Outgoing Governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, has warned that the pattern of voting during the last general election has placed a huge responsibility on the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), as he faces the challenging task of unifying Nigeria under his administration.
Uduaghan made this known Friday while delivering a lecture titled: “Good governance as a catalyst for development: The Delta State experience”, organised by the University of Ibadan Alumni Association of Nigeria.
The lecture, which was held at the UI Trenchard Hall, was the second public service lecture by the alumni.
The Delta governor also said unemployment rate kept increasing in the country because of the over reliance on the oil sector, which he explained, would never provide the employment needed to engage the nation’s jobless youths.
The governor said, “The elections of March 28 and April 11 have introduced a new reality. Nigeria’s electoral map has been redrawn. It was the first time a ruling party would be voted out. It was also the first time that the defeated leader would submit so willingly to the verdict of voters.
“The election has also showed deep division, perhaps more than anyone could have anticipated. It was the first time the entire North would speak with one voice, and the old Eastern region also with a voice. The North-Central contrary to traditional pattern backed the opposition party, the All Progressives Congress.
“In voting, the entire North-West voted massively for Gen. Muhammadu, the APC candidate, while those in the South-East and the South-South voted generally above 90 per cent for the Peoples Democratic Party.
“The state elections were even worse for the PDP in Plateau State where the PDP managed a slim victory in the presidential election, the people hopped on the APC platform. Benue State unequivocally voted for the APC candidate. My interpretation is that these developments have placed a huge burden on the President-elect and his team to begin a unification and healing process of the country.
“The situation is bad that not a single member of the National Assembly was elected on the platform of the APC in 11 of the 12 states of the old Eastern and Mid-Western region.
“I hope the APC leaders will listen to my voice as this will greatly help in moving the nation forward. I can speak these things because as a member of the PDP that have governed Nigeria in the last 16 years, I am not without some understanding of what lies ahead. My opinion does not make me less partisan or less chieftain of the PDP”.
While calling on governors to emulate his administration in his state by looking beyond federal allocations, the 2014 Silverbird Man of the Year Award winner, said agriculture had the capacity to make Nigerian states financially independent.