Uduaghan begins campaign for Delta South senatorial ticket

Former Governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, is set to contest the senatorial ticket of Delta South Senatorial District in the 2019 general elections. The former governor in a media interaction revealed that he would soon declare formally his intention to contest the senatorial seat of Delta South for the National Assembly.

Uduaghan explained that his intention is to project quality legislation that will lead to the end of the crisis in the Niger Delta.

 “I have not declared but I have decided to run. The official declaration is going to be very soon,” Uduaghan had said.

The former Delta governor disclosed that he withdrew from the race in 2015 to ensure that peace reigned in the state as he has always maintained that peace was more important than electoral victories. He remarked that the time has come for him to serve his people. “Despite the pressure from the good people of Delta South in 2015, I decided to step down, but looking at the horizon now, the issues that caused the security challenges that made me to shelve my ambition in 2015 are no longer there,” he declared.

Uduaghan highlighted that the experience he acquired over the years as Health Commissioner, Secretary to the State Government, Governor, among others, prepare him to serve at the national level.

“I was commissioner for four years under Chief James Ibori and I was close to him. I knew what he was doing in terms of peace issues.

“I was the first state government official to enter into creeks to meet ex-militant chief, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, in the heart of the Niger Delta as SSG to start negotiating peace with him.

“I did it severally when I was the governor of Delta State. At one of the outings, it was even the soldiers that pointed AK-47 at me when I was coming back.

“Sometimes, I would come back at night from negotiating peace. So, I know the place in and out. I have been there in the day and at night, in fact, at one of them, I was sitting on a chair with about 20 of the boys with their guns, they were drinking, and we were there for three hours negotiating peace.

“I know the challenges; let me just say this, what we did and what the government has been doing is having what I call two boxes in managing the problems,” he declared.