As the plan by the Delta State Governor, Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa, to reshuffle his cabinet gathers momentum, some kinsmen of the governor who are members of his cabinet are bent in unseating the Oshimili North representative in Okowa’s government, 247ureports can authoritatively report.
Investigation revealed that the Commissioner for Economic Planning, Kingsley Emu, Commissioner in charge of the Directorate of Orientation, Eugene Uzum and the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the governor, Charles Ehiedu Aniagwu, have gone diabolic to displace the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Patrick Ukah, from the cabinet.
The course, it was learnt is been championed by a disgruntled cabinet member, Emu, a crook, who was fingered in the N369 million fraud that rocked Okowa’s government in his first year, Uzum, on the other hand forced Okowa to carved out the Directorate of Orientation from the Ministry of Information when he (Uzum) threatened to dump Okowa’s party following the failure of the governor to appoint him while Aniagwu, a glutton, who diverted bags of rice running into millions of naira from Government House to his private office off Delta Broadcasting Service (DBS) road and short-changed reporters of their 2015 Christmas package, are having sleepless nights because of Ukah.
It was reliably gathered that the governor’s reasons for the cabinet reshuffle was due to the inabilities of some Commissioners to perform their executive functions effectively, making the governor to be upset with their low performances and depressed with their lapses, resorted to embark on the cabinet reshuffle in no distant time.
Impeccable sources very close to the government hinted 247ureports.com that in one of the meetings with the governor attended by the Economic Planning Commissioner, Directorate of Orientation Commissioner, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor and others, Emu and his cohorts, vehemently stood on their grounds on the need for their employer to drop the Commissioner for Information and replaced him with either Aniagwu or Uzum, the move, it was gathered was rejected by Okowa.
Our check revealed that following the refusal of Okowa to grant their demand, Aniagwu and Uzum, threatened to resign their appointments.
Although, they seemed to have failed in their clandestine plan, as the move by the governor to reshuffle his cabinet continues, a lot of scheming have been going under the water which is spearheaded by the Commissioner for Economic Planning, Emu and his surrogates to see that Ukah is robbed of his portfolio as Commissioner for Information.
The obvious fact these trio refused to understand is that the position of the commissionership was zoned to each of the local government areas that made up the state which the grass root politician, Ukah, is privilege to enjoy as the Oshimili North representative in the cabinet.
During the immediate past administration of Governor Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, Emu, who was the Commissioner in charge of Commerce and Industry was sacked on act of insubordination to his boss.
Emu was also involved in N369 million fraud that wrecked the First City Monument Bank, (FCMB), Asaba branch which led to the arrest of the branch manager, Mabel Asaije, by men of the Delta State Police Command.
Fillers reaching us indicates that Emu is doing everything possible to see that he gets grip of the leadership of the state via his Ika connection.
Findings revealed that Kingsley Emu’s attitude towards the present leadership of the state has made him to display impunity in handling issues related to governance in the state.
This is not the first time Kingsley Emu is hijacking political positions from those in authority, as he has hijacked the functions of the Commissioner for Finance, Olorogun Edevbie, the unfriendly character of Emu had resulted to several attempts by Edevbie to resign his appointment.
Further sources alleged that Kingsley Emu defrauded his former bank millions of monies which he used part of the loot to build Beneza Hotels, Asaba, while contractors that have dealings with the state government lobby their ways through Emu for recognition before payments are made for work executed.
If the Commissioner for Economic Planning, Emu, Commissioner for the Directorate of Orientation, Uzum and the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Anaigwu are not called to order by Governor Okowa, their acts which is already generating a lot of mixed feelings from different quarters of the state would escalate.
Uzum, who is a senior member of a powerful cult group in the state is working closely with his Ika brothers in the government to see that the seat of the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Patrick Ukah is affected as his body language made the governor to carve out the Directorate of Orientation from the Ministry of Information which was under the purview of Ukah.
On the part of Chief Press Secretary to the governor, he was involved in the diversion of 2015 Christmas rice approved for journalists in the state even short-changing them of their Christmas honorarium.
Further information gathered was that sometime ago a girlfriend to the CPS to the governor was found dead in one of the hotel rooms in Nigeria housing herself and the CPS, this ugly tragedy made the family of the deceased to suspect the CPS having hands in the death.
Reacting to the strange attitude of the governor’s aides, many persons from different sections of the media spoke on the issue.
Barth Ozah, Secretary Indigenous Newspaper/Magazine Chapel and correspondent of Urhobo Voice Newspaper stated that so far, Ukah, has showcased himself to journalists in the state of his capacity in the management of information.
