'Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.”- Oscar Wilde Believe me when I say I write this with pain, real
pain that pricks my heart like adding salt to an
earthworm. For days the words of the press
briefing just keep ringing in my heart, how a
governor who sees himself as the best thing to
ever happen to his state can open his lying mouth and tell the world of intellectuals how his
‘people’ are begging him to represent them in the
Upper Chamber. How this man swims in self delusion and
adulation makes one to wonder what planet he
fell from. How could he ever think that we all
have so become gullible to believe his symphony
of lies? So sweet a liar he must be in his young
days in the street. I am not talking about the nonperforming governor of Abia State, Theodore
Orji, who specializes in spewing out tissues of
lies on achievements done by his fraudulent
government, when such truly never exist. Of
course, I do not mean the ‘donatus’ governor,
Godswill Akpabio, who is a master in buying of awards for achievements which do not reflect
the amount taken monthly as allocation, neither
do I refer to the average performing governor of
Enugu State, Sullivan Chime, who has sworn with
his father’s testicles to take the senate seat from
the current holder, Ike Ekweremadu. I simply mean PDP worst performing governor in
the South South, Mr Emmanuel Uduaghan, a looter
par excellence, brilliant liar, smooth deceiver and
grand master of betrayal. Whatever gave this
governor the conviction that he will win the
Senate election if conducted free and fair must be a conviction that can cause the Dead Sea to be
alive. For crying out loud, here is a governor who
was offered the governor seat on a platter of
gold by his cousin, James Ibori, even when it
was obvious that he can never win the Great
Ovedje Ogboru in any election or Ifeanyi Okowa, who willingly let go for him to have a smooth
ride, yet dashed the hope of consolidating on the
achievements of Ibori. Here is a man who came
to government very wretched becoming a
billionaire overnight through the loot from Delta
State treasury. It is this same man today who knows within his
heart that he has performed beyond expectation,
standing before 300 Journalists to announce his
intention to contest for the Senate. It has never
come to me as a shock as I had reported it
exclusively last year in the Paradigm News on his Senatorial ambition, when one of the sources in
government house squealed it to me, but I had
expected him to be gentlemanly by quietly
leaving office without another political
wilderness journey. Hear an ambitious man telling Deltans of zoning
the Senatorial position in Delta South. Even if we
are to go by zoning, does it mean that he
Uduaghan is the right man to go to the National
Assembly? I hope to see him hand over power to
Delta North since he has began his new song of zoning. How men of low character think just to
favor their position. Let’s analyze this political
thief and his ambition. First, he agrees that he
does not have the interest to contest for the
Senate, but his people want him there. We cannot
crucify him for having the ambition to go to the Senate; for it is his legitimate right, but we will
crucify him with his words. No man goes to a battle field unprepared, even if
he is being pushed by the people, for doing so
will not only spell doom for him but bring shame,
disgrace and disaster to the entire community.
This is where we will hang Uduaghan. He is not
prepared for the onerous task of lawmaking, but going there because his people want him there;
to go and do what? The Senate is not a place for
bench warmers or onlooker as Uduaghan is
likely going there to be, since he has no personal
or national interest of going there, but because
his ‘people’ want him there. A man who is being pushed cannot represent the interest of the
people, since he has nothing to offer and don’t
give us the crap that lawmaking is about the
people. Will the ‘people’ who push you be in
Abuja as you debate on bills? For all we know, he is not a good candidate for
the Senate for various reasons. Uduaghan that
we all know is a VERY corrupt man who has
looted the Delta State treasury, alongside his wife
and daughter, that the only place he feels safe
after office is to jump on to the next available plane to the National Assembly, where the anti-
graft agency will have to battle with the entire
Senators to arrest their ‘colleague’. This is a
governor whom a caretaker committee chairman
publicly confessed coerced them into parting
with N5 million for his daughter’s wedding event, thus turning Delta State into a government
of Uduaghan, for Roli Uduaghan and by Oroje
Okpu Uduaghan. Is it this thief we want to send
to the senate when he should be facing
corruption charges the moment he steps out of
the Unity House? As a medical doctor, he was fantastic, at least I
know of someone he operated on, though any
medicine/surgery graduate can perform such, but
we give it to him that he did his best while in
medical practice; but as a politician, he has not
done one tenth of his best. For the first time in the history of Delta State, we have a governor
who single handedly ruled a state for three years
and still counting without conducting elections
into the local government areas. He has spent
