Why I dumped APC for PDP ― Uduaghan  

Abigborodo, country home of former Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan in Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State was, on Monday, agog as he rededicated his political alliance to the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.

The Itsekiri-born medical doctor, while receiving his PDP membership card at his Unit 1, Ward 6, Abigborodo from ward chairman, Mr Kingsley Ogio in the presence of House of Representatives member, Chief Thomas Ereyitomi, the deputy state chairman of PDP, Val Areyinka, former commissioners in the state, Vincent Uduaghan and Rev Mrs Omashola Williams, said he had returned to join forces to strengthen the party.

The APC Delta South senatorial candidate in the 2019 general elections enthused that “It feels refreshing to be back home,

“I only stepped out for a few days to find out what is happening there and I have come back to strengthen the party. Today, I have come to reactivate my membership card. I have picked it up.

“I am hearing that there are a few challenges, we have the manpower, the experience to be able to elevate our area and the people of Delta state, and that we shall do.

“We will get our own of whatever is due to us by God’s grace. We will get what is due us. I am sure there is very little I don’t know about this state. I promise you that collectively, as we are standing here now, we shall sit as often as possible and articulate our issue.”

Uduaghan, who admitted that President Muhammadu Buhari is “doing his best” given the current hard times, commended the Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, nurturing and galvanizing the party together since he became governor in 2015, adding “it is not easy. I want to urge all of us to continue to pray for him so that he can complete his tenure.”

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Meanwhile, the PDP’s Publicity Secretary of in the state, Dr Ifeanyi M. Osuoza, has expressed ecstasy at the return of former Governor Uduaghan to its fold after about two years of sojourn in the APC wilderness.

In a statement, titled, “Welcome Home,” The Umbrella is Big Enough for Everyone,” Osuoza serenaded the return of the Itsekiri-born medical doctor, saying; “We are excited that our former Governor is back home. Politics is about the people; recent political developments in Nigeria have also shown that power and relevance comes from the people.”

However, following the Monday return of former Governor Uduaghan to the PDP, chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State, Prophet Jones Erue, has averred that the former governor didn’t join the APC with his “true mind.”

In an exclusive phone chat with our Correspondent in Delta on Monday shortly after the defection ceremony, Prophet Erue wondered if Dr Uduaghan was actually ever a member of the APC, saying he never received him when he claimed to have declared for the party about two years ago. 

Erue described Uduaghan as “one of my supposed members” when he was asked to respond to the return of the former governor to the PDP. 

Dr Uduaghan lad left the PDP in 2018 for the APC to actualise his dream of becoming senator representing Delta South Senatorial district but failed in his bid as he was defeated by the incumbent, Senator James Manager of the PDP. 

But in an exclusive phone chat with our Correspondent in Delta on Monday, Prophet Erue wondered if Dr Uduaghan was actually a member of the APC, saying he never received him when he claimed to have declared for the party about two years ago. 

He described Uduaghan as “one of my supposed members” when he was asked to respond to the Monday return of the former governor to the PDP. 

Prophet Erue quipped: “I was not aware when he came, so you can ask Ogboru and Oshiomhole,” adding “yes, I’m not the one,” when we was asked if he wasn’t the one that welcomed the former governor to the APC fold in 2018.  

Speaking further, Erue enthused: “listen, I am the chairman, but you remember that there were certain things I said the other time about people joining the party without me knowing they have joined and if a former governor is joining a party, there should be evidence that he’s joining a party. 

“You can’t tell your community people to sign papers for you and you carry it to national and say you’ve joined a party. 

“This is what I said and because I have always said the truth, people don’t like the truth because they like short-cut to everything, they think that you who is saying the truth, you are just being wicked, you don’t know politics.

“So what am saying is that from the happening, it means he didn’t come to APC with his true mind before. 

“What am saying is that he did not declare the way he did now; he did not declare when he came to APC, I did not receive him in any formal gathering; that’s what I’m saying so I should be called to say I received him when I didn’t?” the opposition leader in the state queried. 

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE