Hon Ernest Mereh was former Councillor for Udu ward One under the PDP platform. He has served as Supervisor for Finance in the Council as well as other positions in the state having been a pioneer member of the party. He is currently a Special Assistant to the Governor of Delta state on Political Affairs. In this interview moderated by Tobore Akpososo, Hon Mereh declared that 2024 was the turn of Udu South to produce the next Council Chairman. He also Xrayed the problems of the PDP in Udu, proffering solutions to the setbacks Udu PDP had suffered lately. Excerpts:
Throw some lights on the challenge of opposition politics in Udu.
Mereh: Right from the beginning, Udu had been treated as an opposition local government council. This can be traced to 1999 when Udu sons and daughters in politics converge at Otor-Udu for a meeting anchored by Late Chief Kpoke Oyeye. The purpose of the meeting was to find ways to make Udu key into a virile political party ahead of the birth of the 4th republic. A delegation was sent to Abuja comprising of Senator Fred Brume, Engr Moses Kragha, and Chief Austin Ogbaburhon to brainstorm with the powers that be on how Udu could align with the major political forces that were emerging at the time. More meetings were held and later those who went to Abuja briefed the people on their findings. Fred Brume argued that Udu should align with the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP but Moses Kragha insisted on the, All Peoples Party, APP. Ogbaburhon was however undecided. The root of this disagreement was the ambition of Moses Kragha, who wanted to run for Governor which was in conflict with Fred Brume’s ambition to run for senate. From that moment, Udu was in a state of confusion with regards which political party to align with. At the end of the meeting which was inconclusive, majority of Udu people settled for Udu to go for governor. That was why most notable politicians in Udu aligned with the APP on the argument that the Governor was better than the senate. That accounted for Udu becoming the base for the opposition APP. PDP was seemingly abandoned leaving only Chief P. C. Okorode, Chief Eddie Ono-Sorhue, Hon Love Okoro, Sir Pat Willie, Chief Moses Odibo, Okiemute Dukuye, Lawrence Oyeye, who were left in the party. Getting the party to stand in Udu became difficult until Ogbaburhon, Eddie Ono-Sorhue and a few other figures join forces to build the PDP in Udu. At that point, during the council election which held before the governorship elections, APP won 6 of the 10 council seats, PDP 3 council seats and UPP one seat. The Council Chairman was Chief O.A Orugbo of the APP. The people that stood for the PDP at the time were Chief Eddie Ono-Sorhue who produced his councilor in Hon Eki Afuevure, P.C Okorode produced me, Hon Ernest Mereh as councilor, and Ogbaburhon who produced Hon Harvest Igben for Ward 9. This underscores the fact that when Ogbaburhon and Chief Sorhue settled for PDP, the party became strong.
Immediately after Orugbo won, PDP now had a formidable opposition ahead of the Governorship election. We knew what we were going into and we were prepared for real battle. Eddie Sorhue was the Local government collation officer who deployed his mastery of the game to ensure Ward 5 result, where the APP governorship candidate, Moses Kragha came from was cancelled. That of the House of Assembly candidate for APP from ward 7 was also cancelled to deal a debilitating blow on the APP. All these efforts were put in place to ensure PDP stood firm. Udu was recognized in Asaba. We fought well. But the House of Representatives seat was lost to Emmanuel Aguariavwodo of the then APP. The party agreed that Fred Brume should be candidate for senate on the PDP platform, but Austin Ogbaburhon, who was poised to clinch the House of Representatives ticket, was asked to let go since both positions cannot come from same local government. This argument affected Ogbaburhon’s chances. It was a chaotic situation. However, with the victory of Brume, Ogbaburhon’s pains were overlooked and he settled for the position of State Vice Chairman of the PDP.
So what happened after the 1999 elections that PDP continue to wobble in Udu?
