The Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa-led government in Delta State is synonymous with resignation, as many of his aides seemed to have been fed up with the government that strip them of their powers without recourse, especially when that office was not originally given to them by the governor.
Loading ...First, it was the Commissioner for Finance, Olorogun David Edevbie who allegedly threatened to resign his office when his counterpart in Economic Planning, Dr. Kingsley Emu, purportedly stamped his feet on his (Edevbie’s) ministry virtually carrying out the official functions of the Finance Ministry.
At that point, the administration of Okowa was placed in a state of conundrum, having sleepless nights over the seemingly brawl between his two Commissioners, Olorogun Edevbie and that of the Economic Planning, Dr. Emu.
Both Commissioners fought dirty over who control, dispense and as it were, report financial transactions of the government to governor Okowa.
The fight for supremacy, it was learnt, started almost immediately they were appointed, last year, by their principal who considered them fit and proper for their assigned portfolios. Indeed, both are good materials in the finance institution anytime any day.
This, perhaps, was the reason that made it possible for them to serve as commissioners for former governor James Onanefe Ibori and Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan respectively in order to tap from their wealth of experience in the ‘house of money’ prompted Okowa to search diligently for them.
Edevbie however is a child of Ibori the embattled former governor now serving jail terms in far-away London, and who without hesitation recommended him to Okowa for the juicy job while Emu himself came on board directly from the incumbent governor Okowa.
From all indications, the power tussle between both commissioners has caused a crack on Okowa’s government to the extent that no proper records of the day to day financial dealings of government; and worst still disbursement of approved money by the governor is almost impossible.
Investigation so far carried out by this paper indicates that Dr. Emu has completely hijacked the functions of Edevbie, overseeing all government agencies under the ministry of finance in the state. He (Emu) disburses money at will thereby mocking the finance Commissioner who is now pushed to a tight corner doing paper work.
A top senior government official confided with this paper that even the paper work is no longer done at the ministry of finance as no financial transaction is going on there. He said this has to be curtailed with immediate effect otherwise it will lead to reckless spending of government money where no one will be held responsible since there are two commissioners overseeing one ministry.
The aftermath of this development is that millions of naira may have gone under the bridge within the short span of Okowa’s government with some smiling to the banks while others are weeping and gnashing their teeth, threatening to throw in the towel to save names.
Although, Edevbie threats to resign his appointment is laughable because it may not see the light of the day as former governor Ibori reportedly warned his political son, Okowa to wade into the matter with a view to nip the issue in the bud as soon as possible for Edevbie his anointed son to remain in government being his only eyes.
But Dr. Emu the Okowa right hand man is not willing to shift grounds, perhaps, for now. The reason for this is not far-fetched. According to sources, in a recent executive meeting held at government house Asaba, both Edevbie and Emu stirred the honey net when the matter was raised.
The governor, it was learnt, was at a cross road over what to do to control the situation either to reshuffle the cabinet or to drop both of them became his thoughts but for the power behind them the governor became helpless.
While the turbulent waters still bubbles, the Commissioner for Information, Patrick Ukah, who may lost his job has allegedly threatened to resign over Okowa’s decision to split the ministry.
Governor Okowa had last week splited the Ministry of Information and created the Directorate of Orientation, the Senior Special Assistant, Eugene Uzum, was appointed as the head of the new ministry, which generated bad blood between Mr. Ukah and Mr. Uzum.
It was gathered that the governor decided to split the ministry following the non-activeness of Ukah in the management of the state’s information in the eye of the public as sources said, the Commissioner was not living up to the expectation of the State and the governor as a result, the governor had no option than to split the Information Ministry.
It was learnt that Governor Okowa has empowered the newly created Directorate to cover almost all the important roles of the Information Commissioner in the State. As at this moment it was learnt that the Commissioner has allegedly threatened to resign because of the development.
It was gathered that following the alleged incompetency of the State Commissioner for Information, the governor decided to split the ministry and remove certain powers from Mr. Ukah.
According to an anonymous source from the Ministry of Information, Mr. Patrick Ukah has allegedly told some of the staff in confidence that with the current state of the ministry, he would have no option but to resign as Commissioner for Information, as he feels that he has been embarrassed and dehumanized by the governor.
“The governor has lost confidence in Mr. Patrick Ukah. He is not competent to handle the Information Ministry. First, when the governor came into office, he ceded to the Government House the ICT unit of the Information Ministry. After some time, the governor again ceded to the Government House the operations of the State website.
“When the ICT unit and website were created during the tenure of former Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, it was said that the ICT and website had been taken to the Government House, but the then-Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Ifeanyi Okowa, prevailed that the Ministry of Information should handle the ICT and website because its falls under the purview of the ministry.
However, the same SSG then who is now governor of the State ceded the ICT unit and website operations to the Government House as nothing seemed to be happening at the Information Ministry again as it used to be; everything is redundant there. No funding, nothing is happening, and it all boils down to the incompetency of Mr. Patrick Ukah.
It was also gathered that the Commissioner is floating in the system, as some of his duties as the spokesman of the State government have been hijacked and taken over by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor.
The embattled Commissioner for Information is said to be a political son to Senator Peter Nwaoboshi who nominated Mr. Ukah for the position.
Meanwhile, his first day as Directorate of Orientation, Mr. Uzum warned workers under his ministry to desist from any form of laziness and tardiness. He said the workers should set examples for other Deltans, especially civil servants.
Also, another resignation may allegedly be looming from the office of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) headed by Barr. Festus Ovie Agas, whose powers may have been stripped and given to Mr. Hillary Ibegbulem, Okowa’s alleged killer squad who now doubles as the principal secretary to Okowa.
It was reliably gathered that Ibegbulem, the alleged killer squad rig leader, does all the official functions and the jobs of the SSG, while Agas is just to sit in the office and signs letters of appointments as directed by the governor.
Investigation revealed that Okowa has turned Agas into a figure head who engages only in ceremonial activities while Okowa’s principal secretary practically does the official work.
