Senator James Manager, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for governor of Delta State, claimed that the party was drowning and dying as a result of recent events in the state.
Between Manager and the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, there has been a contentious legal battle about who will represent the party in the state as governor.
This has torn PDP into shreds in the State as different camps have emerged.
Oborevwori was recently declared ineligible to run for governor by the party by the Federal High Court in Abuja.
In a statement given to reporters in Warri on Saturday in response to the court decision, Manager, who represents Delta South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, vowed never to do anything that would worsen the party’s current tensions.
He insisted that he did not file any legal action against the party’s candidates for governor.
The statement reads in part: “I want to react to a trending story on a section of the media that I initiated a court case against one of the PDP governorship aspirants in Delta State.
“The purported story sponsored by well-known political merchants is a cesspool of lies and a journalism junkyard from where stories are fabricated against leading political lights.
“It is another desperate attempt to drag my humble self into the mud-sliding and regrettable- avoidable political quagmire we all find ourselves in Delta PDP today.
“I have spent almost 30 years in this business of politics and these stupendous insinuations being sponsored and peddled in the media by these political jobbers are not my modus operandi.
“My style on matters like this over the years are different. The story is fake and nothing could be farther from the truth.
“As the pioneer State Chairman of the party and by extension the father of PDP in Delta State, I would not do anything to further exacerbate the problems for the party and the future of Deltans because Delta is PDP and PDP is Delta.
“I’m greatly disturbed by the recent happenings at the party today. I would not feign ignorance as the party is drowning and dying gradually.
“If nobody is seeing it, I am seeing it and I am also feeling it greatly. I would have initiated certain preliminary actions pro bono but because I’m directly involved as a contender, I’m constrained. I want to be extremely careful and cautious with suggestions and interventions.
“Going forward, we have to be prayerful to God Almighty and believe in His Supremacy. May God not allow those who are inside and outside PDP who have all used its platform to acquire the big names they have today to destroy it. May that day never come, AMEN!”
