Youths protest re-zoning of PDP chairmanship to Delta North

By The Guardian Newspaper

RISING from their meeting in Owerri, Imo State, scores of youths from Aniocha in Delta State, under the aegis of Concerned Aniocha Youths for 2015 (CAY 2015), on Wednesday evening protested alleged re-zoning of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chairmanship position to Delta North instead of Delta Central.

The youths who stormed The Guardian office in Owerri after their meeting in the Imo State capital was led by their Coordinator, Nnamdi Okwufulueze Ofonye, who criticised the recent state congress of the party in which Chief Peter Nwaobashi from Delta North was re-elected as the party’s chairman with his tenure ending in 2016, thus blocking the zone from producing a governor in 2015 when Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan would have finished his tenure.

The youths urged the PDP leaders in the state to change the calculation to pick the chairman from another zone, such as Delta South, in order to allow a governor to emerge from Delta North in 2015.

Ofonye said: “We have come together to review the purported state congress of the ruling PDP in Delta State whereby the chairmanship position was re-zoned to Delta North as against the Delta Central, which produced Peter Nwaoboshi for another four year term. This is worrisome and if nothing is done, we believe it might truncate our hope in 2015.”

The youths said Aniocha people were not happy with the arrangement, urging PDP to turn the political equation to where it should be in order to avoid anarchy in the state.

He further stated: “Anything short of Anioma governor in 2015 is unacceptable and amounts to total marginalisation of the Anioma people.”

Nwaobashi could not be reached for comment as at press time.

The Guardian also gathered that the current Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly and a third term member, Victor Ochei, present Senator representing Delta North, Ifeanyi Okowa and a former Commissioner of Police in River State during the tenure of Dr. Peter Odili as governor, Godswill Obielum, are angling for 2015 governorship position in the state.