By Geroge Onah
As the battle for the Delta State Government House, Asaba, rages, there is controversy over former Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan’s bid to return to power.

Mr. Peter Elumelu, a contractor and brother to banker Tony Elumelu and Hon. Elumelu of the House of Representatives, shares his perspective on the controversy among other issues.
Elumelu’s family name rings a bell.  Can you shed some light?

We are from Delta State in the Aniocha North Local Government Area, particularly known as Onicha Uku.
There is controversy as to whether Dr. Uduaghan should return to office in the rerun ordered by the Appeal Court after it annulled his election. Where do you stand?

My opinion is that Uduaghan should be given another opportunity. A lot of people may criticise him here and then, but he should accept that uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. My appeal to Uduaghan is that, if given the opportunity a second time, he should continue the way he carried on in the past and that is to carry everybody along. He should know that there is no way you can please everybody.

The agitation here and there is normal and I would like to quote Uthman Dan Fodio, who said ‘Conscience is an open wound and only the truth can heal it.’ He should stand by the truth and do the right thing because of prosperity and leave those agitators to their conscience. I also want to appeal to all Deltans to give him the opportunity to come back and we should pray and support him.

One is taken aback that you are talking this way given the fact that people from your area, Delta North, are claiming that the area has been thoroughly marginalised. Are you people really marginalised?

Well, this is just as I said that there would be agitations here and there, you never can please everybody. I would not say the Delta North is marginalised because, in his time, we had secretary to the state government, commissioners from there. People are simply asking for more, that is all.

Why do you think Chief E.K. Clark is against Uduaghan?

To my mind, Clark has his reasons and, to that extent, I would like Uduaghan to carry everybody along and just put the cards on the table. He should invite Clark and other opinion leaders and let them see the situation from his own perspective. Let Uduaghan talk to them in the manner that they would shift their paradigm. For example, he should try and make Clark see things from his own point of view.

The major problem we have in governance in this country is that sycophants are too many around telling the governor what he wants to hear. But, behind the governor, they are the ones killing him. Most governors have good intentions for their people, but people who go there to curry favour tell lies to the governors, thereby ruining them. In my opinion, dialogue can do a lot of things and I am talking about communication.

So, the more you communicate, the more people see things from your own perspective, let there be interactive monthly meetings, seek their opinions and some of them may have better views than your advisers. All you need do is make time for them and by the time you carry them along for six months, they would spread the message.

Are you a card-carrying member of the Peoples Democratic Party?

I am a member of PDP, not just a card-carrying member and an Uduaghan supporter.

Would you suggest that Clark’s attitude towards Uduaghan is a transfer of aggression from former Governor James Ibori to him?

It could be. The way I see it is that it is more of transfer of aggression from Ibori. On the other hand, he may have his reasons for doing what he is doing. That is why I am emphasising on communication. Though the person might look difficult, but by the time you give him the opportunity to see things from your own view, he may have a change of mind towards you.

How well would you say Uduaghan performed before he left office?

A lot of things will come to play regarding that. I would say he has done creditably well but may need to improve on what he had done. For example, the airport project is a laudable one, we need to encourage him to complete it because it is going to be of commercial value to the state. He is also into road and power projects and these are gigantic projects. That is one reason the people cannot immediately feel the impact of the projects because they are gigantic.

So, Uduaghan must necessarily embark on communication with these political leaders to see reason with him. On the whole, Uduaghan has done well when you consider the meagre resources at his disposal.

I will, therefore, encourage the governor to increase his revenue base, see how he can diversify and cut down on these gigantic projects because you must not use your money to do everything. He should also indulge in what they call BOT, that is build, operate and transfer. After getting approval, if it is road, for instance, say about 50 kilometres and above, he could give it to companies who would build, collect tolls and recoup their money, you must not do everything because the money is not there in the first instance.

Would you say some of his projects were elitist?

Not necessarily elitist if the concept is good but one is saying that there are simply no resources to fund the projects. If one cannot manage his cash flow he would be working and not performing.

If you have to score Uduaghan in the area of health, roads, education or infrastructural development, where would you peg his achievements?

I would give him credit in so many areas like infrastructure, micro-credit financing where he has created a lot of awareness. His efforts in tackling power problem in the state is commendable and there is room to do more.

What about the area of security?

The problem in this sector is not peculiar to Delta but the entire nation and I think the government should do more in community policing because the people know the miscreants who live among them. By community policing, the people would expose the criminals in our midst.

The Federal Government granted amnesty to militants and it was embraced by a large proportion of the militants but suddenly some boys went back to the creeks.  What is your take on this?

In every 12 persons, there must be a Judas. So, what we need to do is to try as much as possible to fish out those bad eggs and that is where community policing comes in. The people can play a role by exposing these bad eggs to the security agencies. And, I must say that fighting the government or the system would not help us.