Mereh: After the 1999 gubernatorial election ably won by Chief James Ibori, the PDP firmly took over the reign of governance of the state. Immediately after Ibori settled down, the problem between Senator Fred Brume and the Governor started. Brume was blackmailed by some elements that he lacked respect for Ibori. Yet Brume insisted that Ibori was his son, which his traducers saw as disrespect for the Governor. Udu was blackmailed into a tight corner as a result and political patronage denied the people. Moses Odibo was the only person admitted from Udu into the engine room of government. Brume was left in the cold and Moses Odibo was brought into the PDP caucus. Later a division emerged between Ogbaburhon and Fred Brume. Odibo inherited Brume’s followers in the party while Ogbaburhon retained his hold by building his own support base. This later led to creation of two factions in the party, Udu Forum led by Moses Odibo and AYIP (Association of Youths in Politics) led by Ogbaburhon. The party became sharply divided and the problem in Udu started from this highly divisive polarization. The confusion continued when the 2003 polls held. PDP was able to bring the local government to PDP, the three PDP councilors stood firm but the AYIP and Udu Forum factions continued into the 2003 polls. When Udu Forum wanted to return Hon Gordon Okpako to the Delta State House of Assembly, DTHA, AYIP refused and supported Hon Johnbull Asun instead for the PDP ticket. The confusion was so stiff that the primary election for the party flag-bearer for DTHA went into a re-run which was later disallowed by the state and Okpako became the candidate. Harvest Igben who was a councilor under PDP defected to APP to fly the party flag. There were infighting and the rest is now history. Papa Sefia was drafted in to lead the party as Chairman of Elders Council and Okpako lost the general election to Igben of the APP. The acrimony has continued till date wearing different toga. I must say that despite everything that happened, Senator Brume deserved all the respect as a leader of the party.
Let us hear your view on the coming Council election.
Mereh: On the Issue of Council Chairman, I must say it loud and clear that this is the turn of Udu South. Udu is naturally divided into two blocs formerly called Udu Urban and Udu rural but now called Udu North and South. I can say without mincing words that Udu was divided by divine unction. Udu North has five wards and the south also five wards. Ward one is Otor-Udu and Oghior, Ward two comprises of Owhrode, Erhiephihor and Ovworhokpokpor, ward three villages are Ogbe-Udu, Ukpiovwin, Okolor-waterside and Okolor-Inland, Ward four has Ubogo, Emadadja, Ugbisi, Obubu, Ekrota and Ukperheren, while Ward 8 comprises of Egini, Ujevwu, Oleri and Egiegi. These are all towns and villages in Udu South. For Udu North, we have ward 5, comprising of Opete and Okpaka, ward 6, Ekete and Owhase, ward 7, Ovwian, ward 9 Orhuwhorun, DSC Townships and Igbogidi while ward 10 is Aladja with some smaller villages including Ayama and Epame. This is clear that Udu is divided into two. Ogbaburhon was Council Chairman of Okpe LGC, and when he later contested for Chairman of Udu LGC under the defunct Democratic Party of Nigeria, Patrick Ariole was his Vice Chairman because we were still reckoning with the Okpe configuration at the time. When Orugbo became Chairman from the South, his Vice Chairman, Sakpra was from Udu north. When Ariole from Opete, Udu North became Chairman after him, his vice chairman, Joseph Idia was from Ukpiovwin in Udu south. Sakpra from Ward 7 became Chairman, his Vice, Emma Masheni from Ogbe-Udu was from south, even when Masheni died, his replacement, John Tereh was also from south. Kpomah was Chairman from south and Esther Omene became his Vice Chairman from Ovwian, Udu north. When JIte Brown became Chairman from Aladja in Udu North, his Vice Chairman was Justice Iyasere from Egini in Udu south. During his second tenure, his Vice Chairman also came from the south in the person of Barr Mrs Elohor Awinoron. This analysis alone underscores the uniqueness of the North-South divide in Udu. PDP has given Udu South only one Chairmanship ticket since 1998, while the north has been given the Chairmanship ticket five times through Dr Million, Ariole, Sakpra and Jite Brown.
But there is one argument that Udu south cannot retain Chairman of Council when Commissioner and DESOPADEC Commissioner are from the south. What is your take on this?
Mereh: The position of Commissioner and other appointments are prerogative of the Governor. Even though sometimes we use them to balance political equation, that is not justification to deny Udu south of their slot. The argument that if the two Commissioners are from the south and we add Council Chairman to it from south, Udu North would be weak is not true. Udu north had always been weak. For a zone that had the Commissioner, House of Assembly member and Council Chairman all to themselves consecutively for two tenures yet could not deliver, what lame man excuse is that?. They lost the last two elections. They should go and find out what the problem is with them. They cannot occupy all the positions in the name of seeking for ways to win election. If they don’t know their problem, let me tell them for free. The leaders of the party in Udu North are not in control of the votes from the Urban areas. They have lost elections not because of elective positions they do not occupy, but the complicated political control of their towns. This is the turn of Udu south and if they want to win elections they should tackle their problems from the root.
Can you throw some more lights on the weakness of Udu North?
