Dr. Odafe Wilson Omene, a chieftain of the APC from Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State has just been appointed as the State Director of Publicity for the party. In this exclusive interview with The New Diplomat he spoke on what is to be expected from his new office, including how he is going to dig out facts and figures of the ills of the present State government and make them to account for their stewardship; his reaction to the newly-restored Ethiope West Constituency II; the controversial governorship issue in the State, the party’s plan to reintegrate aggrieved members into the fold and other sundry issues.
*Excerpts*
*How the newly-inaugurated leadership of the APC in the State can bring on board some the aggrieved party members to join in the effort for the party to emerge victorious in 2023.*
When you said bring in this people, it makes me laugh because these people you are talking about are members of the APC. And of course, you know that this season is a special season where people will definitely show interest in particular offices. Everybody is showing interest in particular offices and they are trying to out carve a niche for themselves and those who are their supporters. It happens. There is no party that you will not find pressure groups. And what are they doing? They want to be partakers of whatever is coming on board like the state exco, local government and ward executives. All these positions have been filled. It is only someone who does not have the interest of the party that will still continue to cause mayhem, misunderstanding or mischief within the party. I don’t expect these big names you have just mentioned now to be part of such mischief.
They could hang on to themselves until the final decision is taken on who becomes a member of the exco at the ward level, local government level and state level. But once that structure is put in place, a reasonable member of the party who knows his onion and who is so dedicated to the party must see himself as part and parcel of the new excos that have been sworn in at various levels. And all he needs to do is to think of how to put the driving force in place to push out opposition party, the PDP. We must get them out of the government house in 2023 and I don’t see any of those big names you have just called now falling short of that policy that I have just described now.
*Expectations from his new office of the State Director of Publicity of the APC*
A great deal of things will come out of my new office, as the State Director of Publicity. I’m going to ensure that the government of His Excellency, Ifeanyi Okowa is answerable to the citizens of this state on how he has managed and destroyed the educational system of this state such that we now have public Secondary Schools as glorified Primary Schools and our Universities have become glorified Secondary Schools; where you cannot have a well-qualified graduate who can defend his or her degree. Is that the system that we will continue to perpetrate? No! So, I’m going to dig out the ills of the present government and let them come to give account of what they have done with public funds such that our school system has become a laughing stock among comity of States. The recent proliferation of Universities in the State by the governor, aided by the State House of Assembly should have been well funded, considering the huge amount of money accruing to the government monthly. And today they want to rely on the parents that have already been squeezed by this same government to pay higher school fees for their wards. And one lousy Commissioner for Information is there calling the citizens of the State alcoholics, drunkards; that you, drunkards, reduce your drinking capacity so that you can pay the high school fees for their children.
I’m going to tell them to account for the health care system that has broken down completely in the State where there are no good doctors anymore because the good ones have left the services for greener pastures. Sadly, and ironically, the governor of this State is a medical doctor by profession. So, how come that we cannot have good health care facilities that you would walk in and get quality treatment with the best equipment available? Go to the Teaching hospital in Oghara, you will weep. Go to the Government Central Hospital, Warri, it is the same story. They must account for the wanton destruction they have done to our health care system. They must account for the money they have been borrowing without any plausible reason or projects for which they have been used for.
The government of Okowa must account for the transport system which has broken down completely. They will account for that warehouse at Asaba which they call Airport. These are some of the things my office is expected to be doing. They will account for the billions of naira they spend yearly on environmental problems in the state when the entire State is still being ravaged by flood. Look at the flooding in Asaba, Warri or even Ughelli. This office is going to ask them questions, not for them to account for the APC, but for the citizens of the State.
Why did Gov. Okowa hurriedly took N12 billion loan without any good reason or people-oriented project tied to it? And the House of Assembly surreptitiously approved it in a hurry. What is going on? What is the projects it is going to be used for? What is the economic benefit of that loan to the people of Delta State? So, these are some of the questions we shall be asking the PDP-led government in the State as Director of Publicity.
Another area where Okowa has to give account is on the misappropriation of the huge amount of money he spends on his so-called road construction which has earned him an undeserved sobriquet of ‘Road Master’. Okowa cannot claim to be a road master with the plastic roads he constructs in the state that hardly last for more than six months. At best, I’ve rebranded it as ‘One rainy season road mastership’ because they wash away by the next rainy season. And the government has engaged itself in lawlessness. The government of Okowa thrives in lawlessness. For example, the law that set up DESOPADEC says that the Commission is entitled to 50% of the 13% Derivation fund, first line charge, from the Federation Account Allocation Committee, FAAC. But I can tell you that the government does not release that 50% as stipulated by the law setting up the Commission to the board. I don’t blame those running the board of the Commission. The fault is that of Okowa and the PDP government who is refusing to release the statutory 50% to those gentlemen to run the Commission. That is the height of lawlessness. The government of Gov. Okowa, from reliable statistics available received a whopping N142 billion as 13% derivation fund in 2021. DESOPADEC, by the law establishing it ought to receive 50% of this amount, which is N71 billion for the development of the oil producing areas of Delta State. But how much was given to them? Information available to us confirmed that throughout last year and even up to the first month of this year, Okowa has only released between N700 million and N900 million monthly to the Commission to take care of salaries and imprest for the top management staff. It was gathered that he awards a few contracts for projects in Asaba for the development of his Constituency, Owa Alero and make the management of the Commission to pay the contractors with DESOPADEC’s money. He will certainly give account to the people. The Petroleum Industry Act, PIA, is soon to come on board and 3% of the Companies fund will be paid directly to the Communities. We want to see how Okowa is going to shortchange the people again. He has been perpetrating illegalities. And that has been the characteristics of the Okowa administration.
