My Appointees Have Been Distracting Me, Okowa Laments

Okowa Presents ₦469.5bn 2022 Budget To State Assembly
Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa
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Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa has opened up on why his dissolved executive cabinet, he explained that he could no longer tame the ambitions of most of his appointees.

He said most of his cabinet members were distracting his administration with personal political ambitions ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Africa Daily News understands that the governor had on Tuesday relieved the Secretary to State Government, Chiedu Ebie; Chief of Staff, David Edevwie; Senior Political Adviser, Funkekeme Solomon; Chief Strategist, Festus Agas, the 25 commissioners; and Special Advisers, of their duties.

Fielding questions from newsmen in Asaba during a quarterly media briefing, Governor Okowa insisted that the former appointees were not relieved of their duties because of incompetence but because of private ambitions which were causing division among cabinet members.

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He said there was a need to re-work the State Executive Council in such a way that only those fixated on his vision for the state in the next two years would be appointed.

At some point in time in the course of an administration, there are always reasons to take some actions. If I tell you that there is no reason, then why would I have to dissolve the exco?

‘I believe we have been on in this administration in the past six years but two years in this tenure, we have two years to go.

‘Obviously, there has been a lot of distractions among some members of exco. We have been working effectively and strong, some of them have been very useful and I must thank them, I must acknowledge that a lot of them have worked with me to be able to achieve that which we have achieved.

‘But in the next two years we need to be able to reduce the level of distraction in governance. And if you do not take that action I may have an exco that is currently divided in the two years and that will not enable me to achieve my vision.

‘So, I thought there was the need to re-work the exco in such a manner that there will be less stress such that those in exco would have their minds fixated on what we intend to achieve in the next two years, rather than on their private ambitions and beliefs,’ he explained.

On the 2023 governorship election, the governor said there was no formal agreement on the principle of rotating the governorship seat between the three senatorial districts.

He insisted that stakeholders should be concerned about what is fair, equitable, and justiceable as the governorship was concerned.

There was no formal meeting where a gentleman agreement was reached and that is the truth as of today.

‘It means that whatever we are doing or talking about today is about what is fair, equitable, and justiciable,’ he said.

He maintained that he lacked the power to determine who would be governor in 2023, pointing out that it was only God that would determine his successor.

‘I cannot pretend to be God, for am not I don’t know who God is going to bring and I don’t have the intention of playing the role of God,’ Governor Okowa added.

 

AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK

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