DR. Olisa Imegwu from the Delta North Senatorial District is the incumbent Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly. No doubt, he is an experienced hand, having been in the House since 1999. This explains why he edged out his fellow Delta Northerners in the House, Mr. Victor Ochei, Martins Okonta and Prince Sam Obi in the race to the number three seat in Delta State.
It took Dr. Imegwu quite sometime to make public comment after the House dissolved the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) with all the lingering controversies that surrounded the action. When he broke his silence, he explained to journalists that the House took the decision following a litany of petitions from members of the public condemning the faulty take off of the Commission.
According to him, there were series of petitions from the public regarding the manner in which DESOPADEC was formed, adding that members were screened without a law, and that some members of the DESOPADEC board were not from oil producing communities; even as he stressed that the action of the House was a corrective measure.
Warri Mirror can however state that this is merely the official position of the Speaker, and what he, indeed, wants the public to believe. This magazine can authoritatively confirm that a combination of three factors led to the decision of the House. Though the DESOPADEC has been re-constituted, all but one of the three main reasons for the dissolution, in the first place, was achieved.
According to informed sources, the first reason is the fact that the Speaker allegedly used it as a pay-back-time to his arch rival during the People’s Democratic Party(PDP) primaries. The fellow later worked his way into the DESOPADEC board. This was before the election of Dr. Imegwu as Speaker. Today, the fellow is not on the board of the re-constituted DESOPADEC. The Speaker won again!
The second reason, sources also alleged, is a clear move by some powerful Urhobo forces in the Delta Central Senatorial District, to cut the immediate past Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Chief Ovie Omo-Agege, to size.
It was alleged that Omo-Agege, as the then SSG, influenced the appointment of his cronies to fill the Urhobo slot on the DESOPADEC board. This did not go down well with his political rivals in the Central Senatorial District, and when the opportunity came, they struck and Omo-Agege’s candidates did not make the re-constituted DESOPADEC.
The third, and perhaps, final reason, was the fact that Itsekiri leaders mounted pressure on the Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, to right the wrong done to them by appointing an Itsekiri as Chairman of DESOPADEC as stipulated by the law setting it up, or at least, the Secretary of the Commission, in addition to other strategic positions.
The Governor yielded to this pressure, but when it was time to re-constitute the board, he lost the will-power to execute the agreements. In fact, we gathered that Barr. Bolatsi Dudu had been penciled down to resume as secretary of the re-constituted DESOPADEC with Engr. Johnson Toritsemotse retaining his seat as a Commissioner on the board. The position of the Director of Legal of the Commission was reserved for Itsekiri.
Perhaps, buoyed by warnings from the Ijaw, the Governor caught cold feed and made a dramatic U-turn. Once again, the Itsekiri lost out in the DESOPADEC power-play. For now, only Engr. Toritsemotse is on the board. The Urhobo-born Secretary of the board, Barr. Asemota, was retained, while Chief Wellington Okrika regained his position as Chairman.
Other members of the re-constituted DESOPADEC board include Chief J.J. Ojo, Mr. Joseph O. Egigba, Mr. Lucky P. Utunge, Mr. Ubah Ekufia, Chief Tom M. Binebai, Mr. Augustine Ogboru and Mr. Bernard Agbomiyeri.
Some sponsored Itsekiri groups have been throwing weak jabs after a spilled milk. Notable among them is the National Association of Itsekiri Graduates (NAIG) and the Iwere Development Association (IDA).
How far can they go? How serious and consistent are they? Only time will tell! |
