Former Governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, on Wednesday claimed that he dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for All
Progressives Congress (APC) because of APC rule of engagement and investment in
infrastructure.
Uduaghan, who made this disclosure in Abuja while
speaking with journalists in the State House after attending the APC caucus
meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, said he was fascinated by
the development that Niger Delta region had witnessed under the administration
of Buhari.
The former governor further said he was attracted
to the party because the federal government took up the crises it met in Niger
Delta, noting that the region is characterised with a range of crises which he
said he devoted a lot of time to address when he was in office.
He also claimed that his defection was predicated
on his interest in the development of Niger Delta which he said the APC
government had been championing, adding that the APC would further give him the
platform to pursue such interest.
"Politics is about interest. I’m from the
Niger Delta area, and I managed a lot of crises from the Niger Delta.
Sometimes, I went to the creeks and engaged the boys, and my principle when I
was managing the Niger Delta was out of engagement, and the current APC
government succeeded in managing them through engagement.
"The president saw a lot of leaders from the
Niger Delta while the vice-president went from state to state of oil producing area
making a lot of engagements, and agreements were reached.
"Nobody at that level had gone from state to
state before in Nigeria, this was the first time, and of course the crisis is
not over yet, they need to be supported by those of us from the Niger Delta who
are passionate about region so that in moving forward, we can have solutions to
the crisis in the area. If a new person
comes in, he would start putting agreement up again and all that.
"Secondly, in the area of infrastructure, this
government has done very well. Talking about my state, for the first time a
rail line came to Delta State; for the first time, a committee has been
officially inaugurated for the gas city which we have been talking about, also
we have human capital development projects, school feeding among others in the Niger
Delta.
"So, let me join the party in order to effect
changes because we cannot achieve anything by working from the outside in the region.
Some of us have to join the APC train and many people are going to come with me
so that we can achieve a lot in the region for the APC government. Politics is
about regional interest and I’m interested in the Niger Delta," he stated.
No comments:
Post a Comment