2019: Delta PDP Chairman Respond To Oshiomhole’s Claim Of Winning Delta, Ekiti, Rivers
Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Delta State chapter, Barr Kingsley Esiso, has dismissed threats issued by Adams Oshiomhole, the former governor of Edo state that he would fight to take over Delta, Ekiti and Rivers states with particular reference to Delta, as a figment of his imagination.
But speaking with members of the Indigenous Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Delta State Council in his office, Esiso said Oshiomohle, enjoys talking and trying to paint himself as a saint when he is not one, noting that the people of Delta and PDP are waiting for him to come and seize Delta from PDP and perfect his threats in the 2019 general elections.
He said as far as he is concerned, Delta is a PDP state and the state will remain PDP irrespective of the threat of Oshiomhole, the immediate past governor of Edo state and who has made himself one of the biggest rivals of the PDP in the country.
However, on the threat of Delta state APC chairman, who was newly inaugurated and vowed to sack Governor Ifeanyi Okowa from government house in 2019, Esiso, underrated his threat and declined to comment, saying it was unnecessary to comment on that as he does not have the capacity to lead Delta APC to win the governorship election.
Answering a question on the June 12 which President Muhammadu Buhari has announced and gazette as democracy day from 2019, the PDP chairman said he aligned with the pronouncement, saying he actively participated in the process that led to the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election.
He said: “I’m for the honour, MKO Abiola deserves the honour. He won the election that was judged as the freest in the history of Nigeria. I do not support the annulment. But what I hate is those who supported the annulment, many of them are today claiming glory and singing praises of Buhari. No party made Abiola, it was Nigerians that made Abiola.”
Esiso, who was flanked by former publicity secretary of the PDP in Delta, Deinghan Macaulay, said though the federal government has signed the not too young to run bill into law, the constitution of the party is the deciding factor for whosoever will emerge as candidate of the party.
He said: “Any government not guided by laws is bound to have challenges. We are to operate within the ambit of the party’s constitution. If you meet the constitutional guidelines, you certainly will become candidate. We have young men and women out there who are aspiring. It is free to aspire. Any aspirant can emerge to become the party’s candidate.”
The state party chairman who stated that Governor Okowa has turned Asaba into a construction site following the various construction projects going on in the state capital, advised journalists to be factual in their reportage, insisting that media practitioners should always give out correct information to their people without embellishment.
It would be recalled that Oshiomhole, who is gunning for the APC chairmanship and reported to be the favourite of President Muhammadu Buhari, had said that he would concentrate his energy after emerging as a chairman on claiming Ekiti, Delta and Rivers states but paid much reference to Delta state.