Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, has responded strongly to a recent statement made by Senator Ned Nwoko, dismissing the claim that he plans to leave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC) as completely false and baseless.
The allegation surfaced over the weekend when Senator Nwoko, who represents Delta North, told a cheering audience in Agbor during a political event that Governor Oborevwori was trying to join the APC.
He said, “Oborevwori wants to come to the APC, but tell him to stay where he is. He will be defeated. We don’t want him in the APC.”
Nwoko himself had recently moved from the PDP to the APC and was speaking at the defection ceremony of members of the Delta Unity Group, a socio-political group that also left the PDP for the APC.
In response, the Delta State Government, through the Director-General of the Delta State Orientation and Communications Bureau, Dr. Fred Oghenesivbe, said there is no truth in the claim. He firmly denied any plan by Governor Oborevwori to defect, and urged the senator to provide clear proof if he truly had any.
“We don’t have time for Ned Nwoko,” Oghenesivbe said in a phone interview with The PUNCH on Monday. “We have spoken extensively on this issue before now, myself and even the commissioner, Charles Aniagwu, that the governor is not defecting.”
Oghenesivbe went on to question the basis of Nwoko’s statement. “Did Governor Sheriff tell Nwoko that he is coming to the APC? You, journalists, should ask Ned Nwoko whether Sheriff approached him that he is coming to APC,” he said.
“If Oborevwori didn’t approach Nwoko that he’s coming to the APC, where did Nwoko get that information, for him to even be saying Sheriff is not welcome in the APC? It doesn’t make sense to anybody.”
The governor’s media team insists that he remains loyal to the PDP and is focused on governing the state. They noted that such claims by political figures like Nwoko are distractions and have no bearing on the actual commitment and plans of the governor.
