OKUAMA IDP CAMP: Yet Another Shame of A Village Champion Governor - By Zik Gbemre

I'm not surprised to read in the media that two weeks after Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori inaugurated a Management Committee to cater to residents who survived the Nigerian Army's vengeful invasion and destruction of Okuama in Ughelli South LGA, the camp is yet to take off.

From the pictures featured in the papers and the explanation of the Committee Chairman, Abraham Ogbodo, it is evident that Governor Oborevwori was more interested in a media show of promoting his false concern over the plight of the Okuama people.

The governor, moving faster than his legs, inaugurated an IDP Camp Committee without the readiness of the designated Ewu Grammar School old wing site for the exercise to commence.

What was the rush by the governor to inaugurate an Okuama IDP Camp Management Committee when the designated site was uninhabitable?

This was a governor who had been indifferent for weeks to the plight of the Okuama people, who had suffered untold hardship living rudderless in the bush like wild animals after the destruction of the entire community except for one Anglican Church building.

One would have expected Oborevwori to make haste and get the camp ready before considering inaugurating a management team. If you ask, Oborevwori had no reason to inaugurate the Ogbodo-led Committee in Asaba. For what?

The proper thing would have been to inaugurate the committee at the ready camp in Ewu main town, which would have signaled the start of operations to receive the Okuama IDPs immediately. The Okuama people need peace, food, shelter, and resettlement into their ancestral home.

While Ogbodo assured of the camp opening this week, given the enormity of the refurbishment needed to make the abandoned structures habitable, the paltry N10 million takeoff fund released to the Committee shows how shallow-minded the governor is.

The PDP hegemony of mediocre governance over Delta State has continued to deteriorate with every successive administration. It is the height of it that this time around, the cabal chose the most timid, unfit, and uninformed local champion to be governor.

The result is what Deltans are currently faced with: a governor without capacity, yet surrounded by "dried woods," spent politicians, and sons and daughters of the cabal as cabinet members and advisers.

A governor more prominent in wishing political associates birthday wishes on behalf of Deltans or gracing their funerals or children's welding parties than striving to bring development to the people.

Deltans, your pain has just started, with a one-chance governor at the helm of affairs.

Zik Gbemre

May 7, 2024

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