JUST IN: Former Delta governor, Uduaghan returns to PDP

Former Delta State governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, on Monday officially return to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), saying “it feels refreshing to be back home.”

The former All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain said he is back to join forces with the PDP in Delta State to strengthen it.

“I am back to join forces with other party greats to strengthen our party, the largest Party in Africa -PDP!

“Having tasted the other side, it feels refreshing to be back home!

“Thank you all for receiving me back. It feels like I never left.

“God bless you!,” he said in a post on his his verified Facebook page.

Uduaghan left the PDP for APC in the build-up to the 2015 general elections and contested the Delta South senatorial district seat but lost to incumbent, Senator James Manager of the PDP.

There were unconfirmed reports last week that Uduaghan was on the verge of returning to the PDP after a closed-door meeting with Chief James Ibori, a former governor of the state.

Ibori, regarded as the political godfather of Delta politics was said to have met Uduaghan along with Governor Ifeanyi Okowa at the Government House, Asaba as well as in Oghara, country home of Ibori.

Scores of Uduaghan’s supporters, who are currently at Abigboro, the Itsekiri home of the former governor, are on ground for the official ceremony of his return to PDP.

Uduaghan was governor of the state between 2007 and 2015. He was also a Commissioner for Health and later Secretary to the State Government in the administration of Ibori.

The former governor was reported to have had a frosty relationship with his successor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, also a medical doctor, which led to his defection to the APC.