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The swearing-in of
Emmanuel Uduaghan as the governor-elect in the January 6 re-run
election by the newly-appointed Delta State Chief Judge, Abiodun Smith
on Monday, January 10, at the cenotaph in Asaba, was a landmark event
for two reasons: one, it was the very first time in the history of the
state for a sitting governor to be sworn in twice within a four-year
tenure and secondly, it opens avenues to more maneuvering and scheming
by the gladiators who are desperate to wrestle power from the
incumbent.

One thing that stood out in the political development of
Delta State in the last three years was electorate consciousness. This
much was demonstrated in the January 6 rerun when they came out in
large numbers to exercise voting rights devoid of sentiments and ethnic
bias. This was done to the extent of undermining cases of intimidation
and harassment by some political thugs who were reported to be on the
rampage in some polling centres while the election was going on across
the state. Despite well-advertised ethnic jingoism by some leaders with
outsized ideas of their own importance, the electorate showed a great
sense of maturity and civilized conduct which proved quite a number of
those who had anticipated violence, either during or after the
election, wrong. Of course, there is also a realization that the
electoral process is capable of effecting needed changes. This is more
crucial as the candidates gather their strength for another contest in
the general elections coming up in April.

The April polls

Some opposition
politicians, especially members of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP)
that came second in the re-run election, have expressed doubts on the
ability of INEC to conduct a fairer election in April. But there is a
conviction that the April election would guarantee another chance for
them to further express their aspirations on who will lead them in the
next four years. In other words, besides the free and fair prospect it
holds, many see the “One Man, One Vote” slogan and promises of a
credible process by President Goodluck Jonathan as sincere enough.

One positive expectation for the April election is the expected level playground it will create for contenders in the race.

“Since the new
voters registration being compiled by INEC is capable of taking care of
issues that borders on multiple registration and falsification of
figures in the number of people in a particular community, then there
is the likelihood that the result of the April polls would represent
the yearnings of the electorates,” an official of the DPA said.

Again, the issue of
creating awareness on the present political process through the various
enlightenment campaigns, especially in the media, has contributed
immensely to re-awakening political consciousness in the electorate and
this was clearly demonstrated in the massive turnout of people for the
election even with the protest over non-revalidation of the voters’
register by the opposition group.

Uduaghan’s hurdles

One major challenge
Mr Uduaghan had to contend with before the April polls was factional
crisis within his party. The trouble dates back to the 2007 party
primaries at Ogwashi-Uku in Aniocha South LGA as a result of the
supremacy tussle between two opposing power blocs in the state. A
former federal commissioner of information, Edwin Clark, led a faction
of the party against the incumbent governor, Uduaghan who leads the
other group. This lingering crisis, which has defied all reconciliation
efforts aimed at the reconciliation of factional groups, came to a head
during the party primaries held on Tuesday, January 11 — barely a day
after Mr Uduaghan’s inauguration. It was an event that further exposed
the disenchantment among party members in the state as it witnessed the
emergence of two governorship candidates of the ruling party.

While the Peter
Nwaoboshi-led state executive converged at the Cenotaph in Asaba to
pick the party’s flagbearer in the April election, the other faction
led by Godwin Ebomah found a home at Mid-West Inn, Enerhen, near Warri
to conduct its own parallel primaries. The result was that while the
Nwaoboshi camp returned Mr Uduaghan for the second tenure, Mr Ebomah’s
parallel body settled on Saliba Mukoro as its governorship candidate,
alongside other aspirants who emerged to contest the various elective
positions under the party platform.

Obviously
determined not to take chances with the opportunity avail him, Mr
Mukoro, who was coming into party politics for the first time, after
having served in the Nigerian Army for 16 years where he rose to the
rank of Major before the Gideon Orkah coup which he participated in
truncated his career, reassured his supporters of his commitment to
ensuring that the mandate giving to him as the party flag bearer was
secured till the end. He also promised to make a pronouncement on his
choice of a running mate as soon as the party’s national headquarters
in Abuja on his candidacy.

One of the critics
of Mr Uduaghan within the party, who spoke on condition of anonymity,
said the intra-party challenge might well be the most dangerous
obstacle to the governor’s second term bid.

“If truly President
Goodluck Jonathan is the political godson of E.K. Clark, a man seen as
the arrow-head of the parallel group in the state, then, there may
likely be a last minute U-turn in certain party decisions by the
national headquarters, especially now that the president had secured
the party ticket to contest the April general elections and no longer
needs to lobby or do the bidding of any governor to secure delegate
votes,” he said.

One of the high
points of the rerun election was the near upset by the candidate of the
Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), Great Ogboru and that raises fears as
to what would be the faith of the Uduaghan led PDP in the April polls.
This is more so as some notable members of the PDP are defecting to the
DPP to protest their failure at the last party primaries.

Lawrence Akpeti, a
DPP leader said that members of the party are going to reclaim what he
described as stolen mandate of the people by the PDP in the re-run
election.

“The governor
should know that he never won the election and his stay in Government
House, Asaba is going to be for a short time because DPP will kick him
out through the court,” he said. “The recent re-run election brought a
healthy competition between the political parties like the DPP that
came to compete with the PDP. It has brought awareness to politicians
and people in Delta State; for them to know that one party cannot
benefit alone. The votes that DPP had came from Deltans who believe in
justice.”

With barely three
months to April’s polls, Mr Uduaghan will need to work extra hard to
change reformulate the policies of his party and his government.

“He must do this by giving all the ethnic groups the right sense of
belonging in terms of developmental projects and empowerment schemes,”
the PDP leader said. “Perhaps this could help in building the needed
confidence and trust that could guarantee a landslide victory for him
in the general election.”