Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Ward 10, Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State, Hon Chief Julius Egbedi has reacted to an alleged Marginalization claim by party youth, Comrade Victor Odjegba.
Odjegba had in an earlier interview with RERO TV faulted the process of determining the appointment list from Ward 10, Sapele Local Government, by the State Government and also accused Egbedi of Marginalization and not carrying the entire Ward along.
Egbedi however, in a telephone interview with RERO TV, has cleared the air on the matter, revealing that a secret voting was carried out in a Ward leaders meeting to determine names that emerged and also buttressing that he does not segregate or marginalize anyone in the Ward as the process was a full representation of the Ward decision.
“In our ward we have Ward J and K as
Old Ward 10 is divided into two. We have 4 Dsiec Wards, 2 and half on one side and 2 and half on the other.
“In the last dispensation in 2019, we shared it that J brings the adult and K bring the youth but for the woman side we subject to the general ward to look for who is better. In 2019, I was nominated to represent Ward J and then we picked one youth from Ward K while Philo emerged from the woman side. This time we decided that J bring the Youth while K bring the Elder.
“So during the meeting when they nominated for adult male, Ladu Lawrence stood up that he wants to be the sole adult male that they should give him the slot, then someone nominated Chief Austin Opubor while another person nominated Eric. I said as it is, there are already nominees and it will not be fair to give to Ladu. I said they should do election but Ladu felt there was already a gang up against him. I said no gang up that they should do a secret ballot election, because it was an emergency meeting and I will not be around the following week.
“So we did the election and Opubor emerged. When it was time for the youth, Stanley Boss was nominated and nobody was nominated again so Stanley was returned unopposed. We now got to the turn of the women, in all this I never voted so it doesn’t look like I had a favorite. When they voted for the female, Philo won by one vote, so you can see it was a very competitive voting.
“So for someone to say I shortchanged or oppressed some people, I think it is very unfortunate. And again, I don’t even know who that person is for him to claim that he is a leader or a stalwart of Ward 10.
“People just give themselves big names, He does not come to leadership meeting because we don’t know him to be a leader.
“On his accusations that I didn’t carry people along, it is not true as we over carried people along because, according to the template that came, the people that were supposed to vote where not suppose to be more than 10. All the Councillors were there, working committee officers of the Ward were there, past Councillors were there and some political officers were also there, so it was a full representation of the Ward.
“In Ward 10 I try to do things transparently, so I don’t see why someone will be dragging my name on Social media”. He said.