*His reaction to the restoration of Constituency 11 of Ethiope West by the Senate as facilitated by the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege*
I am not surprised because it is only APC government that can get that to happen. That Constituency has been suppressed for over twenty something years and nothing has happened. But when a true representation from APC came to being, of course that came to be. And now everybody is jubilating over the restoration. It has been existing, not that it is a new Constituency. But it has been suppressed by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. Now, His Excellency, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege has been able to move the National Assembly to restore the Constituency for us like a fiat. And we are very glad. We owe him that respect and honour as people from Ethiope West Local Government Area.
My message to the entire Ethiope West Local Government Council Area people is that they should be steadfast and come out en-masse to support APC that has taken their interest to heart and has also taken their responsibility on their shoulders to ensure that they don’t remain shortchanged for too long. So, we must be steadfast and ensure that we do a payback to the APC come 2023 either for the governorship or any of the political position they aspire to go for.
*On the rumour that he, Dr. Omene is showing interest in the House of Assembly for Ethiope West in 2023*
Yes, I’m in the race for the House of Assembly for Ethiope West Constituency come 2023. As to what I’m bringing to the table that will make a positive change, let me say first of all, that I’m not new to the politics of Ethiope West Local Government Council Area. I was an executive chairman of the Council Area. I was voted and I won the election and I became chairman from 2008 to 2011. Even when I was coming in, I made sure that I prioritize their interest. And at that time, I found out that their first priority was health care. I was not even looking at that direction before I came in. But the report I got from the Consultant whom I employed showed that our people wanted good health care delivery system. And after health, they went for education and agriculture, in order of priority. And these are the things I would like to repeat because I’ve been neck-deep in them. And so, we would revive the white paper of that report which I made at the Local Government and harness it to ensure that we have a very beautiful outing for our people.
*His thought on the rescheduled National Convention of the APC*
We don’t want to rush it and make mistake. We want to apply the principle of justice, fairness and equity, and to top it up, under a peaceful atmosphere. So, that is the only way we can have a beautiful convention. And such an environment will produce a consensus candidate. So, you don’t even need to worry yourself. Look at what happened at the State Congress of the APC in Asaba. People were thinking it cannot be successful. But what happened? Because we are so matured, at the end of the day, we had the Congress peacefully and the winners were inaugurated peacefully and successfully.
*Effort of the APC to encourage people to register and obtain their voters’ cards*
We are doing a lot on that. In fact, this morning, as the State Director of Publicity, I’ve sent out to various platforms the INEC’s awareness campaign for online registration. So, we have passed that to various platforms to enable them go out there and do their online registration. At the end of the day, they will just go to INEC offices to get their voters’ cards. So, we are doing a lot on that. In fact, in the last two weeks in my local government area. I had personally supervised the transportation of people, ferrying them to the headquarters for them to get registered. We even book town criers to create additional awareness for the people to get registered and they have been registering in their hundreds.
*On the controversial senatorial zoning of governorship in the State*
Let me tell you, the zoning system has actually been practiced haphazardly. It has been practiced tacitly. But tacit understanding is like law so long as there is precedent. When Delta Central finished, they gave it to Delta South and when Delta South finished they gave it to Delta North. According to the PDP that originate the rotation idea, they do not prevent anybody from contesting the governorship seat, but internally, they know that when a particular senatorial zone finishes, it goes to the next Senatorial district. They know who they have chosen as their candidate but they allow others to contest. It is understood that it was zone to Central, it was zoned to South and it was zoned to the North and it has come to the turn of Delta Central. There is no two-way about it. So, anybody who is thinking otherwise is mischievous. It is being rumoured that the Governor, Dr. Okowa has an understanding with the Ijaws to zone the governorship to them. Who is going to take that? Recently, his own kings put heads together and made a declaration supporting the zoning of the governorship on a senatorial basis. They declared that it has engendered peace in the State and it must continue. And they further declared their unflinching support for Delta Central. So, zoning of governorship position on Senatorial district basis has come to stay.
