Okowa forecloses award of contracts to political appointees

DELTA State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has ruled out the award of contracts to elected and appointed political office holders in the state.

Addressing leaders and elders from the central senatorial district of the state who paid him a thank you visit yesterday in Asaba, Okowa said people needed to understand that for the general good of the state, everybody must participate in government and was not fair for political appointees and those holding elective posts to benefit through the award of contracts.

We will find ways to empower our people who did not find themselves in elective or appointive positions and only then we can be a happy people. It will not be possible to appoint everyone who worked during the elections into positions. It is an obvious fact but there are other ways of reaching out to our people. There are contracts to be done, renovation and construction works to be done and I want to plead with those who have been elected and those who are holding political appointments that it will not be in the best interest for us as a party, for us as a people when we have benefited from appointments and also want to be the contractors,” he said.

Okowa noted that for the state to grow, there should be a partnership of all the people irrespective of political affiliations, adding that everyone has a role to play in achieving a greater Delta State.

To his political opponents who contested the last governorship election with him, he said that they can’t continue to do thing in the old way by going to the tribunal after every election, pleading that they should come together to work for the development and progress of the state.
“We have to close ranks as we need the partnership of all Deltans for everyone has a role to play in achieving a greater Delta State,” he added.

Okowa told the Urhobo leaders and elders that his greatest joy was that he won in the three senatorial districts while his People’s Democratic Party (PDP) party clinched four of the eight local councils in Delta Central, leaving the rest to his rivals from which he said also said he got substantial votes.

Earlier, Senator Ighoyota Amori said that they came to thank the governor for all that his government had done for the Urhobo people, “a replication of what used to happen in Governor James Ibori’s time,” adding that: “We are all happy, this gathering is not just PDP.
It cuts across the political class. They are all benefiting from your government,” Amori stated.