Governor of Delta State, who received the Silverbird Man of the Year Award at a colourful ceremony in Lagos, on Sunday, has explained why he dropped out of the senatorial election in his state.
Uduaghan, accompanied to the event by wife, Roli, and his Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Mr. Richard Mofe-Damijo, said he dumped his senatorial ambition because of his insistence that there must be peace in the state.
Apologising publicly to the Publisher of Vanguard Newspapers, Mr. Sam Amuka, for disappointing him, Uduaghan said nothing was too much to be sacrificed for peace.
He said: “There is somebody here who has affected my life tremendously, and the person is Uncle Sam Amuka. He means a lot to me. He is a great man and a father. A few months ago, I disappointed him. I probably have not explained to him why I disappointed him. But Uncle Sam, I stand here today to say that I disappointed you because of my insistence that there must be peace in Delta State. I knew you were not happy when I withdrew from the senatorial race, but like you know, one of the things that caused the crisis we have been having today in the Niger Delta region is politics.
“When I made my intention known to contest for the Senate seat, I discovered that my pushing to become a senator would lead to another inter-ethnic crisis in the Niger Delta. I decided to step down. It was a great sacrifice, family sacrifice, ethnic sacrifice and political sacrifice. But for me, nothing is too much to sacrifice for peace.
“If there is anything I can dedicate this award to, it is for the peaceful co-existence of all the ethnic groups in Delta State. When I assumed office in 2007, we had a lot of distractions. But today, as I leave, we have more peaceful ethnic groups in the state and Asaba has been accepted as the capital of Delta State.
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