GOV UDUAGHAN CONFESSION dna-nigeria/delta-2015-let-us-forget-past-vote-anioma/ UP till the last 48 hours to the December 8 governorship primary of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, won by Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, in Delta State the heart of the governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, was for a successor from the Delta North senatorial district (Anioma) in line with an unrecorded power shift covenant, about eight years ago, by the power brokers of the party. Uduaghan not only indicated so by his body language, he mimed it severally at some strategic meetings, but those, who knew that his heart was for Delta North were thunderstruck at what happened 24 hours to the primary when information came that he had switched his machinery to Delta Central senatorial district (Urhobo). Some influential Delta North opinion leaders, who were contacted by the governor, over two years ago, to help put their house in order to ensure that the governorship did not elude Anioma because of the refusal of its governorship aspirants to speak in one voice, knew that whatever happened to make him change his step was inexplicable, but what they could not immediately comprehend was why. Investigations by Vanguard showed that up till July, this year, Uduaghan was not against Okowa’s aspiration, particularly as both were good friends and had come a long way in politics under the Ibori political family. Also, Okowa was the one anointed by the party’s brokers. He and Okowa served in Ibori’s cabinet as Commissioners before he (Uduaghan) was appointed Secretary to the State Government, SSG. When Uduaghan became governor in 2007, he appointed Okowa. SSG. Okowa later resigned to contest for the Senate and won. Both families have been close since then. Powerful clique Unknown to him, members of a powerful group within his government were not comfortable with Okowa as his successor. They felt that if Okowa became the governor, he would be antagonistic to him and all his associates. A vigorous campaign was mounted to make the governor support somebody else. They crusaded about somebody that is already in government, who clearly understood and would continue with his Beyond Oil Agenda. And above all, a person they would approach when he (Uduaghan) would no longer be in power, and he would not say no to their demand. Governor Uduaghan did not quickly understand the selfish interests of the power-drunk group whose members were after positioning themselves in the next government. Actually, some of them felt that Okowa as governor would not give them the same latitude Uduaghan gave them. To be sure that the governor, who trusted them as members of his kitchen cabinet, did not change his mind on the project, they made it a top secret and prevented well-meaning leaders, who would have been able to talk Uduaghan out of the project from knowing the game plan. Enter Obuh Our dependable source, who is a member of the cabinet, said, “That was how the idea of Mr. Anthony Obuh came. If you observed, Mr. Obuh had about two months or so to retire from the Civil Service, he had no plan to be governor, he is a very humble person, who wanted to go into farming on retirement, but because of his excellent service, they convinced the governor that he was a good candidate to succeed him.” The Obuh scheme was a secret, but it soon leaked and those, who goaded him into it made it look as if it was the governor’s idea and they had to key in. Of course, other governorship aspirants from Delta North, who had been in the race before the new game plan vehemently, opposed the idea. Unmoved on Anioma agenda However, Uduaghan still maintained his stand on an Anioma successor. His position discomforted the Delta Central, which wanted power back to the district in 2015 by all means. The Urhobo Progress Union, UPU, apex sociocultural group of the Urhobo ethnic nationality threatened to vote against the PDP, both at the state and national level if the party went ahead with an Anioma gubernatorial standard-bearer, Uduaghan refused to budge. Avalanche of petitions All the Delta North aspirants knew that his heart was for their district, but their disagreement with him was on his choice of Obuh. A number of them ganged-up with some Urhobo aspirants to fight him. It was gathered several petitions were written by Delta Northerners against Uduaghan to the Presidency and some of them went to the former Federal Commissioner for Information, Chief Edwin Clark, to lodge series of complaints. Clark stated openly that he received reports that Uduaghan was supporting Obuh and invited him for discussion on the matter. He said he was satisfied after the governor assured him that he was not imposing anybody, and he advised him to provide a level-playing field for all the aspirants to go to primary. What unsettled Uduaghan Our dependable source said: “What irked the governor was that the same Delta North people he was fighting for to produce governor were the ones castigating and writing petitions against him when they knew that he was on their side and had told the aspirants so on several occasions.” His words, “Some of the royal fathers did