millions in setting up the Delta State Independent
Electoral Commission (DSIEC) and yet has refused to allow them conduct election into the various
LGs. What this simply means is that he has been
pocketing the billions of naira allocated to these
local governments in the state. Oh No! We cannot
afford to have a Senator who will pocket our
constituency project. This man has not been faithful in big things; how then shall he be faithful
in little? Any attempt by Uduaghan to muzzle his way to
the Senate should be vehemently rejected by all
who hates mis-governance, as he has shown to
all and sundry that he is not competent for
leadership position. I do not bite tongues when I
call him a clueless dictator, whose next ambition will be to become the Senate President should he
succeed in rigging his way through. This power
drunk man had told the press that as a governor;
he had the power to take and give life and up till
this moment, he has not retracted the statement.
No one wants a killer in the Senate and Delta South has not told anyone they want such. This government of fraudulent men and women
run by Uduaghan may just be the ones telling
him to run for the Senate as all notable men
whom I have had cause to interact with via
phone and social media are still at shock when
and where they told the lying governor to gird his loins and represent them in the Senate. The
people have not said that they are tired of
Senator James Manager representation, neither
are they in a hurry to remove him; even if they
wish to remove him; it is certainly not to replace
him with an under performer. For a governor who has spent seven years to still
be grappling with construction of road to his
Abigborodo village goes to show that he is not
wanted in his own community, yet has the guts
to lie to us that his people who are not happy
with him as a governor are asking him to be their Senator. Who will tell Uduaghan to wake up
from his slumber and face the reality of life? Who
will be bold enough to tell him to use these
remaining months to complete his abandoned
projects and forget the senatorial election? Which
prominent Deltan can throw away sycophancy and tell him to his face how unworthy is he to
represent Deltans in the committee of Nigeria
Governors’ Forum (NGF), talk less of the hallowed
Senate Chambers. I personally have no doubt that with men like
governor Uduaghan in the Senate, the rot there
will stink to the sky, so much that the Senators
will wish he is never their colleague. Men like
Uduaghan in the Senate will be worse that the
pedophiles among them, as he will sponsor bills legitimizing corruption and other nefarious laws.
It is never too late for him to stop his dance of
shame in the market square, neither is it too late
for him to deliver on his promises to Deltan. He
should focus solely on the task of consolidating
on Ibori’s gain and not go about flaunting the achievements of his predecessor, who never had
such opportunity to do so. There is no denying
the fact that he has demystified the notorious
Enerhen Junction, by turning it into a road of
pride, but governance goes beyond that. There
are many things left undone than heating the Delta polity with his inordinate senatorial
ambition, when indices available to him shows
that he may not be able to win a local
government election as it stands today. There is no man without ambition, but this one
by governor Uduaghan is simply uncalled for,
realistically unnecessary and grandiosely
democratically impossible and while his
trumpeters may not tell him to his face, we owe
it as the conscience of society and voice of the voiceless to pass on the message of the populace
to him; how Deltans home and abroad completely
rejects his newest bride and wishful day
dreaming. Governor Uduaghan must be told in clear terms
that he is not the only man who is a politician
from Delta South and thus must not occupy all
positions created in Nigeria. His ‘navel’ as they
say in Warri pidgin is not planted in the Senate,
neither was his placenta planted in government. He has been opportune to be a Commissioner,
Secretary to the State Government and now a
governor. He should shamefully take a bow and
exit the stage for real democrats who know the
tenets of leadership, craft of lawmaking and the
beauty of democracy to represent Delta South. Yes we can halt this journey of perfidy and help
him to save his already hated image by Deltans,
by calling on all well meaning Deltans in Nigeria
and Diaspora to call him to order, by allowing
Senator James Manager to continue or allow his
people whom he has tortured psychologically and emotionally chose their Senator. Uduaghan’s ambition must not be allowed to
override the will and wish of the majority, nor
should his quest for continous power be forced
on the generality of Delta South who clamour for
effective representation in the Senate. “All
ambition are lawful except those that climb upwards on the miseries or credulities of
mankind”, says Henry Ward Beecher and this one
by Uduaghan is just one of those inordinate
ambition to increase the miseries of men. These little things matter… Fejiro Oliver, a Journalist can be reached on secretsreporters@gmail.com and +2348026797588 (sms only please). Follow on
twitter @fejirooliver86 and Facebook
fejirooliver86. Like our Facebook page –
secretsreporters

