KACHIKWU AND THE LEADERSHIP OF DELTA APC

By Barr. Jesutega Onokpasa

His Largeness, our distinguished Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Babachir Lawal, recently gave Dr. Ibe Kachikwu matching orders to take over the Delta State chapter of our party, the All Progressives Congress, APC. He apparently selectivey invited Delta APC members to his office or at anynrate was invited by them to his own office. Unless, Lawal does not mean well for the APC in Delta one simply has to wonder what he is up to. Recently, Her Excellency, Asia Buhari had complained bitterly about the direction of the administration Lawal is Secretary of, echoing the bitterness of genuine APC members that strangers and opportunists had come to reap where we sowed. As if to add insult to injury, Lawal proceeded to powerlessly empower Kachikwu to takeover our state party when Kkachikwu is the very poster child of the sort of persons we are entirely exasperated with, in the party.

If I may ask, how is someone like Olorogun O’tega Emerhor supposed to tell his core supporters, who make up the genuine APC as an opposition party in Delta, that Kachikwu is now their leader. Indeed, with utmost due respect to O’tega, how does he proceed to tell someone like me, for instance that Kachikwu is now our leader. How might our honourable SGF, imagine that O’tega will be able to perform that miracle? If O’tega were to come to me for instance and make such a pronouncement, what would he be expecting of me other than to rebel on the spot! How in this world can Kachikwu, the kindergarten politician – if at all, he is even a politician in the first place – be in a legitimate position to lead Delta APC?

How does Victor Ochei, for instance, legitimately accept Kachikwu as his leader? Which Victor is supposed to be led by Kachikwu? The Victor who succeeded in building a pan-Deltan coalition that stands to this day? Ochei a pan-Deltan leader is now supposed to be led by Kachikwu who cannot even lead Aniocha North? Can Kkachikwu lead Onicha-Ugbo? So is Ochei now supposed to come to me and say Kachikwu is now his leader? Does he not know what I will say to him in response? Pardon the expression but a whole Victor of all people, and Kachikwu suddenly became the leader of our Victor. Because he is a Minister or what?

Differences aside – and come to think of it, differences ought no longer to exist given that we are now under the same platform – how does Great Ogboru tell his supporters that Kachikwu is now his leader? Ogboru, of all people, is now supposed to address his millions of fans to the effect that a complete political nonentity like Kachikwu is his leader? Does Ogboru want his supporters to abandon him or what? What is SGF trying to do to our brand here in Delta?

How is Kachikwu supposed to lead Uncle Spanner Okpozo, Uncle Patrick Ideh or Uncle Hyacinth Enuha? Kachikwu will be leader where Frank Kokori and Alex Ideh are or what are we supposed to make of the SGF’s imperious pontification? How does he expect the likes of Okpozo, Ideh, Kokori, Enuha and co to sell this putrid idea to the rest of the party?

How is Kachikwu supposed to lead where Olisa Akamukali is a leader? From nowhere he is just supposed to come and suddenly emerge as a leader where we worked? Who does SGF think he is imposing Kachikwu as a leader over? The Kachikwu we don’t know will just walk with a swagger into our midst and hold dominion over whom?

Is Kachikwu not Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s de facto nominee for ministership? When we opposed Kachikwu’s nomination, who defended Kachikwu? Is it not agents drafted, bankrolled and orchestrated by the Okowa led PDP administration that continues to mislead Delta State? So Kachikwu the preferred Minister of Okowa of PDP is now supposed to lead us in Delta APC or what? We are now a branch of Delta PDP or what? Who does the honourable SGF think he is talking to? His children or what? Then he proceeded to sarcastically lampoon our party’s national leadership over what? That you are SGF automatically makes you a national leader in the capacity of one entitled to upbraid the likes of Odigie-Oyegun and co? Are we back in PDP or what?

