The removal of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan as governor of Delta State by the Court of Appeal on Tuesday may have split governors of the South-South region.Investigations by our correspondents across the region on Thursday indicated that a number of governors in the region regard the removal as "an assault by the President's Ijaw associates."

A highly placed source said, "The Ijaws want everything. The representative of Delta in the President's cabinet is Ijaw, even though the Ijaws in Delta State are in the minority. The representative of Rivers State in the President's cabinet is also Ijaw.

"The removal of Uduaghan is an escalation of the larger plot by some Ijaw elements to corner everything."

Another source however dismissed the insinuation of blatant Ijaw domination. The source said, "We all protested the election results all over the country.

The election that brought Uduaghan to power was a fraud. We must commend the judiciary. What happened in Delta on Tuesday was a victory for all lovers of democracy."

But sources opposed to Uduaghan's removal on Thursday spoke of "a thickening Ijaw plot" spearheaded by Godsday Orubebe, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and Chief Edwin Clark, the Ijaw leader.

"These people are going to cause very serious problems for the president. Clark is daily creating new enemies for the president. The unpopularity of the president in the north, for instance, is daily being stoked by people like Clark," one of the sources said.

Solomon Funkekeme, Secretary of the Uduaghan Campaign Organisation said there was no fear about the re-run ordered by the court. "As far as we are concerned, the structures we have in place in Delta State and the achievements of the Uduaghan administration in the past 42 months would make the election a walkover," Funkememe said.

However, Mr. Sherif Mulade, an aspirant to the Delta State House of Assembly said, " Eight-five percent of Deltans do not want Uduaghan back and all efforts would be mustered to prevent his re-election. Great Ogboru won the election in 2007 and his mandate was stolen by Uduaghan in connivance with INEC."

Uduaghan was removed by the Court of Appeal in Benin in a judgment delivered by Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem at about 8pm.

The Ijaws occupy four of twenty-five local government areas in Delta State. In Rivers, they have ten of the twenty-three local government areas. They are however the majority in Bayelsa State.

Top Ijaw government appointees in Jonathan's cabinet, include, Diezani Allison-Madueke; the Petroleum Affairs Minister; Gen. Andrew Azazi, the National Security Adviser; and Odein Ajumugobia, Foreign Affairs Minister.

Others are Godsday Orubebe; the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs; and Timi Alaibe, the Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta Affairs.

Meanwhile, speculation that Uduaghan will not be fielded for the court-ordered re-run governorship election has been dismissed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the National Working Committee of the party said yesterday that he remains it’s candidate for the election.

An Appeal Court sitting in Benin, Edo state had on Tuesday nullified the election of Dr. Uduaghan as the governor of Delta state and ordered a re-run within 90 days.

The party's NWC rose from a meeting yesterday and declared that in keeping with its tradition that incumbents remain the candidates whenever elections are nullified, that the same rule applies in the Delta state case.

The statement issued by the party at the end of their meeting read in part; "The National Working Committee hereby affirms that His Excellency, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan remains the candidate of the PDP for the gubernatorial re - run elections. This is in line with established tradition where duly nominated candidates are presented by the Party in all bye elections. For the avoidance of doubt, the PDP shall not contemplate replacing Dr Uduaghan for the re- run exercise."

Some interest groups in the Delta state chapter of the party are canvassing for none retention of Dr. Uduaghan as the party's candidate for the re-run election. Elder statesman Chief Edwin Clark had on Wednesday urged the anti-graft agencies to arrest and prosecute Uduaghan for alleged fraud he committed while in office before his election was nullified.

I've always said that the emboldement of the ND was actually an emboldment of the Ijaw.
Unknown to many, the first casualties will be the other southern minorities.

na wa ooo for this ijaw people. so everybody or group in ND must bow to the ijaws wish. in delta, they are the "minority" compared to the itsekiris. my itsekiris brothers should not allow edwin clark to run them over!

as i said earlier in one of the threads, edwin clark is creating enemies for Gj. i don't think 2regions" see GJ as a NATIONAL LEADER. Edwin clark is painting him as a regional leader.

he might not win the election without rigging it.

Minorities fighting each other.

And once again Abagworo's comment has come to pass.It is not Ijaw but Edwin Clarke that is holding the South-South to ransome.That judgement was funny and was aimed at dealing with Uduaghan rather than what people were meant to believe.Uduaghan might be re-instated on certain terms and conditions.

u see what happens when a minority becomes the president

there people miss use the power

thank jonathan for for u about to destroy this country

thank again for bring ethnic politics into play by repairing the se
and
naming libraty stadium to awolowo stadium

thank for opening peoples eyes


is that what people are asking u to do

people say they want constant electrcity u are here renaming stadium to awolowo

people say there is flooding instead u are taking title of ohaneze
people say they are hungry and the youths are suffering instead u are dredging the river niger for ur people
people say they want good roads and jobs u are here campaning everywhere for u to become president

Mr president the best campanign u can do is do constant electricity
FACT!!!

alj harem:


u see what happens when a minority becomes the president

We have had plenty of minority presidents in the form of the Fulani people. Were you complaining then?

