Following what has been described as a sham local government election in Delta state, political tension is seriously building up in and around the state, as a youth group, has issued a 14 -day ultimatum to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, the National Assembly and the International Community to respond to their demands or expose Delta state to the incidence of “stray bullets”
The group which calls itself, Delta State Youths Revolutionary Movement (DESTAYOREM) says, it is an organization made up of visionary youth leaders from the three Senatorial Districts of Delta state. A communiqu� issued at the end of a heated state emergency meeting of the group, held in Sapele on May 17, 2008 signed by Com. Omotomo Efiodo (President), Joel Ogoh (Secretary), Ossai Oyebulem (Chairman, Delta North), Barr Tim- Ebiye Frank (Chairman, Delta South) Engr. Omoyoma Emmanuel (Chairman, Delta central) and made available to Niger Delta STANDAND, said they were ready to salvage the political future of Delta state from the destructive hegemonic grip of Ibori, Uduaghan and their cohorts, lamenting that it was agonizing to witness the negative political metamorphosis the whole of Delta state is passing through in the hands of Ibori and Uduaghan since 2006. According to the group, indices on ground in Delta point to a very dangerous situation in which the political future of millions of Deltans is placed in the hands of Ibori and Uduaghan, which they vowed to oppose.
The group observed that Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan has totally enslaved the conscience of members of the Delta State Electoral Tribunal, stating that this explained the reason why the Chairman of the Tribunal gave Uduagahn ample time to pick his own choice of the Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly through the impeachment of the former Speaker and the chairman and councilors of the 25 LGAs of the state. The calculation, the group reasoned, is that the present Speaker, the newly sworn-in LG chairmen and councilors would be used as “rigging machines” to ensure Uduaghan’s return after the annulment of the April, 14, 2007 governorship election.
The group further observed that during the May 10, 2008 LG election innocent electorates waited the whole day for election materials to arrive their respective designated polling centres in vain and alleged that all election materials were taken to PDP factional leaders’ hide outs where the results were written and sent to Asaba to announce their candidates. “The people of Delta state did not see the ballot papers, ballot boxes, polling centres or any other electoral materials meant for the LG election, let alone voting” they said.
The group accused the Delta State Independent Electoral Commission, DSIEC, of deliberately failing to display voters register, polling station designation or create sufficient voters awareness. “The only thing DSIEC did on May 10 was to prepare for an election that insulted and abused the collective sensibilities of all rational people of Delta state, “the communiqu� said.
“We painfully observed that the peace loving people of Delta state have been reduced to the extent that their votes do not count and are completely denied the opportunity of choosing their own leaders, this is a recipe for trouble”. DESTAYOREM remarked. They criticized the statement credited to Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan when he advised those that did not make it at the May 10 LG election to seek redress at the tribunal, as an abuse and insult on the collective sensibilities on the people of Delta whose mandate was stolen in the April 14, 2007 election and “Uduaghan still intends to steal it”
The communiqu� said the youths of Delta state can no longer tolerate the situation where Ibori, Uduaghan and their cohorts continues to evolve a political tradition that will disenfranchise the majority of the people of Delta state forever. In view of the political maladies which have the propensity of forever enslaving the tenets of democratic culture in Delta state and driven by the utmost commitment to save the constitutional rights of the majority of the people of Delta state from being alienated from future political contests, DESTAYOREM therefore gave a 14- day ultimatum to Mr. President, the National Assembly and the International community to urgently: “Order the Delta State Electoral Tribunal to immediately annul the April 14, 2007 governorship election and order a re-run.
“Order Justice Samuel Jaho (rtd), chairman of DSIEC to immediately cancel the May 10, LG election. “Call all the members of the DTHA to order and urge them to unconditionally respect the sanctity of the rule of law and decency. The communiqu� added that “incidences of stray bullets may become a common feature throughout the length and breathe of Delta state if the ultimatum is treated with levity”.