Uduaghan: PDP will Defeat APC in 2015

Uduaghan: PDP will Defeat APC in 2015

By Shola Oyeyipo

The Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, has reassured the people that irrespective of the efforts being made by the All Progressives Congress (APC), President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will win the 2015 presidential election, no matter who the opposition presents as its candidate.

The governor, who made the assertion at the weekend while fielding questions from journalists in Asaba,  the state capital, said the ruling PDP was working round the clock to ensure victory for President Jonathan so as to continue the transformation agenda of the administration.

“Yes, the APC members are organising during the day, but PDP is organising both day and night. So that is the advantage of the PDP over APC. PDP will win. That is just it. We are working very hard. Let me not tell you our strategy, but we will win. We have done our mathematics. We are trying to plot the areas where there are challenges and we are dealing with them. But we’ll win,” he said assuredly.

Uduaghan also denied that the PDP governors are the brains behind the travail of the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, who is currently facing a litigation challenging his eligibility to supervise the PDP’s preparations for the 2015 elections

“What I can say is that I don’t know of any governor who is behind the court case. And we feel sad because my colleagues and I are talking. We feel sad because the party’s national chairman, was a onetime governor for two terms, so he is our colleague, senior colleague in terms of governorship, who the people are subjecting him to the kind of thing that is happening. We feel sad that he is going through this kind of embarrassment.

“In fact, two weeks ago, there was an alarm that he has been taken to court in Delta State but of course there was no record that he was taken to court here. It is a kind of propaganda to pit the governors against the PDP national chairman,” he said.
According to him, Mu’azu understands some of the things the governors are going through and as such, “the PDP governors are totally working with the PDP national chairman.”

The governor who also expressed regrets over the botched Export Processing Zone (EPZ) inauguration in the state recently, however expressed hopes that efforts of government at ensuring lasting peace among the rather hostile communities will yield results.

“Let me assure you that the problem of Itsekiri, Itsekiri, Ijaw and Urhobo has been on before some of us were born and we are still having some flashes of such incident. But one thing is that we have been able to provide a forum for discussion to reduce the tendency for violence. And that is one of the strategies we are trying to use. Even in the EPZ matter, the two ethnic groups and the community leaders are discussing, both in the state and in Abuja.

“So there is no room for fight. Of course, because of the economic benefits of the EPZ, a lot of community interests are involved. So what you are seeing is community interests for the project, it is just that there is little understanding of the overall benefits of the project and that is what we are trying to tell the communities that what you are quarrelling over is just crumb compared to the bigger benefits of the project. And I think we are getting somewhere.

“I must use this opportunity to thank the president and the minister of peteroleum who have been very understanding. They have been quite understanding, and fortunately, they from this zone so they understand some of the complex nature of the relationship in this area. I tell you, there will be no fight. There are two things that usually cause fight. One is economic issues, which EPZ falls into and the other is political but we are managing them,” he said.

Uduaghan, also said his ambition to go to the upper chamber of the National Assembly was borne out of the need to continue to use his relevant contacts to facilitate rapid development and industrialisation of the state and Nigeria in general.

“I’m going to the senate because I believe that there is something I can offer – a lot I can offer. But what I know has been happening is that some senators have being assessed only on the empowerment they give to the people once in a year. At the end of the year, you gather the people, gather the tricycles, motorcycles and be assessed on that, but I think being a member of any legislature is beyond that.

“Yes, that empowerment is there, which anybody can give but there is also the issue of attracting federal government projects to your area by people at the National Assembly and I don’t know anybody who can have more reach than previous governor. Being a governor of Delta State for eight years has given me a lot of exposures for you to know a lot people outside the state – at the federal level; even internationally.

“I don’t know of anybody in politics in the state now who thinks he has more reach than me and I’m not boasting about it. But I know I have the reach to attract development to the state. But beyond that is the legislative duty itself. As a governor, one of the things I have tried to do is to work with my three-point agenda on s security, infrastructural and human capital development,” the governor said.

He therefore noted that if voted for as Senator he would pursue legislation on equity participation of communities in various parts of the Niger Delta region, ensure that there are legal protections for investments and laws on environmental protection, which he saidwould be his three-point agenda in the Senate.

SOURCE: This Day Live