How do people even reason? Here in Delta, PDP is our common enemy as an opposition. Yet the only one fighting PDP is O’tega. Initially when this meaningless factionalisation started, I was invited by Uncle Spanner to their meeting. Alright, you have a problem with O’tega, but while we are resolving that, can we at least prove our mettle as a viable opposition by attacking the worthless PDP that has held our people in bondage since 1999? Nobody seemed interested. It was O’tega this and O’tega that. Is it O’tega of our own APC that we are supposed to be fighting in the first place? The irony is that the entirety of the actual opposition to PDP in Delta is an O’tega led opposition. Only O’tega is actually fighting PDP in Delta State! None of the other factions are fighting Okowa and PDP and in fact many of their members whom the SGF imperiously hosted in Abuja seem to have no problem with Okowa and have been cited for anti-party activities in favour of PDP!

When last did we hear from our lovely sister, Temi Harriman against Delta PDP? When last did Uncle Spanner and his group rail against the PDP? As for the political hustler, Ayiri Emami, who is, as far as I am concerned, not even a member of our party, when last did he pick a fight that was not against his supposed fellow party members? This is the utter clown who led a bunch of miscreants against Justin Rewane, a man he can never be a mate of in politics. How does Uncle Spanner and co explain the fact that all their energies are geared towards fighting their fellow party members instead of us all closing ranks and focusing on PDP our common enemy? Who is fooling who or supposed to be fooling who?

How does Olorogun O’tega Emerhor tell any of us that Kachikwu is now his leader? Does he want a full-blown rebellion on his hands or what? I, for one, will surely rebel, without any apologies to anyone. Is it that O’tega misled us to join APC only to mess us up by subscribing to the entirely illegitimate and unfounded leadership of Kachikwu. We are waiting for the Latin, Ancient Egyptian and Sanskrit in which Babachir Lawal’s esoteric message would have to be delivered to have any chance of coherence.

So O’tega is not fit to lead? Is it the same O’tega who has finally succeeded in removing some degree of shame from our faces by placing the state chapter of the party in a fighting position against the PDP vide the few political appointments, Mr. President has been gracious enough to grant our state? Who in Delta APC is more entitled to complain than O’tega? Yet when you complain about the party to him, al he has to say is “be patient, Mr. President has not forgotten us”.

So the SGF is in what capacity entitled to summon certain people to Abuja and unilaterally canonize Kachikwu as state leader while casting aspersions on the National Working Committee of our party? So Lawal is now unilaterally entitled to appoint for us a leader where the Odigie-Oyeguns of our political firmament stand? With utmost respect, our dear SGF is not in any way entitled to disparage the national leadership of our party, nor is he in any position whatsoever to go over the head of our South-South Chairman to appoint for us in Delta, a state leader for our chapter. If he likes he can block my name from any appointment that comes across his table as SGF. He once lived and worked in Warri and should know how our people reason. If you disrespect us, we will torment you, no matter who you are or think you are. Kachikwu is not our leader, he is not even, properly speaking, a member of our party. How might he proceed to lead us? Lead who? Lead me? Is it for Kachikwu to lead me or for me to lead him? What has the world come to?

Kachikwu is not our leader and can never be. He cannot even lead his ward for God’s sake! He certainly cannot lead where the O’tegas, the Okpozos, the Akamukalis, the Idehs, the Kokoris, the Enuhas, and other leaders stand unless honour has left the world. He may lead clowns like Ayiri and co but he certainly cannot lead me and there is no leader in Delta APC that will come to me and convince me that a complete political nonentity like Kachikwu is now our leader.

If ever Kachikwu will lead in any capacity, he will have to humble himself, pay his dues, prove himself to us and be held by the hand by the leaders we know. He is certainly not coming to lead over O’tega and it is not even up to O’tega himself to say Kachikwu is now our leader. O’tega is the one who brought us into the party, he is the one who sold Mr. President to us, he is the leader we know and very respectfully, he himself knows that he will have us to contend with should he tell us that suddenly, Kachikwu is now our leader. Humbly, we are lions; respectfully, who is Kachikwu?

Barr. Jesutega Onokpasa, wrote from Warri, Delta State.

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