EzeUche0:

We have had plenty of minority presidents in the form of the Fulani people. Were you complaining then?

eze read my comment

Only God knows who Edwin Clark thinks he is?

He is now going all the way to Nsuka to endorse candidates running for NASS under the PDP. This is a state where he has no vote and the last time I checked he is not an official of the PDP.

Only time will tell where all this gra gra go end. No be naija we dey again?

Correct me if u'm wrong. The Ijaw population in the Niger Delta is not as much as the Igbos in the Delta. The Ijaws make too much noise that's why it seems like they're larger than other ethnic groups in Nigeria. Infact i've come across more Ibibios than Ijaws.

afam4eva:

Correct me if u'm wrong. The Ijaw population in the Niger Delta is not as much as the Igbos in the Delta. The Ijaws make too much noise that's why it seems like they're larger than other ethnic groups in Nigeria. Infact i've come across more Ibibios than Ijaws.

Ibibio population is just as confused as the Igbo population in the Delta. I can attest to that. Ibibio is only larger if you include the Annang and Efik. However, these groups hate each other with a passion, so unity cannot happen.

afam4eva:

Correct me if u'm wrong. The Ijaw population in the Niger Delta is not as much as the Igbos in the Delta. The Ijaws make too much noise that's why it seems like they're larger than other ethnic groups in Nigeria. Infact i've come across more Ibibios than Ijaws.

through out my say in nigeria, i only met 1 ijaw person and from him i can tell they are good people. but the edwin of a guy wants to kill GJ politically.

jason12345:

through out my say in nigeria, i only met 1 ijaw person and from him i can tell they are good people. but the edwin of a guy wants to kill GJ politically.

Ijaws are good people indeed. However, they have a warlike tendency, which I respect very much which reminds me of my Igbo clan. They will not allow anyone push them around. It doesn't matter if you are from a larger group. This is something I can respect.

jason12345:

through out my say in nigeria, i only met 1 ijaw person and from him i can tell they are good people. but the edwin of a guy wants to kill GJ politically.

I'm not talking of the ordinary Ijaw. I'm referring to their political elites.

afam4eva:

I'm not talking of the ordinary Ijaw. I'm referring to their political elites.

the political elites are ruining the reputation of ijaws and gj.

i seriously doubt GJ would win the next election. [size=15pt]he is seen all over the country as someone used by edwin clark to push the ijaw agenda.[/size]

afam4eva:

Correct me if u'm wrong. The Ijaw population in the Niger Delta is not as much as the Igbos in the Delta. The Ijaws make too much noise that's why it seems like they're larger than other ethnic groups in Nigeria. Infact i've come across more Ibibios than Ijaws.

Yes Ijaw is actually the most populous in Niger Delta while Efik/Ibibio/Annang is the most populous in South-South.

Some of you have to be careful with your comments, do not ascribe the actions of 1 individual to a whole ethnic group this can cause civil war.

I have no time for EK Clark, From Biafra to the last fight between Ijaw  and Itsekiri in the 90's - this man has always and is only interested in one thing - EK Clark.

SapeleGuy:

Some of you have to be careful with your comments, do not ascribe the actions of 1 individual to a whole ethnic group this can cause civil war.

I have no time for EK Clark, From Biafra to the last fight between Ijaw  and Itsekiri in the 90's - this man has always and is only interested in one thing - EK Clark.

and what is that?

jason12345:

and what is that?

EK Clark is only interested in EK Clark.

There is no strife between Ijaw and Itsekiri. The article does't even mention any, instead what we have is various NL tribalists sitting on the thread and hyping their foolish tribal opinions.
I recently posted an article in which the king of Ogbe-Ijo (the Ijaw group in Warri) pledged support for Uduaghan. In that article, his grouse was that Urhobo people (Delta Central) control the state and that it remains the turn of Delta South, whom both Ijaw and Itsekiri belong to. That surely doesn't sound like Ijaw vs Itsekiri to me; in fact what traction can both groups get without Urhobo and Igbo?

This crap topic is just something for tribalists to latch unto as a long range attack on GEJ, who surprise, surprise is pushing the Uduaghan ticket. Delta state looks like an easy target for anti-GEJ fools, but the Urhobo and Igbo will not allow it; infact if it gets too petty and irritating, we will see ACN sweep the state under an Urhobo man with both Ijaw and Itsekiri losing out.
People need to sit back and think so they do not get exactly what they are asking for. Delta state is a model state in Nigeria where minorities can rule, we need to keep it that way.