On Wednesday, Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Udaghan will be 60. He will be glorifying God on the day as he has usually done.

Uduaghan is Vanguard’s Man Of The Year. Three other newspapers bestowed on him with same award. Nigerians also voted him Sports Governor of the year.

Saturday Vanguard didn’t want Uduaghan to tell us his story, knowing that modesty would not allow him to unfold all about his personal life. We approached a man who knew him from when he ran his private clinic in Warri, a man who told us how Roli, Uduaghan, the governor’s wife had a shot at politics before her husband.

That man is Godwin Abigor, the Director of protocol in the Government House in Asaba. It is a story Abigor would like to tell as many times as possible. But this is the first time he is telling it. And it is his way of saying “HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO A TRANSFORMER AND A LOVELY FAMILY MAN.”

Read Godwin Toritseju Abigor

File Photo: CONFERENCE: Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State (right) his wife Deaconess Roli Uduaghan (middle ) and D Banj dancing . Photo: Henry Unin

HOW I MET DR. EMMANUEL UDUAGHAN

I have known Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan for a long time. I knew him when he was running his private clinic that was on a street off Giwa Amun Road in Warri. That was about 1997. It was about this time that his wife, Roli, contested election for the chairmanship of Warri South Local Government under GDM. She contested against Dr. Joseph Atumara (now a commissioner in Uduaghan’s government) of the DPN. I was also in the race for a counselor office under DPN. These were political parties in the military era when they made attempts to return Nigeria to democracy.

But the attempts were not genuine. Utumara emerged chairman of the Local Government. Later, another chance came for democracy. During the transition, we all became members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Chief James Ibori became governor of Delta State and Dr. Uduaghan became his commissioner for health. We became closer.

There was need for us to relate on regular basis. He lived in Warri and shuttled between Warri and Asaba. In 2002 when there was Local Government Election I was in the race for chairmanship of Warri South Local Government. Just before the primaries, one of the party leaders moved to stop me from contesting. His reasons were personal. He brought his own candidate. There was crisis. Uduaghan was already a commissioner and being from Warri South it fell on him to resolve the crisis.

He did so and masterly too. He asked me to step down for the other candidate and offered me a place as his Special Assistant. His Special Assistant, SA, Dr. Chris Oghenachorvwen had just won election to represent Ugheli Udu Federal Constituency in the National Assembly and his office became vacant. Uduaghan offered me the place and asked me to step down.

That was in 2002 and that was how we became closer. I want to say that it turned out to be a huge blessing. It was divine. I saw the local government chairmanship as what could launch me into serious party politics but you know that man proposes and god disposes. I took it with philosophical calmness and it has turned out to be a divine intervention for me.

After Ibori won his second term election, Uduaghan was appointed Secretary to the State Government. I continued as his SA and I continued in the same position when he became governor. I did that job until 2011 when I became Director of Protocol.

THE MAN UDUAGHAN

I can describe him in many ways. One, he is a very intelligent man. He is brilliant in many ways. I think that God blessed him with intelligence. Two, he respects elders to a fault. It is one virtue I’m glad to have learned from him. You will never, and I repeat, never find Uduaghan confronting an elder even when he is being victimised by the same elder.

He has been bashed and accused falsely by a few elders but he would never challenge them or allow any of his aides to throw a vile at them the way other politicians would do. And in many cases, such elders ended up realising how they wronged him and retraced their steps.

Thirdly, he respects details. He is a detailed man. He wants to know the details of everything he is doing. You must spell everything out. You must brief him on the details of every project for a thorough evaluation before he can approve of it.

The fourth one is that he is a good listener. Listening, I believe, is a virtue. In Nigeria we are never patient to listen to people and that’s why we are not sensitive to people around us. Listening to people makes you understand their feelings. Uduaghan does that well and that has helped him in addressing many sensitive matters.

The fifth virtue I want to ascribe to him is that he is a consummate and brilliant administrator. His commissioners can attest to that. Sometimes, he makes you look stupid if you lack details on an issue or project you are bringing to him. He knows virtually everything. He is a gifted man.

