Former Delta State Governor, Dr Emmanuel
Uduaghan has dismissed insinuation that he defected to the All
Progressives Congress (APC) because of fear of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)......
Uduaghan, a two-term governor on the PDP
platform, has disclosed that everything concerning his administration
state had been investigated over and over again by the anti graft
commission since he left office in 2015.
He dispelled the insinuation on a
Channels TV programme, Hard Copy on Friday, noting that EFCC
investigation was not the reason he decided “to join the APC. Rather, I
joined the APC due to the issues I had with the PDP at the national and
state levels.”
Uduaghan had last week announced his
defection from the PDP to the APC, which he attributed to President
Muhammadu Buhari’s intervention in the Niger Delta, among others
He had pointed out that peace and
security had been the toughest challenges of any Niger Delta leader
since 1997, thereby Buhari’s administration for the giant strides
recorded in peace and security since assuming office in 2015.
During the TV programme, Uduaghan noted
that he could not have defected because of the EFCC investigation since
his administration had been an open book for every Nigeria to scrutinize.
He said: “I am the most investigated
former governor for the past three years. My administration has been
investigated severally by the anti-graft commission. Everything I did in
Delta State has been investigated by EFCC. So why should EFCC be the
cause of my defection?”
Uduaghan, therefore, revealed the
rationale behind his defection, noting that before he left the PDP, he
had some issues with the party both at the state and national levels,
though declined to comment on the issues.
According to him, I have issues with PDP
at the state and at the National level. But I do not what to talk about
them since I have left them. I have the right to keep the issues I have
with PDP to myself. He spoke on the widely publicized disagreement with
his immediate successor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, claiming that the
succession plan theory was not true and that there was never a time they
sat and agreed on who should be a governor or not.
Before the emergence of Chief James
Ibori under the PDP, Uduaghan claimed that there was an Ibori political
family, to which he belong, noting that the Ibori political family “is
different from the PDP as a political party.
“There is an Ibori family. Aside, there
is a PDP family which I still belong to. We started the political party
from the Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM). But before then, there
was an Ibori political family.”
He, therefore, clarified that his
defection to the APC has not affected his relationship with Ibori who is
his cousin, saying he’s very much in touch with Ibori, noting that he
was actively involved in government before he became a governor.
On the same boat with Chief Great
Ogboru, with whom he had contested governorship elections in 2007 and
2011, Uduaghan said: “It is politics. In politics, there are no
permanent enemies, but permanent interest.”
Describing himself as John the Baptist
in Delta APC, Uduaghan affirmed that many people would move from PDP to
the APC and that people would move to APC because APC favored Niger
Delta development.
He said that there would be a mass mobilization for the APC before 2019 in Delta state and the entire Niger
Delta because they have agreed to move the region to the ruling party,
APC.
Uduaghan, a Delta South Senatorial
hopeful, said that as a former governor, he knew the mechanism of party
politics and what button to press to oil the party political machinery
to come alive.
He said: “My role in APC will be to
coordinate and unite the members. We are looking to wrestle powers from
the PDP in Delta state in 2019. We need to build the party from
grassroots. He said that he would study the APC and advice on how to
build the party.
“2019 will be an interesting political
year since APC has waxed stronger than it was in 2014. It is going to be
much more interesting in 2019. APC was not strong in 2014, but now it
is stronger with likes of Omo-Agege, Ogboru and Emerhor in the party.”
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