*Optimistic Of PDP’s Victory In Council Poll

*Late Arrival Of Personnel, Materials Reported

*Thomas Berates DSIEC For Hitches In Polls

*IPAC Lauds Security Agencies

BY GODWIN IJEDIOGOR

DELTA State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, said the state government had no issue with Supreme Court’s judgment on Thursday, July 11, reaffirming local government autonomy, even as he expressed satisfaction with the transparency of the local government election in the state on Saturday, July 13, saying the transparency of the exercise reflected his personal faith in democracy and due process.

    Oborevwori stressed that the state government had over the years supported financial autonomy for the legislature and judiciary.

    Speaking to journalists shortly after voting at Unit 33, Osubi Ward 6 in Okpe Local Council, the governor said the state believed in autonomy of the local government; hence he did not constitute caretaker committees to run their affairs at the end of the tenure of the immediate past chairmen and councillors.

    According to him: “When I came in, I did not constitute transition committees here in Delta State, because I am not in support of transition committees and the Heads of Personnel Management (HPMs) were in charge for three months to enable us conduct elections, and today, we are having our elections and early next week, those who won would be sworn in.

“The Supreme Court judgment has no effect here in Delta State, because we don’t tamper with local government funds. As a former speaker of the House of Assembly, we were in the forefront of the issue of autonomy for the legislature and judiciary. So, that judgment does not affect us here in Delta State.

“In the past, the state government cleared monies owed by local governments in the state. JAAC (the Joint Accounts Allocation Committee) is just a monitoring process to ensure transparency.”

    On the election, Oborevwori expressed satisfaction with the transparency of the exercise, insisting it remained free and fair.

    “When we did the grand finale of our rally in Asaba, I said that we want free and fair elections, and that is what we are doing now.

    “I came through that same process of free and fair elections and with all the opposition, I won by a very wide margin. I have been up since monitoring the process and now, I am here to cast my vote and having cast my vote, I am sure that the PDP will be victorious.

    “This election is a litmus test for 2027 elections, which will show whether we are doing well, in line with our MORE Agenda, or not. For now, we are not borrowing to execute any project. We are doing our best for Deltans and we will continue to do more in the coming years,” he stated.

    The governor urged the incoming local government chairmen and councillors to be focused and not distracted, being the closest government to the people at the grassroots.

On his part, Deputy Governor, Monday Onyeme, described the elections as peaceful.

In a chat with journalists shortly after casting his votes at Unit 11, Ward 10, Ibabu, Onicha-Ukwuani in Ndokwa West Local Council, Onyeme, who arrived the venue at 10: 20am, with his wife, Ezinne Catherine, cast his votes at 10:27am after accreditation.

He said the PDP remained the party to beat in the elections, expressing optimism that its rigorous campaign, as well as the PDP-led government’s delivering of the M. O. R .E Agenda, with projects to showcase across the state would give it victory.

“We are expecting 100 per cent votes for the PDP in this Ward. This is the Ward people look up to in the local government, we don’t have any fear at all about victory for the PDP. I am confident that our party will win, as other political parties did not engage in any form of campaign, so I wonder how they want to get victory.

“PDP has a lot of projects and programmes to campaign with, whereas the opposition had nothing, so you can obviously know the outcome.

    Immediate past governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, and his wife, Edith,cast their votes around 2.50pm at Unit 17, Eghoma Primary School, Owa-Alero in Ika North East Local Council.     He said despite the early morning rain, voter turnout was impressive and the process has been peaceful.

“I encourage all eligible voters to come out and exercise their right to vote. Every vote matters and this is a crucial step in shaping our future,” he stated.

     The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) lauded security agencies in the state for ensuring peace and creating a safe atmosphere for the election.

     Its state Chairman, Prince Henry Eze, told journalists while monitoring the elections in Asaba that the election was generally peaceful and encouraging, as observed in the polling units visited and as reported by IPAC members across the state.

    He stated: “We have been going around, covering polling units in Oshimili South Local Council and things were moving on smoothly at the units; no fighting, no thuggery.

    “The security agencies lived up to expectations, matching their words with actions. We met with the state Commissioner for Police (CP), Mr. Olufemi Abaniwonda, who assured us of adequate security, and what he said is what we are seeing today.”

     Eze said that about 10 political parties participated in the election, including the PDP, All Progressives Congress (APC), Labour Party (LP) and Action Alliance (AA), adding that in line with the all-inclusive electoral goal of IPAC, people with disabilities were seen voting in some of the polling units monitored in Asaba.

     The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that voting was also peaceful at Ward 13, Units 3 and 30 in Okpanam area of Oshimili North Local Council.

Meanwhile, the senator representing Delta South at the National Assembly, Joel-Onowakpo Thomas, strongly condemned the Delta State Independence Electoral Commission (DSIEC) for failing to release sensitive electoral materials, including result sheets and ballot papers, for the local government council elections.

Speaking at Emede in Isoko South Council, the APC senator accused DSIEC of colluding with the ruling PDP to deny residents their fundamental rights to vote, effectively rendering the election invalid.

He alleged that the PDP, aware of APC’s readiness to take over local government affairs, conspired with DSIEC to manipulate the electoral process, saying the PDP-led government had once again undermined the state’s democratic heritage.

“Democracy worldwide is about the will of the people, but DSIEC and the PDP have conspired to deny citizens their right to elect local government leaders. This is undemocratic and unacceptable,” he stated, even as he stressed that the non-release of sensitive materials constitutes electoral fraud and compromises the election’s integrity.

While commending the Federal Government and Supreme Court for taking steps towards local government autonomy, he called for constitutional amendment to transfer the power to constitute state electoral commissions from state governors to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

“Until INEC takes over local government elections, we cannot guarantee the true autonomy of the third tier of government,” the senator said.

In some parts of the state, there were delays in the arrival of some voting materials at the polling units. For example, as at 11am, materials and personnel were still being awaited at many Wards in the upland, while the situation was worse in the riverine areas of Bomadi, Patani and Burutu Local Councils.

This may have been compounded by the early morning rain in some parts of the state, which ostensibly disrupted the distribution of electoral materials to voting units and centres.

The election of council chairmen and councillors was held in the 5,863 polling units, 500 wards and 25 local councils of the state.