Government Tompolo’s Anointed Candidate Emerges PDP Delta Gov Running Mate

Militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, has proven that he is fully in control of the Delta state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Tompolo, who facilitated the emergence of Ifeanyi Okowa as the gubernatorial candidate of the party in the state, also made sure that Kingsley Otuaro, the commissioner representing the Ijaw ethnicity nationality at the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC), was named as Okowa’s running mate.

The choice of Okowa’s deputy has particularly been a subject of acrimony among the Ijaw, Itsekiri and Isoko ethnic nationalities in Delta South Senatorial District of the state.

The Ijaw and Isoko were opposed to the Ijaw picking the slot on the strength that it could not add it to the senatorial ticket of the ruling party already won by another Ijaw citizen, Senator James Manager, who is running a fourth-term ticket.

Each of the ethnic nationalities had mounted pressures on Okowa to pick his running mate from the group. It was learnt that the disagreement by the three ethnic nationalities accounted for the delay in filling the slot.

Otuaro is presently a commissioner representing the Ijaw ethnicity on the board of the state’s oil agency, Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC). He hails from Gbaramatu Kingdom in Warri South West local government area of the state.

It was gathered that Okowa has forwarded Otuaro’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to beat yesterday’s deadline set by the electoral umpire.