Delta APC Chairmanship aspirant Ebiakpo, vows to dislodge PDP in 2023 when elected
......says APC has what it takes to take over Delta State when united
Francis Tayor
A Chieftain of the All Progressive Congress, and a top contender for the party’s State Chairmanship position in the forthcoming APC congress in Delta State, Hon Ebiakpo Ezebri has said that with the caliber of persons in the state chapter of the party, APC has all it takes to dislodge the PDP from the state come 2023 election.
The grassroots political strategist stated this in warri during an interview with our correspondent Francis Tayor, disclosed that if the party leadership can mend fences, unite and put the party’s interest above their personal ambition, the days of PDP dominance of the political space in Delta would be over, as Deltans are fed up with the party’s 20 years of monumental corruption and maladministration.
Ebiakpo, a battle-tested hand, a former State Financial Secretary of the party stated also, that if elected as chairman of the party in Delta State, he will be coming to office with a handy experience in electoral matters and strategies, having run for elections at different levels.
According to him, “If I become the Chairman of the APC which I am fighting for, I have a lot of strategies that the APC will use to dislodge the PDP in Delta State.
Hon. Ebiakpo Ezebri
“I think today we have key leaders in the party that can win the election for us, we have the Distinguish Deputy President of the Senate, Obarisi Ovie Omo-Agege, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, Festus Keyamo, Great Ogboru, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, former House of Assembly Speakers, Victor Ochie and Hon Monday Igbuya many more, some of us believe that all of these people must come together to win this state.
“So, if am the state Chairman today, my first task like I told you is to decentralize the party, then my other task will be to see how these leaders can come together before even the primaries of the party so that whoever we are picking will be a formidable force.
Though to sack PDP from Delta will be difficult because these people have been feeding on our collective wealth in past 20 years and they have planted their people everywhere, even in your house, you may be an APC, your wife is PDP, and because of the job she is doing.
PDP is a household name in Delta but I believe they have their shortcomings and some of us who have seen this, believe PDP can be dislodged. Some of this strategy I might not disclose in the media.
“From my observation, one thing we are lacking is that the APC has not sold itself to the grassroots, selling the party to grassroots is a key to winning the election, as the Chairman, I will make Deltans own APC in every unit, wards, and the 25 local government areas.
“In the 25 local governments today, hardly will you see 15 where we have APC local government secretariat, we don’t have. If you go to the 270 wards, my brother, forget about writing names, you will not see less than 100 wards that have a secretariat.
“The way APC is run today in Delta, if they have a problem in the ward they run to the state, because the structure of the party at ward, local government, and the senatorial district is week, I will change all that if I become the chairman by empowering the executives at these levels to handle most of the issues at the grassroots level, is not everything they take to state chairman as we have it today.
“Today, the state Chairman is overburdened, instead of thinking of how the party will win elections, he will be solving problems of the wards, because the party structure in the local government is weak, everybody now runs to the state or local government. I believe if I become chairman, I will create a kind of federating unit, we have three Senatorial Chairmen of the party.
I have checked as of today, where is the Senatorial office of the party in Delta South as we speak? APC doesn’t have an office in the senatorial district, quote me anywhere, an office that is on the ground that has an address, here in Delta South. APC has no senatorial office in Delta Central, the same thing with Delta North, all we have are senatorial chairmen. We don’t have an office, everybody is Asaba.
Another issue that I will address is that elected executives must function in the office they were elected to serve, today a senatorial chairman has no cutout function for him, a senatorial youth leader has become just a title without responsibilities, and all these things will change if I become Chairman.
“So, what I am saying is that, if I am made the chairman of APC, within three months, this is not a manifesto but a burning desire, because APC has to settle down in the 25 local governments of the state, and we cannot run like this.
Today if you talk about APC is Prophet Jones, nobody is calling a ward chairman, nobody is calling a local government chairman, nobody is calling a senatorial chairman, everybody is Jones. Jones is a state chairman, Jones is not in your unit, ward, local government, or senatorial district, so why should Jones name be mentioned in your unit, ward, local government, and senatorial district issues?”
He also promised to deploy his experience to checkmate PDP rigging machinery in the creek, where the party had always used to overturn votes from the mainland since 2019, having confronted and defeated them in the past.
