By Xajo Iweta OROBUKOGBAKE
An alleged attempt to forcefully administer an oath on some delegates of the Peoples Democratic Party in Delta State in the ongoing party primaries is said to be rocking the party since last weekend.
It was learnt that some delegates of the PDP in Oshimili South Local Government Area had to physically resist the attempt by a former Chairman of the party in the state, Chief Edwin Uzor, to administer the oath on them.
It was further learnt that on the evening of Saturday, May 21, the ex-party chief, who had invited some of the delegates to his house, after initial reception and exchange of banters, changed the topic and started talking about the need to be loyal, and respect constituted authority and toe party lines.
He eventually opened up on the oath-taking plan as a sure way to guarantee their loyalty and assurances of voting a particular candidate in the forthcoming Governorship primary said to be the anointed candidate.
He was said to have declared that he was just a messenger as the directive was from ‘above’ to all party leaders in the state down to local government areas and wards in Delta North to do so with all their delegates.
It was learnt that this did not go down well with the delegates as some of them protested the attempt to mortgage their conscience and by extension their future in apparent disregard for their faith.
Some of the delegates, it was learnt, audaciously asked if it was not the height of hypocrisy for the ‘man above, who professes godliness at every church event in the state’ to embark on an ungodly way just to coral their votes for a governorship primary?
Unable to bear with Chief Uzor’s unrelenting pressure and threats for them to take the oath, the spokesman of the delegates (name withheld) shut him down, insisting that the delegates will not partake in the ceremony.
This was said to have angered Chief Uzor, and he, alongside Mr. Izuka Okolo, Smart Meka, Darlington and Dada Okonji, who were also present, made to seize the phones of the delegates, a move that was vehemently resisted by most of the delegates.
The threat by the spokesman of the delegates to hold a press conference where he would expose the entire episode made Edwin Uzor to softpedal on his planned action.
The delegates were, however, pleaded with not to be annoyed by the development after which they were taken to different hotels in the LG area.
However, a top government source confirmed that indeed there was a secret order from the Government to PDP Leaders in the Local Government Areas of the Senatorial District to take their delegates through an oath of allegiance. The source also confirmed that the leaders were also ordered to take control of the mobile phones of their delegates so as to cut off communication with the camps of other governorship aspirants.
Attempts to reach the PDP Publicity Secretary in the state for comments were not successful as calls made to his mobile number did not go through.
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It was reliably gathered from various sources that the alleged oath saga has created palpable fears in the minds of most delegates in the State, particularly, those of the northern part of the state, where the masterminds want to score one hundred percent in the primary election, given the fact that their candidate is quite unpopular in other parts of the state.
It cannot be confirmed how many of the Local Government leaders have successfully executed this order as at press time. It is, however, believed that given the resistance put up by the delegates in Uzor’s house, the planned act would likely achieve little or no success.