Delta PDP kicks off council polls campaigns, challenges opposition to do same

Ahead next January’s local council polls in Delta State, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday kicked off campaign for the election.

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has also called on members of the party to remain united and committed to the ideals of the party for it to emerge victorious.

Amid fanfare, Okowa told the crowd at Isele Uku, headquarters of Aniocha North Local Council where he kick-started the campaigns that as a democrat, he strongly believes that people’s votes must count in every election.

He said: “We campaign vigorously, we start early and sustain the campaign till the end. You cannot sit in your house and expect to win elections. You have to tell the people what you have.”

After the primaries, he said that he was glad there was no crisis in the party in any part of the state.

At Akwukwu-Igbo, Oshimili North Local Council, Okowa said that he was happy to announce that despite the recession that affected the country, his administration was not indebted to civil servants and has executed several projects across the state, including the construction of bridges to connect Ijaw communities to the upland.

At Asaba, Oshimili South Local Council, Okowa commended the people for their support for his administration, assuring them that the PDP government would continue to deliver on its electoral promises.

Delta State Chairman of the PDP, Mr. Kingsley Esiso, expressed confidence that it would win at the polls, claiming there was no other political party in the state.

He challenged other political parties especially the All Progressives Congress (APC) to come out and campaign instead of crying foul when they have been thoroughly trounced at the forthcoming polls.

A former Deputy Governor of Delta State, Chief Benjamin Elue, an erstwhile member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Ndudi Elumelu, PDP chieftains such as Mr. Emeka Nnwobi, commissioners Chief Nkem Okwuofu and Chief Dan Okenyi, among others, who spoke at the rally, said that Okowa’s giant steps in the delivery of democratic dividends had made the campaign for the PDP candidates in the area easy as his actions had endeared the party to the people.

At Akwukwu-Igbo, the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Patrick Ukah, leaders of the party in the area in the likes of Mrs. Pat Ajudua, Dr. Austin Obidi, among others, assured Okowa that it belongs to the PDP.

However, ahead of the 2018 local council elections, the state police command has said that to ensure adequate security for free and fair elections, 24,229 officers and men, comprising 3,624 units, and 466 wards across the state have been deployed.

Police Commissioner Zana Ibrahim told journalists yesterday in Asaba that many of them are from Zone 5 and neighbouring states such as Abia, Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Imo, Kogi, Ondo, Osun and Rivers.

Ibrahim disclosed that the command was collaborating with sister security agencies for the polls.