuous sign that the PDP in this election is “a house divided against itself”, and such a house, the Bible says, can never ever stand. Little wonders that the PDP and Accord Party are already crying foul and raising unfounded alarms that the APC is planning to rig the election.

These foul cries are indicative of the fact that the PDP and Accord Party have conceded defeat already before the election proper; and the reason is not far-fetched-the odds right now favours the APC more than the others. The implication of this is that the APC must take advantage of the prevailing situation and factors and reach out to the grassroot and entire voters in the constituency via intensive campaigns, sensitization and mobilization.

Chief Ayiri Emami, Barr. Omasan Agbajor and others of the APC family must rise up to the occasion, remain united and with synergized focus get the job done. With unity, then it is already a done deal for you.

Once again, I wish Prince Stanley Emiko and his APC family the best in the forthcoming bye election to fill the vacant Warri South Constituency I seat in the Delta State House of Assembly.

Benjamin King-Bunor (Author)
Benjamin King-Bunor is a Social and political analyst- a highly skilled strategist; he is also a Business/Management and Education Consultant, a seasoned resource person in workshops and Seminars and a dynamic Preacher. He writes from Warri in Delta State.


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