By FIDELIS EGUGBO

Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan has charged politicians to engage in issue-based campaigns that will make post-elections Nigeria a better country.
Governor Uduaghan gave the advise yesterday while speaking at a town hall meeting with professional groups and civil society organisations in Delta North Senatorial district in Asaba where the Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Prof. Sylvester Monye delivered a lecture on the topic, ‘Governing Under Siege: An Assessment of the performance of President Goodluck Jonathan Administration (2011-2015).’
The Governor, who disclosed that since his years of being involved in politics, he had not experienced the type of politics of distortion of facts and mudslinging which is going on in the country, stated that candidates for electoral offices should engage in issue-based campaigns.
According to him, “we should resolve to remain focused and discuss issues because if we discuss issues, it will make our President a better President when he wins, it will make Senator Ifeanyi Okowa a better governor than me when he wins”, asserting, “in Delta State, we try as much as possible not to use foul languages”.
He added, “I want to plead that we should remain focused on what we can do for our people”.
The Governor stated that the town hall meeting with professionals and civil society organisations 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 organisations, they should be able to keep their members better informed.
Gubernatorial flagbearer of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa reiterated that President Jonathan deserves the votes of Nigerians as he has opened up democratic space by ensuring freedom of speech and association and has delivered on many sectors of the economy while reducing 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”, he said, adding, “we need to re-elect him to continue with his good works”.
Prof Monye, in his lecture, presented facts to prove that President Jonathan has performed better than his predecessors in office.
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, and this is wrong”.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Legal Matters, Barr. Andrew Oduma 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 Surveyors, among others.
Meanwhile, Governor Uduaghan has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure that no Nigerian was disenfranchised in the forthcoming elections.
Governor Uduaghan, who stated this when the PDP National Vice Chairman, South South zone, Dr. Caro Ojugboh and the zonal executive members visited him in Asaba yesterday, said that there were still a lot of Nigerians with valid temporary voters’ cards (TVC) who have not been able to collect their permanent voters’ cards (PVC).
“There are still many citizens of the state who have not been able to collect their PVCs, they have gone to INEC offices, filled forms, sent SMS but INEC has not brought the cards from Abuja. Nobody should be disenfranchised from taking part in the elections due to no fault of theirs”, he stated adding: “INEC should do something about it so that we do not have issues that will affect the elections”.
Governor Uduaghan called for unity and cohesion among the party members especially at the unit level to ensure massive victory for the party in all elections.
While assuring the zonal executive members of victory for the party in all elections in the state, the Governor disclosed that the State Government and state party executives have embarked on massive grassroots mobilisation and sensitisation campaigns at the ward and local government levels.
Earlier, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh had said that they were in the state to meet with the state executive members and party faithful on the need to ensure maximum support for the party in the forthcoming elections.
He charged members of the state and zonal executives who attended the party’s train-the trainers’ workshop in Abuja recently to embark on the training of party agents for the elections to ensure that the agents carry out their functions effectively.