According to Ozah, there are rooms for the Commissioner to improve more on his information management as he is not a perfect being, stressing that since journalists are his primary constituency, he has been able to bring them together.
Ozah, advised the Commissioner to be in the know for every problem of journalists to avoid the press hitting up the polity of the state.
On the part of the former Financial Secretary, Asaba Correspondents’ Chapel and correspondent of Daily Times newspaper, Matthew Ochei, maintained that as a journalist in the state, Ukah has done credibly well since he assumed office as the Commissioner for Information, stressing that without fear or favour Ukah is one of the best Commissioners in the state serving under the Okowa’s administration.
Ochei stated, “Patrick Ukah is a big asset and blessing in Okowa’s government. Any attempt by anybody in government to stripe Ukah of his position will be resisted by journalists in the state”.
Ochei further described Ukah as a good listeners, one of the drivers and trumpeters of Okowa’s SMART Agenda and a man who is accessible any time any day if called upon to verify information.
According to Godwin Udoh of the Punch Newspaper, those agitating for the removal of Ukah are just pursuing shadow, “I can authoritatively speak that since Ukah assumed office as the Commissioner, journalists who were side-lined in the past are now been accommodated in every assignment conducted under the Ministry of Information”.
Udoh who aligned with Ochei said, “Ukah is the only Commissioner in Okowa’s administration who pick calls no matter the time, he is easily accessible, he is the right person to Mann the Ministry of Information”.
Efforts made to reach Patrick Ukah, Kingsley Emu, Eugene Uzum and Charles Ehiedu Aniagwu proved abortive.
That Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, the Governor of Delta State has a kitchen Cabinet is not a strange phenomenon. It is all about a politician working with men he can trust to help in accomplishing some of his set objectives. Certainly, there will be some form of resistance to the actions of these men and that this author mentioned some names is a fact that he has a fair knowledge of Okowa’s close associates. However, what I quarrel with in this report is the description of these men with only negative attributes. If the fact be said, these are men that have been staunchly behind Dr. Okowa’s political pursuit of being Delta State Governor for about a decade. Their efforts in making Okowa’s ambition a success cannot be dismissed and the documentation of Governor Okowa’s achievements thus far will be incomplete without them. For now, Governor Okowa will only dig his political grave if he does not give attention to some objective recommendations of these persons on Commissioner Patrick Ukah as the underperformance of the Information Ministry has disconnected Deltans from governance..
The position of this writer that the trio of Kingsley Emu, Eugene Uzum and Charles Ehiedu Aniagwu have gone diabolic to ensure the removal of Mr. Patrick Ukah as Delta State Commissioner of information is an illusion because the reality is that the information management under the Gov Okowa administration requires proper overhaul to reflect the reality of Delta State progress under Governor Okowa.
This style of journalism is unfair and the position of this reporter is obviously a premeditated attempt to destroy the integrity of the persons he said he could not reach yet went ahead to arrive at conclusions that seem a far departure from truth. This reporter should rewrite this story with the views his called Governor Okowa’s ‘kinsmen’ to enable readers make proper judgement.
Is this really the long anticipated war between the loyalists of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and Senator Peter Nwaoboshi?. If so, then it is not an ethnic political battle but struggle for power repositioning. The Okowa loyalists are like the Biblical David and it is most likely, they may end up defeating a new Goliath, Senator Nwaoboshi, a man that calls himself the ‘Oracle of Delta North politics’. My guess is that the troubled Commissioner Patrick Ukah is just a pawn in this whole issue. A fight like such may restore sanity in political leadership of Anioma Senatorial District. Governor Okowa should let this battle hold because it may be Divinely, Enough is enough.
Specifically, I can imagine the pains of these Okowa’s men on the undisputable fact that the Delta State Commissioner of Information is not meeting the expectations of his office especially given that Governor Okowa seems to be the most attacked State Governor in the Nigerian media on mostly baseless submissions. Ironically, if a proper comparative analysis or peer review is done on State Governors in Nigeria, with all sense of fairness and modesty, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa’s administration ought to be ranked amongst the first three performing governors despite the dwindled revenue of the state as a result of insurgency by the militants. Unfortunately, the reverse is the case because the man charged with such a sensitive responsibility as information dissemination and supervision has not done well most likely because he does not understand the task or lacks comprehension on what to do. In as much as I do not support the concept of entirely dropping Ukah as a Commissioner, I believe that the call for his removal from the Information Ministry is apt and overdue.
Candidly put, the demand on Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to remove Commissioner Patrick Ukah from the Ministry of Information is very objective and sensible request. Mr. Ukah does not seem to have the sophistication required of a modern day communication manager especially for Delta State complex politics where facts are usually twisted by political groups.
