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12 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021<br />
:Vanguard News<br />
:@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058<br />
VISIT: Delta State Head of Service, Mr. Reginald Bayoko (middle); Chairman of<br />
Association of Delta State Public Officers Loan Scheme Operators, Prince Edwin Ozoma<br />
(2nd left) with other members of the association moments after the group paid a courtesy<br />
visit on the Head of Service, Asaba, Delta State.<br />
ALLEGATIONS OF ABUSE OF OFFICE:<br />
Emami to appear before disciplinary c'ttee<br />
of Warri Council of Chiefs today<br />
By Jimitota<br />
Onoyume<br />
WARRI— Chief Ayiri<br />
Emami is to appear<br />
before a disciplinary<br />
committee of the Warri<br />
Council of Chiefs today, over<br />
allegations of abuse of office<br />
as Ologbotsere of Warri<br />
Kingdom.<br />
It will be recalled that the<br />
Regent of the kingdom,<br />
Prince Emmanuel Okotie-<br />
Eboh, at a recent press<br />
briefing in front of the palace<br />
of the Olu of Warri on<br />
Ajamimogha Road, Warri<br />
South Local Government<br />
Area, Delta State, had<br />
announced the suspension<br />
of Chief Ayiri as the<br />
Ologbotsere of the kingdom<br />
over allegations of abuse of<br />
office.<br />
Meanwhile, Secretary of<br />
the Disciplinary Committee,<br />
Chief Robinson Ariyo, the<br />
Egogo of Warri Kingdom, in<br />
a statement, said others to<br />
appear before it at a later date<br />
are Chiefs Richmond<br />
Mcgray and Samuel<br />
Omamuli.<br />
He said the committee<br />
would afford them the<br />
opportunity to respond to the<br />
various allegations levied<br />
against them.<br />
He said: “The committee<br />
was established in<br />
accordance with the Code of<br />
Ethics and Conduct of the<br />
Chiefs of Warri Kingdom.<br />
The Itsekiris are a very lawabiding<br />
people, each of the<br />
chefs involved will be given<br />
adequate opportunity and<br />
time to respond to the<br />
allegations in line with the<br />
principle of fair hearing and<br />
each allegation will be<br />
determined on its merit.”<br />
He said some of the<br />
allegations against Emami<br />
were that at a time, he wore<br />
an attire with the inscription<br />
“I am the King” that went<br />
viral on social media.<br />
He said: “Chief Emami at<br />
the material time, proceeded<br />
to attire himself in a wear on<br />
which the inscription, “I am<br />
the King” was boldly made<br />
and published on the social<br />
media, to his shredding of a<br />
letter sent to him by Ruling<br />
House and delivered to him<br />
personally, which letter was<br />
entitled 'Re: Nomination and<br />
Transmission of Prince<br />
Utieyinoritsetsola Emiko<br />
(Omoba) as the successor to<br />
the Ancient Throne of the<br />
Olu of Warri'.<br />
“Others to appear before<br />
the committee on a separate<br />
date, include Chief<br />
Richmond Mcgray, who is<br />
alleged to have caused the<br />
publication and postings of<br />
messages (written and<br />
audio), on the WhatsApp<br />
group of the Warri Council<br />
of Chiefs, the contents of<br />
which publication are now<br />
circulating on the social<br />
media, wherein, Chief<br />
Mcgray made very<br />
derogatory remarks about the<br />
council and his fellow chiefs;<br />
thereby, allegedly bringing<br />
the Warri Council of Chiefs<br />
and the Olu Advisory<br />
Council to disrepute.<br />
“Also, to appear before the<br />
committee on similar<br />
allegations is Chief Samuel<br />
Omamuli. The later chiefs<br />
are to appear on April 28,<br />
2021.”<br />
Insecurity: Onuesoke berates Buhari,<br />
says Nigeria hanging on a thread<br />
By Festus Ahon<br />
ASABA— A former Delta<br />
State governorship<br />
aspirant and chieftain ofPeoples<br />
Democratic Party, PDP, Chief<br />
Sunny Onuesoke, has berated<br />
President Muhammadu<br />
Buhari over the high rate of<br />
insecurity, unemployment and<br />
disregard for Nigeria’s<br />
constitution, lamenting that<br />
Nigeria is hanging on a thread.<br />
Onuesoke, in a chat with<br />
newsmen at the Murtala<br />
Muhammed International<br />
Airport, Lagos, said Nigeria is<br />
at crossroads.<br />
He said: “The worsening<br />
security situation, hypergeometric<br />
inflation rate, free fall<br />
of the naira, capital flight,<br />
quadruple-rising<br />
unemployment rate, FDI<br />
shortfall, flagrant disregard for<br />
the constitution and brazen<br />
corruption by the Buhari-led<br />
government has become the<br />
new normal in our national life.<br />
“Lack of focus and policy flipflops<br />
