The immediate-past Governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, is set to return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
A
politician and confidant of the former governor told THISDAY in
confidence that Uduaghan has visited the incumbent Governor, Senator
Ifeanyi Okowa, at the Government House in Asaba, where all plans were
concluded for his return to their fold.
The visit is clear
confirmation of the rumours, especially since the relationship of both
governors has not been rosy for a while.
The former governor,
THISDAY checks revealed, had also met with some stakeholders in the PDP
in the state, including another former Governor, Chief James Ibori, on
the possibility of his return to the party.
Uduaghan, in 2018,
left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on whose platform he was
elected as the governor twice, for the All Progressives Congress (APC),
following an alleged cold war with the present administration.
The
former governor said his defection at the time was in order for him to
support President Muhammad Buhari’s quest for the development of Niger
Delta.
He alleged then that: “The PDP has never protected its
own. The PDP can use you and whatever happens to you after, nobody
cares. People would move from the PDP to the APC because the conditions
in APC now favour the development of the Niger Delta, and so we are
ready to mobilise the people from the PDP in the South-south to APC.
“Besides,
you need to have some people in the APC to be able to push some of the
agreements reached by the Buhari’s government with the people of the
region not to start a fresh agreement.”
Uduaghan’s proposed
defection to the PDP in the state is expected by some politicians, who
see him as not being recognised in the APC since he joined the party.
He
was among the top politicians who rallied round the candidature of
Chief Great Ogboru on the platform of APC in the state in last
governorship election, but failed to get the support of the likes of the
incumbent Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege; a
chieftain of the party, Olorogun O’rtega Emerhor and others.
Following
the failure of Ogboru to clinch the ticket, Uduaghan was also expected
to get a political appointment from President Buhari-led APC but until
now, there is nothing of such.
“The power play among the top
players in the APC in the state might have frustrated the former
governor into deciding to defect back to the PDP,” the party source
said.
Though the former governor could not be reached at the time
of filing this report, his aide, Mr. Monoyo Edon, said it was within
Uduaghan’s rights to visit the Government House any time.
Edon, who spoke on behalf of the former governor, said the last time he checked, his boss was still in the APC.
He said for a man of his calibre, it was a normal thing for people to say such thing about him.