Okowa Knocks Orubebe Over Allegation of Marginalisation In Delta

Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, on Tuesday reacted to statements credited to a former minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godsdey Orubebe, which the governor said were capable of throwing the state into crisis.

A former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godsday Orubebe, had a few days ago accused Okowa of deliberately marginalising his Ijaw ethnic nationality in the allocation of projects and appointment.

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The former minister also challenged the state governor to give a full account and details of how he spent N1.15 trillion the state received from the Federal Government as well as from its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in the last 50 months.

But reacting to Orubebe’s comments during the swearing-in of seventeen new commissioners at the event centre, Okowa urged political leaders to apply decorum in their utterances to avoid heating the polity.

The governor said Orubebe was angry because he refused to accept a commissioner nominee from the former minister.

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He said, “I want him to give the account from his local government area and I urge him to tell us what he used his position to do for the people of Burutu.

“Unfortunately, one of our leaders has been insulting the office of the governor on the pages of newspapers and social media; unfortunately, this type of situation took place and I wish that the criticism was based on real facts.

“I do not think that the criticism was based on a mistake on my part because the fact that a leader makes a request to appoint a commissioner and it is turned down is not enough for such a leader to go to the newspaper or social media to criticize the government of Delta State.

“More so, when such a leader by all standards and from all available information in the state cannot be said to have contributed enough to say the kind of things that was said in the newspapers. Only yesterday, my attention was drawn to the fact that he asked the government to account for the monies we have received in the last four years and I think that Deltans appreciate what we have done within the limits of the resources we have and I am aware that in Burutu Local Government alone, a lot has been done  and will still be done.

“Just a few weeks ago the vice president of this country was in Burutu to inaugurate the Obotobo 1, Obotobo 2 to Sekebolo to Yokri Road which is a 20.76km road for which our people were happy.

“Political leaders are expected to show some level of decorum in whatever they say or do. I am not the kind of man that wants to be dragged into arguments with our leaders because I have a lot of respect for them, but it is important to put things in the right perspective.”

While congratulating the newly sworn-in seventeen commissioners, the governor urged them “not to succumb to such negative emotions as complaining, grumbling and murmuring”, as his administration would strive to ensure that all who have laboured in the past and especially during the last electioneering campaigns would be rewarded one way or the other.

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