By Akinwale Kasali
Less than 24 hours after the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, defeated the All Progressives Congress, APC, at the Governorship polls in Edo State, thus heralding the end of the APC in the South-south, former Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan is set to leave the APC.
Uduaghan will be returning to the PDP two years after announcing his defection to the APC due to some political crisis in the Delta State PDP.
The magazine gathered that Uduaghan is returning two years after he dumped the PDP for APC where he unsuccessfully contested for the Delta South Senatorial District election in 2019.
This, it was gathered, was after a series of meetings between him and former Delta State Governor and political stalwart Chief James Onanefe Ibori, incumbent Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and other leaders of the party in the state and at the national level.
Sources in Delta Government House also confirmed that the former Governor met with Governor Okowa in Asaba, the State Capital to cement and put final touches to his return to the PDP fold.
Uduaghan was Delta governor on the PDP platform for eight years and had served as Secretary to the State Government under the Chief Ibori-led administration. He was also a Commissioner for health in the state.
However, following a cold-war between him and some members of the Ibori political dynasty, he defected to APC in August 2018 where he worked for the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari and, also, contested for Senate in 2019.
Sources within the Ibori political camp said that the issues that led to Uduaghan’s defection from the party have been addressed and resolved.
The sources also claimed there is no longer political loggerheads or any disagreement between Uduaghan and incumbent Governor, Okowa.
Okowa served as Secretary to the State Government during this democratic dispensation in Delta State before he went to the Senate.
The Source in the Government House told the magazine that, “His Excellency, former Governor Uduaghan is joining us (PDP) soon. A big ceremony is being put in place by Governor Okowa to welcome him back to the family where he rightly belongs. We are happy that our leader is coming back”.
Reacting to the news, Uduaghan, said it was within his right as a senior citizen of the state to visit the House at any time especially being a former governor of the state.
Speaking through his Media Assistant, Mr. Monoyo Edon, he said he was still in APC
He said for a man of his calibre, it was a normal thing for people to say things like that about him.
“As a former Governor, Uduaghan still owes Delta State a duty. Visiting Government House, Asaba, is not enough reason for such conclusions”, he stressed.
