By Sunday Apah
Ijaws of Delta State in their thousands, under the aegis of the Ijaw Mandate Group, have unequivocally resolved that it was the turn of Delta Central Senatorial District to produce the next Governor of Delta state, saying it was not yet time for the Ijaw Ethnic Nationality to produce the governor of the state.
The group made this known in a communiqué issued after its meeting, held at the Ughelli Kingdom Hall in Ughelli North Local Government Area of the state.
The meeting had in attendance thousands of Ijaw politicians drawn from Bomadi, Patani, Burutu, Warri South West and Warri North Local Government areas of the state.
The National Coordinator of the group, Hon. Dagidi Andaye, who read the communiqué urged aspirants of Ijaw extraction to wait patiently for 2031.
He called the Ijaw people to, in the spirit of their collective brotherhood, jettison their 2023 Governorship ambition and join the Ijaw Mandate Group and other people of goodwill to support the Delta Central Senatorial District to produce the next governor of the state so as not to endanger their targeted Ijaw 2031 governorship bid.
According to him, “the clamour for Ijaw 2023 Governorship which is apparently a run against the tide by some groups is not out of order, constitutionally speaking, but our avowed resolve to support the DC-23 course is borne out of an evaluation and understanding of the current political trend of events in the state that is obviously not in favour of a Delta South Senatorial District aspirant, especially an Ijaw person from becoming the state governor in 2023.
“It is, therefore, our resolve, which is Pan Delta in nature, and should not be misconstrued as anti-Ijaw, but should be viewed from the angle of consequence of constructive analysis and evaluation of the political culture in the state as it affects the interest and political survival of the ljaw Ethnic Nationality in the state. Thus, our conscious pragmatic strategy to propagate the deliberate protection of the ljaw 2031 governorship interest in the state should not be misunderstood on the altar of political jobbing,” he explained.
The group called on Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to, as a matter of political expediency, convoke a conference of Pan Delta State ethnic nationalities to make a formal declaration emphasising the need and importance of an unbreakable senatorial zoning formula for the governorship of the state henceforth in the interest of inclusive participation of all ethnic groups in the governance of the multi-ethnic but indivisible state bonded by God Almighty.