Uduaghan denies dropping senatorial ambition

Former governor of Delta State, Emmanuel Uduaghan, yesterday, denied media report that he had retired from politics and dropped his senatorial ambition for other candidates.

Uduaghan, who was a special guest at the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Week of the Warri Correspondents Chapel, said his speech at the event was taken out of context by a national daily (not The Guardian) and an online platform.

In a statement, yesterday, by the media assistant to the former governor, Monoyo Edon, Uduaghan claimed that contrary to speculations, he did not jettison his aspiration for the Red Chamber for a Delta South Senatorial seat but decided not to contest because of “election fatigue.”

He said: “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.

Uduaghan, while delivering a lecture titled “2023 Elections and Role of the Media”, had noted that by 2023, Nigeria would have enjoyed 24 years unbroken democracy, saying the media had during the period enjoyed a lot of freedom, unlike under the military.

He charged media practitioners in Nigeria to be more objective in their reportage since, according to him, media projections were at times far from the reality.