Uduaghan Clarifies What Legacies He Left Behind In Delta As A Governor

Following the misleading interpretations of his recent interview, the Immediate past governor of Delta State and APC 2019 Delta South Senatorial hopeful, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, has made clarification on the legacy he left behind while in office.

The explanation is coming on the backdrop of the Delta State Government response and backlash which greeted some of his assertions during the interview.

Uduaghan’s media assistant, Monoyo Edon, in a statement on Wednesday obtained by BigPen Online, said that Deltans and Nigerians are smart and cannot be misled by the baleful misrepresentation of his boss’ answer to a question on his legacy while in office.

He said, “one should think, when the word legacy is mentioned, what readily comes to mind would be what one would be remembered for, after leaving a place. The Cambridge Advanced Learners’ Dictionary corroborates this with the meaning of the word “legacy”. It says, “something that is a result of events in the past.”

“The former Governor responded that his administration reduced the menacing mother and child mortality rate in Delta State through his provision of “Free Maternal and 0-5 Healthcare program”, a program that earned him plaudits and awards from all parts of Nigeria.

“Through the program, the destinies of a lot of young Deltans were preserved, a lot of men prevented from being widowers at an early age. There could not have been a better response to the interviewer’s question than what the medical doctor had pinpointed as one of the most important legacies so dear to his heart.

“With that program, Dr. Uduaghan lived up to his ambassadorial role of the medical profession, which he is a member.

Continuing his response, he said, “that is the one that touches me the most”. It therefore goes without saying that besides healthcare provision, (an important segment of his Human Capital Development) there were other legacies of his popular Three Point Agenda; the other two been Peace and Security and Infrastructural Development.

“Mischief makers, disappointed that they could not fault the spotless interview, decided to share a portion of the interview on social media, in a botched attempt to denigrate Dr. Uduaghan. Alas, their plot has only resulted in promoting him as a people-policy administrator.

“Let me also remind us that Bill Gate seriously criticised our developmental programs in Nigeria because we pay less attention to the Human Capital Development programmes. These programmes start from pregnancy to delivery.

“For the benefit of the unsuspecting public, let me mention some of the other legacies of Dr. Uduaghan contained in an interview he granted a tabloid, Gbaramatu Voice of 13 July, 2018 with the title “WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Uduaghan Speaks with GbaramatuVoice”

He said, “I have my own indices for measuring legacies. For instance, a woman who went to the hospital to deliver a child but could not afford maternal service which led to the death of the child. The next time she became pregnant, she delivered safely through my free maternal health care service, the baby is her legacy as well as mine.

“The child who could not go to school because her parents could not afford it but was eventually able to go to school later, through my free educational programme and later free WAEC and NECO enrolment, to that child’s parents and even the child, that is their legacy and of course mine.

“A young man or woman who scored first class in his or her first degree and was offered automatic scholarship worth N5 million a year to go pursue Masters Degree or PhD programme, that is their legacy and joyously again, mine. Someone from the riverine area who could not cross the river to his/her village except with security escort but could now do so without fear as a result of my Peace and Security programme, that is one of my legacies.

“To the riverine people of my native Abigborodo or Ifiekporo would could not drive to their hometowns but could now move in heavy machinery to build companies or businesses as a result of my Infrastructural Development program, that is their legacy of my government and naturally, mine. You see, examples abound if you want something to hold as my legacy in office. Time will fail me if I continue to reel out other examples of my legacy.”