A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Delta State, Cairo Ojougboh, has revealed why the ambition of senator Ovie Omo-Agege to govern the oil rich southern state did not materialise.
Recall that Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Sheriff Oborevwori, was declared the winner of the March 18 gubernatorial election.
Oborevwori scored 360,234 votes to beat his closest rival of the APC, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, who got 240,229 and the Labour Party candidate, Ken Pela, who polled 48,047 votes.
Speaking on the election, Ojougboh said two major factors contributed to Omo-Agege loss at the polls.
He disclosed that the former deputy senate president lost the 2023 governorship election in the state because he is an Igbe worshiper.
He also asserted that Omo-Agege the defeat suffered by the APC governorship candidate is not unconnected with the fact that he is a citizen of the United States of America.
Ojougboh, a former Director of Projects in the immediate past interim board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, was expelled from APC after the elections after he was accused of anti-party activities in the February 25th and March 18th elections.
And in an earlier statement, Ojougboh alleged that the Deputy President of the Senate was behind his purported expulsion from the APC.
Appearing on Arise TV’s The Morning Show on Wednesday morning, he gave his opinion on what he believed were the reasons Deltans did not vote for the APC candidate in the state.
“As people know me, I speak the truth and I don’t hide from the truth. If telling the party the truth is anti-party, then it’s unfortunate,” he said.
“But I know I haven’t committed any form of anti-party. Because it’s not today that myself and leaders of the Council of APC in Delta State have spoken and made our points known that Omo-Agege cannot win the election.
“I refer you to Section 183(1a) of the Constitution of Nigeria which talks about the citizenship of a governorship aspirant…it is very clear. He holds an American passport.
“He is a citizen of the United States of America, and he cannot win an election and told the party. Who’s going to listen to him in court?
“The documents of his citizenship are there. We sat with Senator Adamu Abdullahi and told him why Omo-Agege cannot win the election and why the party cannot be left for OmoAgege.
“We told him number one, Deltans are very sceptical about voting for somebody who belongs to Igbe Society. I have where the Igbe Society met and declared that when Omo-Agege becomes Governor of Delta State, they will worship Igbe in the government house.
“That they will have a chapter of Igbe in the government house. We went further to tell him that he must carry everybody along for him to win the election in Delta State.
“Everything about Omo-Agege is commercial. They said they were going to worship Igbe in the government house when Omo-Agege becomes governor and Deltans looked at it and said they’d not allow that.”