Contrary to speculations making the rounds, former Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Ewetan Uduaghan has said he did not jettison his senatorial ambition for anyone stressing that he decided not to contest due to election fatigue.
He made the assertion during a lecture he delivered at the just concluded press week organized by the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Warri Correspondents’ Chapel at Effurun, Uvwie Local Government Area.
He spoke on the topic, “2023 elections and role of media.”
Uduaghan explained that he never bought nomination forms for the senate under the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, platform, saying he only did so once when he was a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
“I indicated interest to contest but at no time did I collect form in the PDP. I only collected in the APC. At no time did I step down. I only stepped aside because of election fatigue,” he said.
He said by 2023, Nigeria would have enjoyed 24 years of unbroken democracy.
He explained that the media had during the period enjoyed a lot of freedom unlike under the military.
Uduaghan urged media practitioners in Nigeria to be more objective in their reportage saying, media projections were at times far from reality.
He also appealed to media owners to be faithful with their workers by paying them as and when due to guard against being influenced negatively by corrupt politicians.
He also canvassed constitutional roles for traditional rulers in the country. He said with such powers, authority and recognition, insecurity challenges will be curbed to the barest minimum across the country.
“I feel very sad that we have not given our traditional rulers the special role they should play. I say this because a lot of cases are settled in the palaces. Traditional rulership must deal with dictatorship. They should be given the power, authority, recognition to play more roles in society. I am sure if that is done, all these challenges in our society will be reduced,” he said.
