The Executive Governor of Delta State, Senator (Dr.) Ifeanyi Okowa, has said that he has been equitable in the distribution of appointments into his administration and described as untrue allegations that his appointments were lopsided.

A statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Charles Ehiedu Aniagwu, noted that the attention of the Governor has been drawn to publications in the press, allegedly promoted by some members of the opposition, faulting the manner of distribution of appointments and the Governor’s leadership style, since assumption of office.

“The promoters of the publication captured their misgivings in phrases such as ‘Dr. Okowa is going ahead to reward his cronies with hundreds of appointments all in a bid to further plunder our common patrimony’, ‘A government that takes care of only civil servants and government political appointees’, ‘tampered with the moral and economic fibre of the oil bearing communities, DESOPADEC’,” the CPS to the Governor stated.

Mr. Aniagwu noted that the governor would not have elected to join issues with the promoters of the said publication but for his deep appreciation of the role of the opposition in keeping the ruling party on its toes. He, however, advised that opponents should criticise with some level of decorum and deference to facts.

He said that the DESOPADEC amendment law, which the Governor proposed, was duly passed by the Delta State House of Assembly, who saw the need to restructure the Commission.

The ammendment, he said, was to enable the body to have a management team that would see to the day-to-day running of the commission, for efficiency. This feat, according to the Governor, has been applauded by Deltans who saw the measure as injecting a new lease of life into the Commission.

“Only a fortnight ago, Senator Okowa swore-in the last batch of Commissioners; bringing the number of commissioners in the state to twenty-five. There are twenty-five local government areas in Delta state and each is represented in the State Executive Council, by one commissioner. That is how equitable Governor Okowa has been in the distribution of commissionership posts; ditto other appointments,” the CPS said.

Tracing the reason for the outburst, he said: “It is instructive to note that politicians who had hoped to make the list of commissioners or other positions; on seeing the inauguration of the last batch of commissioners turned foes overnight. Their resort to cheap blackmail under the guise of pseudo associations are nothing but expression of their aspiration to hold political positions in every government. For the avoidance of doubt, Senator Okowa’s team is the leanest in the history of the state since 1999.”

Mr. Aniagwu said that it was laughable for anybody to consider prioritising payment of salaries and emoluments of civil servants as well as settling contractual obligations injudicious.

The CPS said that the accusation of over bloated appointment could not arise as the opponents have not been able to establish any overlap in the functions of the appointees. “Has it become a crime to nominate persons with depth of knowledge and experience into positions?” he asked.

He pointed out that it would have been interesting if his critics could single out any of the appointees, who in their estimation, did not merit his or her assigned portfolio. That way, he said, the intervention of the opposition would have been seen as positively shaping the political discourse.

Aniagwu also observed that in complete departure from the usual practice of winner-take-all, Senator Okowa has thrown his doors open to all Deltans. This gesture, he noted was to offer a platform to anybody with useful initiatives on how to improve the fortunes of the state to come on board.

“The resort to ethnic patriotism and the disparaging of the processes legally set aside for redress over election matters are not known to be acts that promote decency or democracy.

If the electorates have made a choice in Senator Okowa, to lead them till the next four years, it is only proper that those who sought such mandate along with him and were rejected should respect the sensitivities of the electorate and allow the system to run unhindered,” he said.

He described the allegations as misleading and enjoined the public to disregard them as Senator (Dr.) Ifeanyi Okowa, was poised to remain focused on the effective implementation of the ‘SMART AGENDA’ averring that no amount of cheap and sponsored blackmail would distract him and his TEAM from delivering prosperity to all Deltans.

•Photo shows Governor Okowa.

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