2011: Plot, Alliance To Unseat Uduaghan Thickens

PHOTO: DELTA STATE DR GOVERNOR EMMANUEL UDUAGHAN.

WARRI, DELTA April 12, (THEWILL) – THEWILL can report that the incumbent Governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan may have it rough in his second term bid, as there is an underground plot which has reached an advance stage by top political gladiators in the state, to ensure he is not the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate in the 2011 governorship election.

THEWILL checks in Warri revealed that the plot which is being coordinated by a coalition of top Urhobo and Ijaw politicians is aimed at giving the PDP governorship ticket to a candidate from the largest ethnic group in the state, the Urhobos of Delta Central.

The arrowhead of the plot is PDP chieftain, Chief E.K Clark with the support of other aggrieved stakeholders including some senior party officials in the state who are all gearing for a showdown with the incumbent governor at the party primaries.

Recall that former Governor James Ibori, an Urhobo, in 2007 imposed his maternal cousin, Uduaghan on the PDP as its governorship candidate despite oppositions by party members.

Further checks revealed that the nucleus of the plot to unseat Uduaghan is to ensure that Chief Ibori is either extradited to London at the request of the British government or prosecuted and convicted in Nigeria over the alleged use of Delta State government shares as collateral for a private loan for Ascot, a company linked to him.

With Ibori out of the way, the alliance believes that unseating Uduaghan will be a piece of cake.

A source in Government House told THEWILL that the recent Elders and Stakeholders meeting hosted in Kiagbodo, Delta State by Chief Edwin E. Clark is causing unease in the Uduaghan camp, adding that some of those Uduaghan consider as strong allies and crucial to his reelection bid attended the meeting.

Continuing, the source said Chief Ibori is aware of the plot and is leaving nothing to chance. The former governor through his lawyers over the weekend petitioned the new Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) on the new investigations being conducted by the Farida Waziri led Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on the alleged sale.

Ibori through his lawyers have threatened to go to court to stop the commission from inviting him for questioning on the sale.

The Delta State Governor is also not leaving anything to chance as he has stepped up his reelection bid earning endorsements from various blocks in the state.

Ibori’s current travails started after he spearheaded the campaign that the then Vice President Jonathan did not become Acting President. The former governor is believed to have contributed more than N10 billion naira to President Yar’Adua’s presidential campaign in 2007.