Is Fejiro Oliver not that dude who tried blackmailing the Niger state governor to the tune of 50 million naira to kill a story ? Smh & d

talktimi: Is Fejiro Oliver not that dude who tried blackmailing the Niger state governor to the tune of 50 million naira to kill a story ? Smh & d

yes.

Malcolmx12: yes.

then its safe to assume he blackmailed Uduaghan and it didn't work out hence his coming out with this story.

talktimi: then its safe to assume he blackmailed Uduaghan and it didn't work out hence his coming out with this story.

THE UPDATE. I had a conversation today with Fejiro Oliver, his
family and lawyer. I can now intimate us of the
following facts: Fejiro was arraigned before a
Magistrate who drafted three count charges
against him which includes “intimidation” and
“extortion”. He pleaded not guilty to the three counts and was remanded in Niger State Medium
Prison until the 14th October, 2014. The family had briefed a lawyer since Tuesday
23rd, 2014 who proceeded toMinna, Niger State
the same day and is currently taking legal steps
to secure the release of Fejiro from prison
custody. Fejiro while discussing with me on
phone did not only assert his innocence but laughed at the concocted and fabricated
allegations leveled against him by the DSS and the
Niger State Government though he is concern
that some disgruntled elements may seek to rely
on same to tarnish his image. He has challenged
the DSS to make public the evidence that he ever demanded or attempted to extort any sum of
money from any official of the Niger State
Government. He equally narrated how many of the journalists
who came to cover the media briefing by the DSS
on Monday 22 September, 2014 engaged the DSS
in a heated argument as they saw no basis for
his arrest. One of the DSS officer then pushed him
into a waiting vehicle to avoid further communication with the media. He insisted that the trump-up charges were
brought up after his arrest because he rejected
the directive to discontinue his reports on his
investigations into the corrupt activities of the
Niger State. It might interest us to know that the
corrupt practices which he unravelled and which are backed by documentary evidence is up to the
tune of N40 billion. This explains why the Niger
State Government is seeking retrieval of
documents in his possession and insisting that he
should discontinue his reports. This is the core
issue. Nigerians should understand that it takes very
few men to blow the whistle in this country.
Those who dare do this are often targeted for
attacks, assassination, persecutions. Fejiro Oliver
is being haunted not because he stole
government money, or attempted to extort money from government officials but because he
refused to play along and dance to the tunes of
those bleeding our country to death. Fejiro
appreciates the efforts of Nigerians who are
campaigning for his freedom. Meanwhile, his lawyer is expected to address the
media tomorrow Thursday 24th September,
2014 in Minna, Niger State.”

The SSS paraded Fejiro Oliver and accused him of
trying to extort N50 million naira from the Niger
State government. Ordinarily, one would have
believed the SSS. However, with recent events,
one is constrained to disbelieve the assertions of
the SSS. Firstly, no proof has been shown to the public to
show that Fejiro did demand for a bribe. The text
messages exchanged between Fejiro and the
Secretary to State Government of Niger State,
does not reveal anything as such. Secondly, it is common knowledge that the SSS is
in the habit of arresting innocent Nigerians and
making spurious and false allegations against
them. An instance occurred sometime in April this
year, where the SSS arrested one Isiaka Yusuf,
tortured and threatened him for days. What was his offence? He tweeted live pictures of an
attempted jail break by boko haram members in
Abuja. When initially contacted on why he was
picked, the SSS spokesperson Marylyn Oga,
denied it out rightly. Let’s hear her: “I do not even know who you are
talking about. I picked your call because I
thought it was someone in distress.” However,
when Nigerians mounted pressure, the SSS ate
the humble pie and released him. Thirdly, considering the fact that the SSS has
always been quick to defend government, it is
only reasonable to conclude that it would want
to attack and muzzle anything that would paint
government in bad light. Fourthly, it sounds weird that Fejiro w Oliver will
be demanding bribe when actually the report has
already been published. Common sense demands
that bribes are demanded to kill ongoing
investigation, not already published reports! Based on what we’ve heard, Fejiro did a report
and on decrepit state of governance in Niger
State. To silence him the state government has
conspired with the SSS to shut him up and others
like him. It is therefore surprising that Nigerians are not
taking this issue serious. If we mobilized for
Isiaka, why not for Fejiro? The State government
and the SSS have told us what they want us to
hear. Is it fair to conclude and hang Fejiro based
on one sided story? It is only fair that we should hear from him to enable us arrive and at a fair
and just conclusion. Today it is Fejiro, tomorrow it could be anybody.
It behooves on all of us to rise up and demand
for the immediate release of Fejiro Oliver. If he
has committed any offence the appropriate thing
to do is to charge him to court, where he will
defend himself. Detaining him is contravening the constitution. In the court of public opinion, we should not
convict by rumour. Frank Ijege, frankijege@yahoo.com