According to the reporter of this story” Efforts made to reach Patrick Ukah, Kingsley Emu, Eugene Uzum and Charles Ehiedu Aniagwu proved abortive”. Interestingly, this is self indictment on unprofessional journalism. So why publish a story on he accused bogusly on many complicated and libelous issues without hearing from their side of the divide.
The fact is that the referenced Kingsley Emu in this report whom was described as being in the lead on the alleged mission for Patrick Ukah’s removal as Commissioner for information may have some good intentions but, coincidentally he has a truck load of public complaints regarding his skewed peculiar personal attitude which has nothing to do with the false accusations by the writer of this piece. Particularly, Mr. Emu has no doubt been very supportive of the Ifeanyi Okowa agenda to become Governor of Delta State. Now that the mission has been achieved and he now commands a high ranking political leadership role cum influence in decision making in governance, commonsense should inform him that the number of persons that envy him has grown in multiple folds and requires adjustment of character. Kinsley Emu, though intelligent and a good asset to the administration of Governor Okowa, must learn new lessons on humility, political leadership, sustainability of followership and accessibility. Otherwise, his alleged shortcomings in character especially in not being accommodating to fellow party faithful and lack of meekness will keep attracting unnecessary opprobrium for the Okowa administration. For sure, Emu can do better if he wants but raalistically, he has limited choice on this because the stiff political battle in Delta State demands of every Okowa loyalist to join in building capacity.
Any objective observer of Delta State discussions in the internet would have observed that the Okowa government has consistently received unfounded criticisms by the opposition. I believe that such is largely as a result of the fact that Mr. Patrick Ukah is a mismatch for the information Ministry. A brief study of all the many allegations published in the media against Governor Okowa would show that they were rarely tackled appropriately, all you see is one sentence response from the Information Ministry that does not convey any meaningful message to refute or challenge biased reporting. This is where Mr. Patrick Ukah missed it as a Commissioner of Information.
Hon Commissioner Patrick Ukiah in charge of information in Delta State is almost a perfect gentleman that is well known to me. Nevertheless, Mr. Ukah does not seem to have the natural trait of a propagandist that will best fit such a difficult political position, he will do better in another political assignment. This is simple truth!
As an active politician in Delta State, I can affirmatively convey that besides the fact that Honourable Commissioner Patrick Okah may have some shortcomings in the conduct of his duties, his real problem is the political baggage he carries as the political God son of the infamous Oshimili North self acclaimed political leader Senator Nwaoboshi, a man widely regarded as a very greedy and inconsiderate politician. Perhaps, such ignoble alliance with Senator Nwaoboshi may even be the real roots of Ukah’s problems with Okowa’s Kitchen cabinet.
Removing Patrick Ukah as State Commissioner for Information given all that has been said here whether truth or lies could be politically damaging and the Governor Okowa can avoid such. If Mr. Uzum has performed well at the Directorate of Orientation, then, he can be made Chief Communications Manager, for the Governor on strategic matters, an additional task to his present responsibilities. Some Nigerian governors have done so without really introducing any unnecessary bickering.
It is high time we freed Delta State from unnecessary discussions on ethnic politics and diversionary issues that will not add value to focused governance. This write up introduced many unrelated issues to its title and it does appear as mere smear campaign against people perceived to be close to Governor Okowa. The present Delta Government has marked tremendous progress and it is apt to allow the administration and those that work with the Governor to focus on what can bring sustainable benefits to the Delta people rather than engage in blasphemy and unsubstantiated allegations to destroy the integrity of persons perceived innocent.
With all sense of objectivity, the guy handling the Directorate of Orientation seems to be doing the work of the Information Commissioner already through his regular broadcasts vide SMS, internet etc, so why not even merge Orientation and Information given that Delta State has a very competent hand that can even handle information concerns in the media including addressing the negative propaganda which is speedily threatening to destroy the Delta Government. For the purpose of fairness, equity and all inclusive governance, even though Mr. Patrick Ukah may not have done well, he should not be dropped from the Government without redeployment to another Ministry or agency as that will deprive his people a position in the Executive Council.
Deltans all over the world deserve to know what is actually going on in their state and how the government is performing. Unfortunately, the inappropriate information in the public domain is not encouraging. The State Information Commissioner should be sent to a course on how to manage information in apolitical dispensation. I have had him speak and read many of his unimpressive press releases and it is right to state that he has no competence for such responsibilities. The experiment by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa in making Mr. Patrick Ukah his commissioner for information has failed. It is not about Ika and Oshimili ethnic sentiment but a reality on what is best for a Governor we voted and demand to be informed.
