Leave my cabinet if you want to contest election, Uduaghan tells appointees

Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan has sent a strong warning to all government officials, mostly those in the State Executive Council who have electoral ambition to resign their position with immediate effect and stop distracting his government.

The governor who handed down the warning at Asaba while answering questions from Newsmen, said  he remains  the incumbent governor of Delta State, hence everyone aspiring to take his position after he leaves office must not disturb his tenure with political campaigns thereby causing  disaffection among cabinet members. “On governorship election, I have not asked anyone not to contest but if you are in my cabinet I say leave us because your campaign will disturb us. I have not clampdown on anyone but as the governor of Delta State I will not allow open campaign of members of this government or allow them to incite people by their words or actions’’, Dr. Uduaghan declared.

He advised politicians who are already accumulating weapons for the next election to desist from it, noting that his administration has put machinery in place to curtail “over ambitious” politicians in the state.

While stressing that he does not owe any cabinet member apology for his statement, Dr. Uduaghan said he has not supported   any aspirant, but quipped that he is saddled with the responsibility of guiding the electoral process to a logical conclusion. “My interest is that I shall guide the process to a very logical end, I will also guide the process of the coming local government election and ensure no life is lost’’.

Dr. Uduaghan however advised all political interest groups in Delta State to portray their best candidates and start preparing for the forthcoming local government election slated for October 25, 2014.

Meanwhile, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan has identified the activities of Fulani herdsmen as the biggest security threat bedeviling most parts of Delta State.

According to the governor, until recently 70 percent of farmers in Delta State could not go to their farmland because of the incessant killings, armed robbery and raping of women as well as young girls by Fulani herdsmen.

In his words, “The major security challenge today in Delta State is the activities of cattle rearers, only few weeks ago over 70 percent of our farmers could not go to their farmland because Fulani herdsmen robbed, ambushed and raped our women. When we went to the villages, we were shocked of what were happening. We are worried of many foreign Nationals who are here in our State and we do not know their mission’’.

Governor Uduaghan advised property owners to be weary of those they give their apartment to and first of all ascertain their true identity before renting their house to them, noting that where such property owners are not satisfied with what the prospective tenants do for a living, they should alert security agents like the Nigeria Police Force or Nigeria Immigration Service.

It would be recalled that Fulani herdsmen brutally murdered two middle aged men in Enwe Community, Isoko South Local Government of the state recently, while one of those murdered was said to have left behind 2 wives and 26 children.

Investigations from some communitiesin Delta State show that the persistent killings by alleged Fulani herdsmen which have claimed close to a dozen lives in Enwe Community became rampart about four years ago according to a reliable source from Oleh in Isoko South Local Government Area.

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