not also help matters as they had interest in some aspirants and were querying the support for Obuh as if Obuh was not from Delta North like others.” “But, what finally broke the camel’s back was when the suggestion that the governor should not have a say in who becomes his successor. It sounded like a humiliation to him. And to add salt to injury, he was invited to Abuja and told to forgo his senatorial ambition because of the intrigues arising from his position on his successor. You know what it means for a governor to be told to drop his senatorial ambition and also be told that he had no power to determine his successor, they didn’t do that to any other governor and that’s why people like Rotimi Amaechi left PDP,” he added. Pushed to the wall “They pushed him to the wall and he was not happy. Frankly, the man was frustrated, he felt betrayed by the same Delta North people he was fighting for and you could sense the anger. Having lost his senatorial ambition and faced with the palpable reality of not being allowed to have a say on his successor, he budged to the UPU pressure, something he ingenuously resisted over the last few months,” Saturday Vanguard gathered. Saturday Vanguard learned that Uduaghan acted out of anger because he believed it was the petitions and blackmail by Delta North that made him lose his senatorial ticket. Nwaboshi, others flabbergasted Former state chairman of the party, Chief Peter Nwaoboshi, who is the party’s Delta North senatorial ticket was convinced beyond doubt that Uduaghan was working for an Anioma successor and was fine-tuning plans with him from time to time, was in the dark on the last minute maneuver. The cabal knew that Nwaoboshi would have singularly deflated the plan, so he was never contacted on it. Nwaboshi, who spoke to Delta North governorship aspirants when he heard that some people wrote petitions against Uduaghan and visited the governor to re-assure that the matter was being handled, was dumbfounded by the decision. He told SaturdayVanguard that the governor gave him his word that his heart was for a Delta North governorship standard-bearer and he showed in his actions, but the change “caught me unawares” Delta North members in Uduaghan cabinet were also sidelined by the power-drunk clique, who swayed the governor to take ill-fated decision. A source said the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Chike Ogeah, who is a confidant of the governor, was surprisingly shut out by the group. Too late According to a source, “The governor might have realized the implication of his action too late, but because the primary was only 24 hours away, he could not act otherwise. But what he decided was not to manipulate the procedure for anybody.” Saturday Vanguard observed that when he came to the venue of the primary on December 8, Uduaghan sat with delegates from his local government, Warri North, and it was much later into the proceedings that he went to the VIP stand to greet the aspirants and wished them luck. He told Saturday Vanguard before casting his vote that his heart was for Delta North, but the people he was supporting were the ones fighting him. It was noticeable that he was disturbed, but he tried to keep his cool. Speaking with newsmen soon after he voted, he clarified, “My position is that the best candidate should win and whoever wins, others should support him as the party’s flag bearer. You can see that the whole thing is free and fair.” What saved the day? Nwaoboshi told Saturday Vanguard that the night preceding the D-Day, all Delta North PDP leaders met in his house at Asaba, where they voted Okowa as the consensus candidate of Anioma and forged an alliance with Delta South as earlier per-mutated by him and other political analysts. Okowa’s acceptability and full activation of the Ibori political structure against UPU’s candidate, Olorogun David Edevbie, who polled 299 votes against Okowa with 406 votes completed the magic. Okowa, Uduaghan still pals He left the venue thereafter, but soon as Okowa was declared winner, he sent a message of congratulations to him. Saturday Vanguard was informed that contrary to the rumored unfriendly relationship between Uduaghan and Okowa, the duo remain good pals. It was learned that Okowa drove to Governor’s Lodge after he was declared winner of the primary to brief Uduaghan and both strategized for nearly one hour on the next phase of battle. A source said Okowa understood the dynamics of the game as a politician and is prepared to work with everybody, including those who opposed him to ensure that party wins the 2015 governorship election, which is the most important thing. For Okowa, this is not the time for bickering; it is a time for all hands to be on deck. Former Speaker, Mr. Victor Ochei, who came third with 185 votes, congratulated him on the spot and both of them were already working together. Other aspirants, including the former Minister of Niger-Delta, Elder Godsday Orubebe and Dr. Festus Okubor have also congratulated Okowa and prepared to join hands with him for the ultimate battle in 2015. dna-nigeria/power-drunk-politicians-misinfo…/
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 12:57:27 +0000