Although the 2019 elections have come and gone, there are still ripples in the air of how Governor Ifeanyi Okowa got his second term mandate.
Okowa Surprisingly, many had predicted the opposite but Okowa’s doggedness and forthrightness in the equitable execution of infrastructural projects executed across the three senatorial districts of Delta State endeared the masses to him.
It was the turning point. The masses couldn’t resist what they were seeing on ground. The people rejoiced when at the completion of the election, Okowa was declared the winner. It was a victory so sweat and alluring that for a long time to come would be remembered and told all over again.
Comrade Anthony Loya Okotie, an ardent and die-hard supporter of Okowa, and also the Chairman, Benin-River in Warri North LG, posited that the victory did not come to him as a surprise because it only proved what he had told to many people prior to the election that Okowa would win the election and not only that, the margin would be so great that a lot of people would be taken aback.
And it came to pass. Is it the massive and aggressive construction of road network across the nooks and crannies of the state?; or the functional and fully equipped hospitals even to riverine areas, or the education sector of which he was a member of the post primary education board during Okowa’s first tenure or the clearing of the back log of salaries owed civil servants for several months?
More interestingly the flood that usually ravage Asaba is now a thing of the past. Which area did Dr. Okowa not address? Being an insider in Okowa’s first tenure, Okotie posited that the governor recorded unquantifiable success in all of these regards.
According to him, a lot of structures were built in virtually all the primary and post primary schools across the three senatorial districts.
While structures in their poor state were quickly renovated to meet present day standards and also conducive for learning and teaching as well.
Furthermore, he said morale of school teachers have remained all time high as most of them, who, over the years were denied promotion due to official negligence have been elevated even two steps above just as others whose appointments were yet to be regularised were equally issued confirmation letters and accruing benefits that accompanied their official status duly paid.
In preaching the gospel of Okowa to anyone who cares to listen he said as a qualified medical practitioner, Dr. Okowa knows too well the essence of health which goes beyond the mental well being of an individual.
In this regards, the governor equipped the major hospitals in the three senatorial districts with state of the art modern facilities and also the welfare of doctors, nurses and other hospital workers were not compromised.
Today, more than ever before, the state civil servants have never had it so good. In the near past they were owed many months of salaries. It was on record that upon assumption of office in his first term, the governor had to contend with several backlog of unpaid salaries owed civil servant. To God be the glory, today, the story of the civil servants is a different one.
Governor Okowa, my comrade brother further stated created jobs as more teachers were recruited and jobs created across board through the government popular youth empowerment scheme.
This foresight of the governor has helped to create an atmosphere of tranquility in the state as these idle youths have been gainfully engaged in something financially rewarding to truncate the popular, saying ‘’an idle mind is the devil’s workshop.’’
The crime rate has reduced drastically. With the massive road networking, farmers who are predominantly youths leaving in the remote areas can now ferry their farm produce to urban areas in order to make reasonable profits which inadvertently stands as a reward for their efforts.
Hence, today Comrade Okotie declared that Governor Okowa is better known in the entire state as the Road Master.. Moreover, he said “for a long time, I have led my people in their relentless shout of socio-political as chairman of Benin-River Vanguard.
But presently, as it is, there is a grey light of dawn on the horizon.” There is no gainsaying that Governor Okowa is out for the total emancipation of Delta State from the trenches of economic stagnation, prudent management of resources and political equity as exemplified from his recent appointments of portfolios into parastatal of the state.
Despite all these attributes, one major striking one is his humility and closeness to God. No wonder, it is biblical that “Whom God has blessed, no man can curse.”
Credit: Vanguard.