have put our economy in<br />
jeopardy and in a state of<br />
comatose. Failure by the Buhariled<br />
government to curb and<br />
tackle the security situation in<br />
the country has led to desolation,<br />
despair and fear among citizens<br />
who can no longer sleep with<br />
their two eyes closed since the<br />
government has become<br />
helpless in securing their lives<br />
and property.<br />
“This government has<br />
polarized Nigeria along ethnic<br />
and religious line; never has this<br />
country been so divided across<br />
ethnic and religious line like we<br />
have today under this<br />
government built on nepotism<br />
and ethnicism, not forgetting<br />
that we currently have a known<br />
terrorist apologist as a member<br />
of the federal cabinet as the head<br />
of a very sensitive government<br />
office.<br />
“It is not surprising that<br />
Nigeria has become the world<br />
headquarters for extreme<br />
poverty and the country with the<br />
highest unemployment<br />
population within a space of five<br />
years of this government, whose<br />
only aspiration and agenda are<br />
to pursue and encourage<br />
policies and programmes that<br />
tend to divide us as a people.<br />
“The economy has been so<br />
bastardized to the point that we<br />
have resorted to the printing of<br />
naira notes to augment<br />
government expense.<br />
“We are in a much worse<br />
situation, and you can see today<br />
that ordinary Nigerians are<br />
bearing the brunt in form of high<br />
price for even the smallest of the<br />
commodity."<br />
Land disputes: No land is<br />
worth blood of any Deltan<br />
— Okowa<br />
By Festus Ahon<br />
AIfeanyi SABA—GOVERNOR<br />
Okowa of Delta<br />
State, yesterday, said no land<br />
is worth the blood of any<br />
Deltan and charged<br />
communities against taking<br />
up arms when there are land<br />
disputes.<br />
Okowa, who gave the<br />
warning in Asaba, while<br />
receiving the report of the<br />
Judicial Commission of<br />
Enquiry into the boundary<br />
dispute between Ozoro and<br />
Oleh communities in Isoko<br />
North and Isoko South Local<br />
Government Areas of the<br />
state, insisted that no land<br />
“should actually lead to the<br />
death of any person whether<br />
the person is from Oleh,<br />
Ozoro or any other part of the<br />
state.”<br />
Assuring that the<br />
commission’s report would<br />
be processed with a view to<br />
raising a White Paper that<br />
would permanently resolve<br />
the boundary dispute<br />
between the feuding<br />
communities, he said: “We<br />
will process both the findings<br />
and recommendations<br />
through the normal processes<br />
that it has to go and we will<br />
be able to come out with a<br />
white paper as quickly as<br />
possible.<br />
“We want to assure you of<br />
that because the only way we<br />
can truly say thank you is to<br />
ensure that the work you<br />
have brought forth and spent<br />
your time to present the<br />
report today translates to<br />
peace among our people of<br />
Ozoro and Oleh<br />
communities.”<br />
He acknowledged that<br />
there were many boundary<br />
disputes in parts of the state<br />
and country, adding: “By the<br />
grace of God, we have<br />
continued to tackle issues<br />
concerning boundaries with<br />
a lot of tact and a lot of appeals.<br />
We do this by ensuring that<br />
we follow through with the<br />
processing integrity to ensure<br />
that we are able to resolve as<br />
many boundary disputes as<br />
possible.<br />
Meanwhile, the State<br />
Executive Council, yesterday<br />
approved N221 million for the<br />
enhancement of cassava<br />
production.<br />
Edo spends N6bn on primary<br />
education infrastructure<br />
By Ozioruva Aliu<br />
BENIN CITY – AS part<br />
of its efforts to improve<br />
primary education, the<br />
administration of Governor<br />
Godwin Obaseki of Edo<br />
State, said no fewer than N6<br />
billion, including counterpart<br />
funding, had been spent in<br />
providing infrastructure for<br />
public primary schools in the<br />
state in the last three years.<br />
Chairman, State Universal<br />
Basic Education Board, Dr<br />
Joan Oviawe, who made the<br />
disclosure, yesterday, at an<br />
interaction with newsmen to<br />
mark the third anniversary of<br />
the launch of EdoBEST (Edo<br />
Basic Education Sector<br />
Transformation), said not less<br />
than seven million education<br />
materials, including<br />
textbooks and others had<br />
been distributed to pupils.<br />
She said of the 1,046 public<br />
primary schools in the state,<br />
only 186 have not been linked<br />
