Urhobo Leaders Of Thought under the aegis of Ja R’Urhobo 2023 (Urhobo Y’Oteri) has appealed to Urhobo respected royal fathers, patriotic sons and daughters as well as all associations with the interest of the Urhobos to work in unity towards producing the next governor of Delta State in 2023.
Oja R’Urhobo 2023, a strategic group of Urhobos that comprises of traditional leaders, the Urhobo Progress Union and a conglomeration of Urhobo associations and intelligentsia, has the sole objective of ensuring that an Urhobo of Delta Central becomes the Governor of Delta State in 2023.
In a Communiqué titled, “Our Position On the 2023 Delta State Governorship’ signed by Arc. (Dr.) Chief. O. C. Majoroh, Chief Francis Ifie, Olorogun Edoreh Agbah, Chief Dr. Cecilia Ibru and nineteen other members, the leaders called on all sons and daughters of Urhobo nation to work towards ensuring that only an Urhobo candidate emerge from either of the PDP or APC.
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“It is only through this level of uncommon unity that Urhobo in times past and similar to this, have delivered on a painful objective. Delta State Governor of Urhobo extraction come 2023 is exactly one demanding that call to a common cause: “OJA R’URHOBO”. A task for which we must all unite and sign up to enable us have our say and take our rightful place in Delta State and Nigeria.
“The struggle for an Urhobo Governor of our choosing come 2023 is a rally, infact, AN URGENT MOVEMENT in strong defense of fairness, equity and justice for which our forefathers are renowned. We cannot do anything less after 16 years of waiting for the two other Senatorial Districts to quietly have their turn at the Governor’s desk in ASABA,” the Leaders stated.
The Urhobo Leaders of Thought unanimously condemned and rejected alleged efforts by state sponsored attempts to force any aspirant on the Urhobo nation against the collective will of the Urhobo People, stressing that Urhobos are competent, erudite, independent and industrious and therefore must be allowed to project her own candidates across the political parties.
“2014, Delta North rejected a State anointed aspirant and was solely responsible for projecting her preferred aspirant. So, let it be in 2023 with Delta Central,” they insisted.
The Leaders commended the courage of Urhobo aspirants that have purchased the governorship forms, but, however, noted that the multiplicity of Urhobo aspirants will eventually lead to the fragmentation of Urhobo votes and loss, believing that it will be a miscalculation for Urhobos to go into the primaries with over 10 aspirants.
According to the Leaders,“We do remind Urhobo aspirants that only one person will emerge as Governor at the end of the day. We therefore appeal to all our aspirants to put Urhobo and Delta interest above personal ambition and should be willing to accept the choice of Urhobo sole candidates across the political parties.
“We have put together a set of criteria for the selection of the best candidate to represent Urhobo. The criteria are as follows shall have global & national reach that will be beneficial to Delta State, Offer the best development agenda/manifesto for Delta State, Possess commensurate knowledge relevant to the job at hand and comparable to past Governors from other parts of Delta State including neighbouring States, proven administrative cum political experience, competence/track record across a wide spectrum, Impeccable character and integrity, Combine Pan-Delta Disposition and Urhobo patriotism. We shall use the criteria to evaluate the aspirants and narrow down to the best candidate to represent Urhobo following which he shall be presented to the Urhobo people and ALL of Delta State by our royal fathers, the UPU, Urhobo associations and other stakeholders in Delta State.”
The leaders called on Urhobo brothers and sisters from Delta North and Delta South to support Delta Central as they have always supported them in times past.
“The principle of power rotation implies that it is the TURN of Delta Central and therefore we ask that only URHOBO candidates be allowed to contest the Governorship election across the parties,” the communiqué read.
The communique reads in full;
1. The Oja R’Urhobo 2023 is a strategic group of Urhobos comprising Urhobo traditional leaders, the Urhobo Progress Union and a conglomeration of Urhobo associations and intelligentsia with the objective of ensuring that an Urhobo of Delta Central becomes the Governor of Delta State in 2023.
2.We unanimously affirm that the Delta Central remains one united and indivisible people and therefore all our respected royal fathers, patriotic sons and daughters as well as all associations with Urhobo interest are United for the common good of the Urhobo nation towards producing a Delta State Governor of Urhobo extraction in 2023.
3. It is only through this level of uncommon unity that Urhobo in times past and similar to this, have delivered on a painful objective. Delta State Governor of Urhobo extraction come 2023 is exactly one demanding that call to a common cause: “OJA R’URHOBO”. A task for which we must all unite and sign up to enable us have our say and take our rightful place in Delta State and Nigeria.
4. The struggle for an Urhobo Governor of our choosing come 2023 is a rally, infact, AN URGENT MOVEMENT in strong defense of fairness, equity and justice for which our forefathers are renowned.
We cannot do anything less after 16 years of waiting for the two other Senatorial Districts to quietly have their turn at the Governor’s desk in ASABA. We therefore call on all
sons and daughters of the Urhobo nation to support and work towards delivering an Urhobo Governor by ensuring that only Urhobo candidates emerge from the PDP and the APC.
5. In this regard, We affirm and insist that ONLY Urhobo can determine the best candidate from the Urhobo nation. We unanimously condemn and reject efforts by state sponsored attempts to force any aspirant on the Urhobo nation against the collective will of the Urhobo People.
Urhobo’s are competent, erudite, independent and industrious therefore must be allowed to project her own candidates across the political parties.
In 2014, Delta North rejected a State anointed aspirant and was solely responsible for projecting her preferred aspirant. So, let it be in 2023 with Delta Central.
6. We commend the courage of Urhobo aspirants that have purchased the governorship forms.
However, we note that the multiplicity of Urhobo aspirants will eventually lead to the fragmentation of Urhobo votes and loss. We believe that it will be a miscalculation for us to go into the primaries with over 10 aspirants.
We do remind Urhobo aspirants that only one person will emerge as Governor at the end of the day. We therefore appeal to all our aspirants to put Urhobo and Delta interest above personal ambition and should be willing to accept the choice of Urhobo sole candidates across the political parties.
8. We have put together a set of criteria for the selection of the best candidate to represent Urhobo. The criteria are as follows:
a. Shall have global & national reach that will be beneficial to
Delta State
b. Offer the best development agenda/manifesto for Delta State
c. Possess commensurate knowledge relevant to the job at hand and comparable to past Governors from other parts of Delta
State including neighbouring States
d. Proven administrative cum political experience,
competence/track record across a wide spectrum
e. Impeccable character and integrity
f. Combine Pan-Delta Disposition and Urhobo patriotism
9. We shall use the criteria to evaluate the aspirants and narrow down to the best candidate to represent Urhobo following which he shall be presented to the Urhobo people and ALL of Delta State by our royal fathers, the UPU, Urhobo associations and other stakeholders in Delta State.
10. We call on our brothers and sisters from Delta North and Delta South to support Delta Central as we have always supported them in times past. The principle of power rotation implies that it is the TURN of Delta Central and therefore we ask that only URHOBO candidates be allowed to contest the Governorship election across the parties.
