The dumping of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for All Progressives Congress, APC, by former Governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan came as a shocker to the members of powerful PDP family in the state, but for APC, which is awaiting his formal declaration, it was a welcome development.
Delta state governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa and a circle of PDP leaders discussed the matter yesterday with circumspect, while strategists of the party have been directed to come up with novel ideas to stop APC from taking over the state as already speculated by the National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
Some PDP stalwarts, who spoke to newsmen on Saturday expressed surprise that Senator Okowa allowed the strained relationship between him and his predecessor over the party’s 2015 governorship primaries to force him (Uduaghan) out of the party, saying that such a “colossal disaster” should not have been permitted to occur.
A member of the political family, Senator Ighoyota Amori, who is a Political Adviser to the National Chairman of PDP, told Saturday Vanguard: “It is unfortunate and very sad development.
For me, it is something that the Ibori political family which he belongs to never expected because we have heard so many discussions and if he finally does that, it is most regrettable.” His words: “What I can say is that what we as a political family cannot conquer, we endure, we live that to God, but we believe that we will live up to expectations.”
“We respect him as a member of the family from the very beginning, but if at these wee hours, he decides to jump ship and leave his political family, he is entitled to his political destiny.
However, I know as a family member that we did everything humanly possible to retain him in the political family. “There is nothing we can do than to allow him to chart his own political course if it is true that he has finally left the PDP for APC. That is all I can say for now,” he asserted.
Amori added: “I say that his exit is a political minus to the Ibori political family in Delta state, but the family definitely will live up to prospect, that is the truth.” According to him, “All we need to do is to change our gear and change our method and quickly readjust ourselves to close the gap. I believe that at the end of it all, the family will say that we are still very much at home.”
A leading APC governorship aspirant from Delta North senatorial district, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, told Saturday Vanguard: “It is a welcome development; I have been in the forefront of the move for Dr. Uduaghan to come over to the APC. I visited him severally to join the APC and told him unequivocally that he has no future in PDP.”
“His coming to APC is just a tip of the iceberg, many PDP stalwarts have told me that as soon as I secure the governorship ticket of APC by God’s grace, they will dump the PDP for our party because they believe in me. I have discussed with a wide range of them and they are waiting anxiously,” he said. Ojougboh, a former deputy national chairman of PDP, said: “PDP is finished in Delta state; they should just wait until we conclude our primaries.
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa will not know what hit him when I get APC governorship ticket, nobody can save him, and I can tell you that he is gone.” Successive governorship candidate, Chief Great Ogboru, popularly known as the “Peoples’ General” told one of our reporters: “I am sure you have heard before that in politics there is no permanent enemy, but permanent interest.
READ ALSO: Ekiti Monarch Acquires New Rolls Royce, Joins 5 Others Nigerian Monarchs Using Luxury Car
This is why we have to accept it as one of the realities and we must live with it. If he is actually coming, then the more the merrier and he would be a major asset for the APC in Delta state.” APC governorship candidate in the 2015 general election and leader of the party in the state, Olorogun O’Tega Emerhor, said: “It is a welcome development. Being a former governor of the state, he has a large followership, knows how to win elections and his joining us is a big plus meaning we now have the capacity to achieve our quit notice to PDP in Delta.”
Another APC chieftain, Olorogun Solomon Edojah, asserted: “It is a step in the right direction because the PDP is already going into extinction and Uduaghan is one of those that gave the party a lifeline in the state.” “I also commend him for ignoring all the forces that held him behind all this while from making this move because I believe with his political experience and sagacity for a turnaround in the APC, as he was the oxygen in which PDP in Delta has been surviving,” he stated.