Mereh: Okay, first let us examine the outcome of the last gubernatorial elections for us to understand what is happening. In ward one, PDP score 942 votes, APC score 999 votes. We lost with 57 votes in ward One. In Ward two, PDP scored 766 votes while APC got 729 votes. We won with 37 votes. In Ward three, APC scored 918 to 932 for PDP. We won with 14 votes. In Ward four, APC Scores 1,068 votes while PDP Scored 871 votes. We lost with 197 votes. Ward Five, PDP Scored 453 votes, APC Scored 484 votes. We lost with 81 votes. Ward six, APC scored 1,152 votes, PDP got 678 votes. We lost with 474 votes. In Ward seven, PDP Scored 1,287 votes and APC Scored 1,421 votes. We lost with 134 votes. In Ward Eight, APC Scored 1,431 votes and PDP got 1,042. PDP lost with 389. Now the big one, in Ward Nine, APC Scored 3,225 votes to PDP scores of 1.074. We lost with over 2,000 votes. Then In Aladja, Udu ward ten, APC Scored, 1,727 while PDP Scored 1,701. We lost with 26 votes. This underscores the fact that PDP lost Udu because of the woeful performance of the party in Udu North. This is as a result of urbanization. Our leaders are not in control of the votes from the Urban areas. We must do something about these areas or else we will continue to post disappointing results from those areas. This is not a matter of taking the Chairman to North or South. We insist that it is due for the south to produce the next Chairman. The immediate past Chairman was from the North, he just completed his two tenures. Except you want to call the southern politicians fools and they don’t know what they are doing. For us to get adequate support in the future, this is the turn of the south.
What of transition government at the local government level?
Mereh: Yes the south has been considered in this regard. But the north too had their fair share of Chairmanship of the Council under transition regimes. In 1999, after Orugbo tenure, Sorhue was Chairman. After Ariole there was Kpomah. Later Sokoh was appointed and later Edijala. But these are matters of appointment. They are not tenured. Elections are between DTHA and Council Chairman. For DTHA, the South got it in 1999 and later got the ticket in 2003 but lost the general election. In 2007, Edjoghene Onoseme lost his election with PDP ticket, the same thing happened to Moses Odibo. So the south has been considered for DTHA. Also for the North, Sakpra got the ticket and lost it to Keston Okoro. Jite Brown just lost to Egbetamah in the last election. So for House of Assembly, there had been a fair distribution of the party ticket. But not the Chairman of the Council, this is a different ball game altogether. Now is the turn of the south. Whoever thinks the party will give the ticket to Udu North is day dreaming. I insist, now is the turn of Udu South.
Now can you analyze the politics of Ward 9?
Mereh: Ward 9 is critical to Udu politics because of their huge population. When Ogbaburhon and Sorhue came back fully in the PDP, the party became very strong. Then Chief B.J Egbetamah had not entered into full politics. He was supporting candidates of interest with his Awareness Group. At that time Orhuwhorun was galvanized to mobilize Udu towards progress. But later the group mobilized for Moses Kragha and Andrew Orugbo. When Ogbaburhon was played out of the HoR ticket, Orhuwhorun became angry and they voted against the PDP in the HoR election. This was the genesis of our woes. Ogbaburhon was highly respected. Most time he also listened to his followers. In 1999, he chose a candidate for councilor but on the protest of the youths, he accepted the candidate of the youths and dropped his own. In most case, his candidate is the candidate of Orhuwhorun. Once he is unable to push his candidate through, Orhuwhorun becomes uncontrollable. Ogbaburhon was opposed to Gordon Okpako in favour of Johnbull Asun and Orhuwhorun mobilized against PDP and we lost that election. Orhuwhorun politics is about opposition. It is not just about having their son in the ballot. Recall that Orhuwhorun supported Uviejitobor in 2015, but when he joined the PDP in 2019, Uviejitobor struggled to win. The implication is that Orhuwhorun has fallen into the hands of the opposition. It is not just about their son but what they desire. The stranger element in Orhuwhorun is a factor. Go to Odjikpata, Owhrode road, Egini road, DSC and Igbogidi, you will understand that the power of the non-indigenes have become very critical and overwhelming. They control the votes in Orhuwhorun and we must address this matter so as to mobilize the people for the PDP. The Urban part of Udu has been taken over by the opposition because of the stranger-elements or settlers. They don’t bloody care who wins and they control overwhelming number of votes. So we must address their pains or we will continue to have problems. The fact is that we are our own problem and we must look inward for solution.
