• Delta ex-militants oppose Okowa’s re-election
Delta State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant, Prof. Pat Utomi, has called on the electorate to end to the era self-serving leaders, to make the state the envy of others in the country.

Utomi, in a statement made available to The Guardian yesterday after submitting his expression of interest and nomination forms, said he was moved to join the governorship race to contribute to rescue Deltans from rot.

The political economist lamented the level of poverty in the state despite her rich human and material resources.

Meanwhile, a group of ex-agitators from Patani, Bomadi and Burutu, the three key Ijaw councils in Delta State, have sworn not to support the second term ambition of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.

The general secretary, Ebi Enormous, stated that the decision was reached at a crucial meeting held in Patani.

According to the group, the resolution was due to the nonchalance of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the affairs of the state in the last 12 years.

Leader of one of the groups, Columbus Ebipade, explained that most political leaders in the party wanted to score cheap political goals on sensitive security issues to the detriment of the governor.

He, therefore, warned that they would not support any political party that does not have a concrete developmental agenda for the Ijaw in the coming elections.

But Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has urged the All Progressives Congress (APC) and PDP in Rivers State to offer their governorship tickets to Ogoni candidates.

MOSOP president, Legborsi Pyagbara, asserted that 51 years after the creation of Rivers and 28 years after the launch of the Ogoni Bill of Rights (OBR), the Ogoni have continued to be marginalised in the political affairs of Rivers.

Pyagbara told journalists in Port Harcourt that between 1993 and 1998, two major issues had confronted the country: cancellation of the June 12 presidential election and the Ogoni crisis.

MOSOP agitation, he maintained, is situated within the context of the campaign to promote ethnic justice.

He pointed out that of the three ethnic blocs that constitute Rivers, Ogoni is the only bloc that never had the opportunity of producing a governor, deputy governor, House of Assembly speaker or Chief Judge of the state.