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MINISTER of State for Education, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi, a founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is a leading personality in the Delta Chapter of the party.
He has been a keen participant in the affairs of the party and is now playing a leading role in efforts at building bridges between the major tendencies in the State.
The problem with Delta PDP
As you will agree with me, the election that is coming up in April, the PDP is synonymous with Nigeria, it is either you accept PDP or you accept that Nigeria is finished. Nigeria is PDP, PDP is Nigeria as it is today, we don’t know about tomorrow. So that extent, it will not be wise for us to go public with our strategy, but I said prior to the January 6 re_run, I would bring leaders of the party in the state to a roundtable. Delta state is predominantly a PDP state and we cannot hide away from that fact.
They are aggrieved persons in the state that are members of the PDP and such aggrieved persons will be reached out to, we will find out a way forward, it is not a winner takes all situation, we must as a people work together. A governor’s life span in office is at most eight years, what you do after eight years, we have seen a situation where a governor had come and after eight years, he is neither a friend nor a visitor.
So we cannot continue in that rancor and my own position, as investor in this part of the world, is that this rancor, do not take us anywhere. We are the losers for it, we have lost a lot, this state is like a ramshackle state, because of this rancor, people are playing to the gallery, people are enjoying the divide and rule situation and it is about time we put an end to it and run the state properly.
Uduaghan is not the issue
Governor Uduaghan is not the issue in Delta PDP, the party is bigger than every member, you saw what happened to the national chairman of PDP, Chief Okwesileze Nwodo, not too long ago.
I mean before that day, the man was sure that he was the chairman but the party took a decision and in the interest of the party, we acted. So, that will come to Delta, don’t worry.
A flag bearer of the party today may not be the flag bearer tomorrow, which is PDP for you, the dynamics of PDP are very unique, and we take the best decision at the best time. Uduaghan has the ticket today as the flag bearer, so be it, but what I am saying is that PDP is sacrosanct, PDP is above me, I may have personal interest, anybody may have his own interest, but PDP interest will suppress that of any other person.
PDP is charge of Delta
The result of the last election in the state showed that PDP won the election. Whatever your perception is your perception, but, in the state today, there is a governor and that governor is a PDP governor, which means he won the election. So, until it is proved to the contrary, PDP won the election.
Parallel PDP
For your information, your tongue and your mouth do quarrel. I am sure at your age, you must have bit your tongue over 10,000 times but it is still your tongue and it is still there, so we will resolve our issues beyond your expectations.
Clark deserves respect
In a situation such as the one we find ourselves, something must give way; it is either the people want to respect leadership, the truth is that respect begets respect, both parties must respect themselves, the most senior Deltan today in politics is Chief Edwin Clark and we must give to him what is due him and we move forward from there.
Chief Clark has a perception and he is our father, he is the leader of the party, by age_ that is the first and living Minister of the Federal Republic, incidentally, from this state. His counterparts in other states of the country, some of them can no longer talk, but, they are still leaders and highly respected. I have asked the governor once, what does Chief Clark need any more in life? Look, it is a life of give and take. The state is not a personal property of Uduaghan, Clark or Kenneth Gbagi, it belongs to all of us equally.
I don’t believe Uduaghan called for my sack
Nigeria is a state of many parts, you hear something, if you take them too strong to your heart at times _ you will get a bit confused. It is interesting to note that the news as to the Governor’s Forum pointed at Governor Uduaghan as having requested the forum that Orubebe and myself be sacked, not even redeployed, while the news was not yet published, as I was boarding the plane to Lagos, Uduaghan had phoned me, saying he just heard rumours that he said Orubebe and myself should be fired and such discussion came up at the Governor’s Forum.
And actually that there was nothing like that and such a thing could not have come from him. In any case, I want to give credence to what Uduaghan had said to me, because he would be a mad man to actually to take such route. So having said to me that he did not say so and that some people were trying to set him up from the media point of view, I believe that it is only a mad man that will take such route and in any way, the Governors’ Forum does not control Mr. President, I work for Mr. President and I want to leave it at that.
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