Don’t marginalise S’East, S’South, Uduaghan warns APC April 28, 2015 : Eniola Akinkuotu

The Governor of Delta State, Emmanuel Uduaghan, has warned the All Progressives Congress against marginalising the people of the South-South and the South-East as this could lead to crisis.

Uduaghan said this during a programme on Channels Television on Sunday.

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The governor said the reports of the zoning of key offices by the leadership of the APC showed that the party might sideline the people of the South-East and the South-South because the people of the said geopolitical zones did not vote for the APC.

He, therefore, warned the party to run a government that would foster national integration.

He said, “Governor Rochas Okorocha said the APC is in the mainstream of the South-East but that is not true. If you monitor their meetings and the zoning (of key offices), they (APC) seem to be leaving out the South-East and the South-South because the zones did not vote for them.

“That is very dangerous because every segment of Nigeria must be carried along. This is because the thing that disenfranchises people and makes them to go back to trenches is very little. One of the issues in the last four years was that the North was not carried along but was neglected by this present government and there was an inflammation of the Boko Haram because of that.

“Boko Haram had been there before four years ago but because the North was not being carried along, people were unemployed; the group of people to be recruited was very much available. This can happen in any part of the country and that is why I am saying that they (APC) must first put Nigeria together and ensure that every segment of Nigeria has a sense of belonging. Don’t say these people are nobodies and you take them for granted, it would be very dangerous.”

On why President Goodluck Jonathan lost the election, Uduaghan said the President was surrounded by dishonest people and a team that was not as strong as those who managed his campaign in 2011.

Uduaghan said the defection of five governors from the Peoples Democratic Party in 2013 as well as the crisis in the Nigerian Governors’ Forum contributed to the PDP’s defeat.

He said, “Some people around him (Jonathan) were not telling him the truth. When you start elbowing people out this is what happens. For example, why should Olusegun Obasanjo leave the party? He is not somebody that you can take for granted in Nigeria. Why did we allow him to go?”