DELTA State Governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan has decried the growing bitterness and hate-based campaigns by politicians saying that it would do the country no good.
Uduaghan spoke on Monday at a town hall meeting with professional groups and civil society organizations in Delta North Senatorial district in Asaba, convened to sensitize them towards supporting President Goodluck Jonathan in the general elections.
According to him, it has been politics of distortion of facts and mudslinging, campaign of calumny, foul languge and hate-based campaigns that would only further create problems for the country.
“I do believe that in all my years in politics l have not experienced the kind of campaign that is going on now. Campaigns that has moved from issues to personalities, campaigns in which all sorts of things are been dug up that will not help the winners to be a good governor or a good president”’ he stated.
“But for us in Delta we have decided to remain focused and bring out issues that we will use to convince you to vote for our PDP candidates because we believe in discussing the issues”.
The Governor therefore charged politicians to engage in issue-based campaigns that will make post-election Nigeria a better country.
He explained that the town hall meeting with professionals and civil society organizations was important for facts about the achievements of President Jonathan’s administration to be presented to them, noting that as leaders of trade unions and organizations, they should be able to pass on such facts to their members to enable them make better judgments.
He urged them to support and vote for President Jonathan and all the PDP candidates because they have performed well to deserve being elected in the general elections.
Said he: “We are saying you should vote for Mr. President not because he is from Niger/Delta, we are saying you should vote for him because he has laid good foundation, a very solid foundation to move the country forward and he requires another four years to build on that foundation”.
Gubernatorial flag bearer of the PDP in the state, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa reiterated that President Jonathan deserves the votes of Nigeria as he has opened up democratic space by ensuring freedom of speech and association and has delivered on many sectors of the economy as well as sustained the fight against corruption.
“The President is a democrat and a gentleman, it takes a democrat to respect institutions of democracy, he has continued to respect freedom of speech and associations unlike past administrations that gagged the people and threw them into jail without course,” he said.
A former Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Prof. Sylvester Monye delivered a lecture on ‘Governing Under Siege: An Assessment Of The President Goodluck Jonathan Administration 2011-2015’, at the town hall meeting.
Prof. Monye in his lecture, presented facts asserting that President Jonathan has performed better than his predecessors in office amidst applause from the audience.
He buttressed the essence of the town hall meeting saying, “we have left objectivity and issues in campaigning, we have elevated subjectivity and outright falsehood as basis of campaign, it is now evident that the more proficient you are as a propagandist, the more successful you are as a campaigner which is wrong.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on legal matters, Barr. Andrew Odum listed the professional groups in attendance to include, the Nigerian Bar Association. Nigerian Medical Association, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Conference of Registered Engineers of Nigeria, Nigeria Society of Engineers, Nigeria Union of Teachers, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Association of Secondary School Teachers, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Trade Union Congress, Nigeria Institute of Management, Nigeria Institute of Architects, Association of Professional Bodies, Nigeria Institute of Surveyor, among others.
