Date Published: 01/27/11

South-South South-East Governors meeting not a merger move, says Gov Uduaghan

Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State yesterday in Abuja clarified that last week’s meeting of Governors from the South-East and South-South geopolitical zones in Asaba did not amount to a merger between People’s democratic Party (PDP) and the All People’s Grand Alliance(APGA).

The Asaba meeting saw the PDP Governors from Delta, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Imo, Abia and Ebonyi States sitting side-by-side with their APGA counterpart from Anambra State, Dr Peter Obi, to unanimously endorse President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP for the April 2011 Presidential elections.

Fielding questions with media executives at the Delta State Governor’s Lodge, Governor Uduaghan said the meeting was intended to seek APGA’s support and votes for President Jonathan.

“The meeting does not represent a merger. We (PDP) have a presidential candidate, APGA does not have a presidential candidate.The meeting is part of strategies adopted for the April Presidential elections in the South-East and South-South” , the Governor added.

He announced that while all the geo-political zones will be reached as part of strategies to ensure the return of the President in the April polls, efforts were on to build confidence in Northern PDP Governors whose States voted for Jonathan during the Primaries.

Asked to comment on his experience while he was out office for two months, the governor posited that the period gave him time to reappraise his administration as well as provided an opportunity for him to understand people better.

According to him “there are many who are trust-worthy but there are some who are fair weather friends. When it is good, it is good and when it is bad, it is bad”.

On the re-run elections in which he defeated his opponents, the Governor described the outcome as complex, adding that his party was still analysing the results vis-a-vis the spread of votes cast especially in the Delta Central Senatorial District

He said efforts were on to bring back aggrieved members of the PDP to the fold before the April elections, but adminited that “ there is a category that you cannot convince, no matter what you give to them”.

To such category, Governor Uduaghan concluded that “all that can be done is to keep watching them because they can be mischievous”