to the EdoBEST, which efforts<br />
she said was slowed down<br />
by the COVID-19 but<br />
assured that all the schools<br />
would become part of the<br />
transformation programme<br />
before the end of the year.<br />
She said: “What has been<br />
put into the reform efforts by<br />
the Governor Obaseki<br />
administration is<br />
unquantifiable in terms of<br />
human and material<br />
resources but the key thing<br />
is the effort that has been put<br />
in because the governor is a<br />
data-driven decision-maker,<br />
so every decision that is taken<br />
is backed by facts.<br />
“In the area of<br />
infrastructure, I will say at<br />
least N6 bilion in state and<br />
counterpart funding had<br />
been expended in<br />
infrastructure. We already<br />
know the cost of having every<br />
child in the classroom,<br />
including the training of the<br />
teachers, the smartphones<br />
that the headteachers use to<br />
sync with the tablet of the<br />
teachers, the textbooks and<br />
other educational materials<br />
are there."<br />
Nembe lawyers seek end to<br />
armed agitation in N-Delta<br />
By Samuel<br />
Oyadongha &<br />
Emem Idio<br />
YENAGOA –Lawyers of<br />
Nembe extraction in<br />
Bayelsa State under the aegis<br />
of Nembe Se Lawyers Forum<br />
have called for an end to<br />
violent agitation as a means<br />
of attracting attention to the<br />
underdevelopment in the oil<br />
and gas-rich Niger Delta.<br />
Speaking at a virtual<br />
conference, a traditional ruler<br />
in Nembe, His Royal<br />
Highness, King Serena<br />
Dokubo-Spiff, said the<br />
lawyers in the area were<br />
committed to the<br />
enthronement of lawful<br />
means of conflict resolution.<br />
Dokubo-Spiff, who is also<br />
a leader of the forum noted<br />
that given the rich natural<br />
endowment of oil, gas and<br />
maritime potentials, the<br />
people would reap immense<br />
benefits if the resources were<br />
harnessed in an atmosphere<br />
of peace.<br />
According to him, there are<br />
so many opportunities in the<br />
economic activities in the area<br />
but noted with regret the<br />
dearth of capacity on the part<br />
of legal practitioners to<br />
leverage on them.<br />
He said the Nembe Se<br />
Forum had concluded plans<br />
to build the capacity of<br />
lawyers to drive the<br />
development of Niger Delta<br />
and reposition the area to<br />
attract more investments.<br />
Dokubo-Spiff said the<br />
forum had scheduled a<br />
professional development<br />
and networking session for<br />
May 3, 2021, with the theme:<br />
Law Practice in<br />
Contemporary Times,” to<br />
enhance the skills and<br />
preparedness of lawyers in<br />
the emerging environment.<br />
In his remarks, Mr Iniruo<br />
Wills, who is the Planning<br />
Team Lead for the event<br />
noted, that the Nembe Se<br />
Lawyers Forum was working<br />
to harness the expertise of<br />
professional groups from the<br />
area to drive the process of<br />
development.<br />
PDP youths stop screening of<br />
supervisory councillors in Isoko<br />
North<br />
By Festus Ahon &<br />
Ochuko Akuopha<br />
OZORO— THE internal<br />
wrangling rocking the<br />
Peoples Democratic Party,<br />
PDP, in Isoko North Local<br />
Government Area, Delta<br />
State, degenerated,<br />
yesterday, following the<br />
disruption of the proposed<br />
screening of Supervisory<br />
Councillors by aggrieved<br />
youths of the party.<br />
The protesting youths from the<br />
13 wards of the council stormed<br />
the Isoko North secretariat,<br />
disrupted official activities and<br />
the proposed sitting by the<br />
council’s legislative arm to<br />
screen the selected supervisory<br />
councillors.<br />
The youths kicked against the<br />
selection process of the<br />
supervisory councillors, which<br />
they alleged was carried out by<br />
few leaders in the council.<br />
One of the leaders of the<br />
protesters, Joseph Owhologbo,<br />
from Ellu Ward said: “We are<br />
protesting the wrong selection<br />
of supervisory councillors, they<br />
are supposed to be screened<br />
today, being done by the council<br />
chairman, Christian Iteire;<br />
Isoko North PDP Chairman,<br />
Prince Godwin Ogorugba and<br />
a few other leaders.<br />
“They selected the supervisory<br />
councillors without consulting<br />
other leaders such as Elder<br />
Emmanuel Ogidi, Chief<br />
Ovuozourie Macaulay, Jude<br />
Ogbimi, Chief Kome Okpobor,<br />
Chief Philip Adheke, Dr Nelson<br />
Ejakpovi and other leaders from<br />
the 13 wards in Isoko North<br />
council. This is wrong, we cannot<br />
fold our hands to watch this<br />
insolence being done.