Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan has broken his silence on his successor with a charge to all aspirants for the governorship seat to sell their programmes and policies to the people rather than scheming on how to disqualify one another through blackmail.
Governor Uduaghan, who has been evasive on his likely successor, noted that neither he nor any level of scheming could determine the candidate that would take over from him in 2015 but that the final choice rested in the hands of God.
He spoke at an interdenominational thanksgiving service held at the Cathedral Church of St. Peter’s (Anglican Communion), Asaba to mark the 23th anniversary of the creation of Delta State yesterday.
He cautioned aspirants to “stop running around trying to disqualify anybody because who God wants to give power, that He will give, whether you disqualify somebody at the screening stage and God wantsthat person, the person will succeed.”
The governor recalled that in the build up to the Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP primaries in 2006, he was disqualified by a screeningcommittee in Port Harcourt before an appeal panel cleared him tocontest the polls.
“As an aspirant, who wants to take over from me, tell the people whatyou want to do, let us have a clean electioneering campaign. Who Godwants, He will put in office,” Dr Uduaghan said, stressing, “let thecampaign not be about me, about whom I am supporting or who I am notsupporting, let the campaign be about what you can do for the people.”
He added: “I want to thank everybody that has indicated interest to take over from me in 2015, it is not easy to make up one’s mind to contest but, know that there is only a space for one person at a time for four years.”
Uduaghan said that Delta State has cause to thank God on the occasion of the 23th anniversary of the state creation in view of the giant strides that have been recorded by successive administrations in the state.
According to him, the decision to mark the occasion with a thanksgiving service was to acknowledge God’s mercies and goodness towards the Government and people of the state and a means of securing more favour from the creator.
He explained that his administration’s Delta Beyond Oil Programme was a legacy that would stand the test of time because it involved going back to economic activities that the people were engaged in before the discovery of oil.
“We must go back to those things we used to do before oil was discovered, agriculture, mining, tourism, manufacturing, and others,” he added.
“What we need now is unity, we must remove every bitterness from our
body, there is so much bitterness and such bitterness can lead to ethnic strife and security challenges,” the Governor observed, emphasizing that there is need for change of heart.
National President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor in a sermon on the need for thanksgiving observed that such heart of gratitude grants access to God, answers to prayers, assurance of victory, abundant grace and long life.
He cautioned against unbridled quest for money, noting that, “we need money but we must not love money.”
Source: Nigerian Pilot
