From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Four members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ndokwa area of Delta State are jostling to run as deputy to the governorship candidate and Speaker of the House of Assembly, Sheriff Francis Oborevwori.
The party chieftains include business mogul, Godswill Obielum, Deputy Speaker, Christopher Ochor, Commissioner for Finance, Fidelis Tilije and Chairman of Board of Internal Revenue, Monday Onyeme.
Daily Sun learnt that the deputy governorship slot was exclusively zoned to Ndokwa area of Delta North senatorial district following sharing of political offices to address issues of marginalisation and imbalance in the political equation in the state.
Sources said the decision was reached after series of meetings with Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, who is also the PDP vice presidential candidate for the 2023 general election and party chieftains in Delta North.
Although, about eight persons from the Ndokwa area had indicated interest, the list was pruned down to four in the series of meetings.
The governorship candidate, Oborevwori, in consultation with Governor Okowa and PDP leadership is expected to pick his running mate from the four.
Okowa is said to be favouring Onyeme as possible running mate but Ochor is also pulling the strings having worked closely with Oborevwori as deputy speaker in the past three years.
Sources claimed that Ochor dropped his ambition to return to the House on the grounds of micro-zoning within Ukwuani constituency where a section said it was their turn to produce the next representative.
On the other hand, is Tilije, an economist, who joined PDP after losing the governorship of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2015.
Tilije, who also hails from Ukwuani like Ochor, has been in Okowa’s government since 2015 first as commissioner for Water Resources and later commissioner for Finance.
Obielum’s chances of being picked appear slim as he hails from Ndokwa East Local Government Area which is also the locality of the PDP candidate for Ndokwa/Ukwuani federal constituency, Ezechi Nnamdi.