Sometimes, as Director of Protocol, he puts me to shame over some protocol matters. You may feel inadequate even in your area of specialty when some issues come up and you may begin to ask why he employed people in the first place.

Versatility is the word. In commerce, engineering, health, education, sports, name them, he is very versatile. He reads a lot and epitomises versatility. Being with him is good knowledge for anybody. By association and working for him, I have gained what I couldn’t have acquired from any institution.

He believes and serves God true to the word. He is not a loud person. He has served Delta more than any other governor but he is not loud about it. I see him as a father of modern Delta. The results of his investment and planning in Delta will be manifesting many years after he would have gone. I see him as a general. When he was fraudulently disqualified after the screening in Porthacourt for governorship race, he kept the news from us and we continued our campaign.

He is always calm in the face of crisis. We didn’t know about his disqualification and still went to Obiaruku for campaign. We went to Abuja and the disqualification was annulled and we went back to Obieruku and Agbor to complete our campaign. A general never panics. That’s what I learned from that incident.

THE SPORTSMAN IN UDUAGHAN

First, he is a sportsman himself. He played tennis as a student and was once in a state camp. He still plays tennis and squash. He is a sports promoter and develops all sports.

He follows sports and knows technicalities of many sports. Sometimes, he amazes you with technical details of some sports like tennis, football, track and field, boxing etc. He invests in sports and that’s why Delta is number one in sports in Nigeria. Blessing Okagbare was almost giving up athletics after the London Olympics failure. The press and others did not help matters.

But Uduaghan understands the psychology of sports and invited her to psyche her up. He gave her grants for training and engagement of a coach. We have seen the result of that. He is daily investing in sports as part of his human capital development. He knows about the physical and psychological aspects of preparing athletes and that’s how he runs his administration. Being an avid sportsman has helped him.

AS A FAMILY MAN

To Uduaghan, God comes first. After God, his family is next. He devotes so much time to his family. As governor he still attends Parents Teachers Association, PTA, meetings. He visits his son during visiting days. He is a family man to the core and you can see some of these aspects in his children. They are very respectful and God-fearing.

UDUAGHAN’S WIFE

God blessed him with a prayer warrior as wife. Mrs Roli Uduaghan is a God-fearing no nonsense woman who is attracted to children. She loves them. I remember when we went for the graduation of the son. While serving food, she saw other children and invited them. She is easily excited at the sight of children. She left us and started serving the children. The passion she did that with was amazing and that’s what she does with children every time. She epitomises motherhood.

CRITICS

Naturally, everybody cannot like you. If everybody likes you then something is wrong. You don’t pretend about certain things. It is said that it is easier to wake a man asleep than to wake one who pretends to be asleep. Most of Uduaghan’s critics are in the latter group. No matter what you do, there are people you will never please. They will never acknowledge what you are doing. These are the Uduaghan critics.

That he is from the minority is even offensive to some people. Some people believe that it is their birthright to govern and some of them find it offensive that somebody from the minority is governor.

Uduaghan might have made some mistakes as he is human but generally, he has raised the bar in governance in Delta. Some people may not appreciate his giant strides because it not business as usual. There are also those who have not gone to Delta but criticise from afar.

There are tangible and intangible achievements. See the modern schools, the Asaba Airport, health facilities and programmes and you will appreciate the man the more.

Maternal healthcare if free, there’s masters degree scholarship for all graduates with first class, there is a huge scholarship scheme in Delta. These are some of the things people don’t see. A hospital in Delta now does kidney transplant. Look at the development of infrastructure too. If we begin to name his achievements this interview will not end today.

BIRTHDAY MESSAGE

God is with him as his name, Emmanuel, testifies. I pray that God grants him long time. In spiritual sense, he is already prosperous. My prayer is for God to give us more Uduaghans. If we have more people like him Nigeria will be a better place.

He is kind.

He is a transformer with the midas touch. The role he played in resolving the Delta crisis will remain indelible in our minds. He is not a hardliner. He is a philanthropist, a humanist, a consummate administrator and a transparent servant leader. I will pray, as my birthday wish, that God continues to reserve with him all these virtues and add long life to them. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SIR.