The many unhealthy remarks and lies against Governor Okowa are certainly induced by his political rivals to diminish the high quality and evidence based accomplishments in Delta State in the past sixteen months. The agitation by the so termed Okowa’s men is considered to be on point and proactive as they seem to understand that when lies are said and retold without objection on Governor Okowa, the public may just regard such deceptions as facts and this is really the uncomfortable situation where the present Information Commissioner, Mr. Patrick Ukah has thrust the Okowa led administration. This does not in any way suggest that Mr. Ukah cannot perform well if redeployed to another ministry. The earlier Dr. Okowa’s takes appropriate action to address the media unchecked bias against his government, the better for his administration. Yes, Mr. Ukah may be a very good man to journalists because he grants them access but what nature of information does he give them to advance the interest of Delta state Government as a political appointee of His Excellency, Dr. Okowa? Ukah is a square peg in a round hole.
No doubt, it is okay to have a good man as your driver but it is better to have a good driver that will meet the challenges of taking you safely to your destination. Sentiments for Ukah aside, Delta has failed in carrying the electorate along in its activities. It is either Patrick Ukah upgrades himself on his functions as commissioner of Information or he is transferred to another ministry. Conspiracy or not, the Delta State government has not managed information well especially in getting the governed knowledgeable about its activities.
The People of Oshimili North LGA deserve a representation at the Delta State Executive Cabinet and their choice of Patrick Ukah is very good. It is just unfortunate that their present representative, Mr. Ukah does not have suitable rugged character to tackle the deceptions and mounting opposition against the Dr. Okowa’s government by other politicians that are interested in the 2019 Delta governorship election. Hon Ukah is well educated and will be very productive in sectors that require less media aggression. If I were Hon Ukah, I will welcome a redeployment because the job of an information manager in tough rivalry political environment like Delta State, attracts unnecessary enemies and needless risks.
This reporter has done well in struggling to protect Commissioner Patrick Ukah’s interest but he should have also sought the reason behind the craving for his removal because his performance in office has a direct proportional relationship with the overall rating of those serving under the Okowa led government. Indeed, if Commissioner Ukah is not doing well in managing information, it will be difficult for the Delta people to appreciate the work of their Governor and those that serve under him. So, the quest to remove Ukah from his position might be borne out of collective genuine concern by well intended persons. There is really nothing ambiguous, clannish or selfish about Ukah being removed but let such be done in a respectful manner because he was recommended by Senator Nwaboshi, a man that truly supported Okowa’s candidacy.
Palace politics! This article is obviously an attack on the ‘aggressors’ against Mr. Patrick Ukah. Unfortunately, it was muddied up with anger and derogatory remarks without necessarily showing credible evidence on this story teller’s allegations against the aggressors.
The accusations of theft, murder and other atrocious crimes mentioned without proof are uncalled for in this particular discussion. Where the supplier of these information on seeming enemies of the embattled Hon. Commissioner Ukah is sure of his facts, he should approach the appropriate Nigerian authorities to investigate such claims. This media war is improper and I consider it as just dirty Delta politics
Softly, Softly! We need a united Anioma for Governor Okowa. bThere is no need tight each other for political position and what is even there to gain from the Ministry of Information aside popularity and sleeplessness nights. If eventually, Barrister Uzum replaces Patrick Ukah in the Ministry of information, may it be seen as reward for hard work. In less than one year, Uzum has done very well by expanding the reach on Okowa’s activities to Deltans through his weekly radio/TV programmes and town hall meetings in all sections of Delta State. Whereas, Ukah’s style of ‘big boy’ armchair information management is deficient of proactive and innovative strategies than cannot assist the Okowa’s administration. It is just reasonable coincidence that Uzum, a former British based information and advocacy manager is from the same section with Governor Okowa but this should not be a minus for any credible performer. Politicians engage their brothers and sisters political appointees, so there will be nothing wrong about doing it for Uzum. The Okowa led government has never lacked the capacity to create new roles for his political appointees, so let the Governor reassign Patrick Ukah to manage another portfolio because Mr. Ukah has some good unique qualities that can support the government’s agenda in other vital sectors. The only problem I see here is the accommodation of the Oshimili North people in the State Executive Cabinet. Let the arithmetic problem here be left for the governor to solve not the media to delve into conjectures and use of falsehoods to run people down unjustly as sadly done by the writer of this story. Both men in this contest are differently competent and valuable
Yes oooh! In today’s politics we need to connect with the truth to ensure that our democracy grows.