Why Buhari cannot ignore the South South- Uduaghan

Governor of Delta State, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, on Wednesday asserted that Nigeria’s President-elect, Gen Muhammadu Buhari, cannot afford to ignore the South South region following his victory in the March 28th presidential poll.
Uduaghan, who spoke in Warri, the commercial capital of the state, noted that the region remains one of the most important in the country, boasting that it is the oil revenue from the area that is currently sustaining the country.
He noted that the fact that most of the states in the South South were controlled by the Peoples Democratic Party should not mean the president-elect should ignore the region.
In the areas of appointments, projects and programmes, the governor advised Buhari to make the region a key part of his administration.
‘’Be that as it may, we congratulate the president elect whom we hope that having won, should look at the whole country as his constituency and not just a section of the country or his party, the All Progressives Congress.
‘’ It’s obvious that the south south states are PDP states and the south south states cannot be ignored in the scheme of things in Nigeria.
‘’He (Buhari) should make sure the south south gets what they deserve in terms of appointments, projects and programmes because as at today, this is where the money in Nigeria comes from and we insist that we must have that recognition’’, the governor said.
The governor expressed his gratitude to President Goodluck Jonathan for the projects he located in the state, stressing that the President has been ‘’good to Delta’’.
‘’ We believed and we still believe in Jonathan and we have no regrets for voting him. He did exceedingly well for us. Unfortunately, our votes alone could not get him elected.
‘’It’s obvious that Delta is a PDP state. A lot of Deltans supported Jonathan because we believe in him. Unfortunately our votes alone could not make his election successful.
‘’We thank Jonathan who magnanimously put a call through to Buhari which went a long way to dousing tension and the violence that people predicted. Everyone has accepted that the country must move forward and those who disagree should go to court’’, Uduaghan added.
On the elections in Delta and the victory of the PDP candidate, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, Uduaghan advised the opposition to call and congratulate the governor-elect in the spirit of reconciliation.
‘’ Okowa has promised to carry everyone along and he has extended his hand of fellowship. Those who contested should take it in good faith. We all saw that the defeat was very glaring’’, the governor noted.