By Unue Emeka,

The Chairman of 2020 Electoral Committee of Ndokwa Neku Union, NNU, Sir Ken Okolugbo has dismissed the report on an alleged crack in the Caretaker Committee of the apex socio-cultural organisation of Ndokwa ethnic nationality of Delta State, saying that the body is united ahead of its election to elect a new national executive.

He noted that with the expiration of the Chief Johnson Opone led Executive of the Ndokwa Neku Union, NNU, Dr Tab Tambowei led Caretaker Committee has been the only committee overseeing the affairs of the union, pending when a new executive will be elected

He stated that the committee was put together by sons and daughters of Ndokwa who felt that there should not be a vacuum in the leadership of the union, as the process of electing a new executive was truncated by the novel Coronavirus pandemic, which caused the lockdown of the entire country.

Sir Okolugbo, a former member on the Board of the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, disclosed further that the election to bring in the new executive will be organised once the necessary documents, like the delegate lists, is in place, as it’s a key factor for a credible election to hold.

“We don’t have a conflicting Caretaker Committee, the truth about it is that we have credible Ndokwa Children, who put together a Caretaker Committee, why they put together this Caretaker Committee was because it was the case of the doctrine of necessity.

Don’t forget that when my electoral committee was inaugurated, we were supposed to have done the election 60 days before the expiration of the executive led by High Chief Benson Opone, but we couldn’t do it because of the pandemic, that was the height of the Coronavirus attack in the nation, where everywhere was on lockdown.”

“In the wisdom of some Ndokwa Sons, the like High Chief Justice Obi, Prof. Okecha, Pharm. Enebeli, Johnson Opone, and so many other credible sons and daughters of Ndokwa who were former Presidents of NNU, they came together to set up the committee led by Dr Tabs Tabowei, a very credible Ndokwa man and looking at those who put the Caretaker Committee together, you cannot fault them. These are very prominent credible sons and daughters, you cannot fault them. If you remove them from the Ndokwa equation, you cannot be talking of the union. That’s the only Caretaker Committee that is on the ground.”

“People should learn to accept that in every situation, that where we don’t have a substantive executive, we don’t want to have a lacuna, which is while we want to have this election and put all these issues behind us.”

“Well, not that there is nothing happening, we announced the election to have it at a convenient time, when we are sure the pandemic will not affect our people who will be coming to vote, as we were expecting over 500 delegates for the election. As at the time we announced for the election, we still have the issue of those who were trying to reconcile the different factions in the union.”

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“It is not in our position to reconcile factions, but the Caretaker Committee which is on the ground had taken an initiative to reconcile all the dissenting voices so that we can have one united election. We are actually putting together a register, which is most important in this election. If we don’t have the register, we can’t have an election.

There is a committee in place incharge of this register headed by Barr Sam Chukwuji, the former Local Government Chairman of Ndokwa East, and now a Special Adviser to the Delta State Governor, a credible personality.”

Okolugbo also talked on other issues agitating the mind of Ndokwa people of which recently lead to the youths protest where busy Ughelli-Kwale-Asaba highway was barricaded, saying that the existence of the Caretaker Committee ensured the protest did not degenerate to a violent one.

He, however, pointed out that his mandate is to organise the election for a new executive, and not to discuss or handle the management of the Ndokwa Neku Union.

“You see. If we don’t have a Caretaker Committee the matter would have escalated more than that. You don’t have to blame some of these youths. They had looked at it that we have suffered degradation in Ndokwa nation. We are oil-producing but we are not getting a fair share from our God’s given resources.”

“As the chairman of the Electoral Committee, I don’t think I have to go into details of some of what they said. But most Ndokwa people will support the facts that we had been denied so much. We had never had a federal minister. We had never had a nomination to the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.”

“We had never had an Ambassador, the highest we had gotten if I will remember, is Chief Gabriel Amuchi, who was the Managing Director of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency, FERMA. And that is the highest Ndokwa had gotten, and I don’t think that is good enough for a nation that produces so much in terms of oil.”

“We have over 8 oil companies operating in our land. And don’t forget that 480MWTS of electricity is generated from Ndokwa nation. Today they are increasing it to over a 1000MWTS. All these are the reasons we have to get an executive in place, so that they can work together to get these things done for the Ndokwa people, in the light of the Federal Polytechnic that they talked should be in Kwale.”

“All these are not my mandate.  My mandate is to just ensure that elections are done. But we will appeal to our youths to give peace a chance, while the elders will continue with these negotiations.”