Sacked Delta lawmaker
screened as commissioner
From MONDAY OSAYANDE, Asaba
BARELY 24 hours to the sack of Mr. Christopher Ochor-Ochor, a
lawmaker in Delta State by an Appeal Court in Benin, Edo State,
Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan swiftly ordered the state’s House of
Assembly to screen him for commissionership position.
Ochor, representing Ukwani constituency, was sacked, Wednesday, by
the Appeal Court in favour of Dr. Alphonsus Ojo who won the PDP
primary to contest the election.
New Nigerian gathered that the sack of Ochor was a big blow to the
governor and his predecessor, Chief James Ibori, who were behind the
substitution.
Shocked and fretful with the judgement, the governor swiftly called
for a closed door meeting with lawmakers who had earlier adjourned
sitting to Tuesday next week and passionately appealed to them to
reconvene to perfect the screening of Ochor to save his political
career, to this effect, the Clerk of the House, Mr. Raymond Yevbieri
went on air to broadcast that the lawmakers would sit yesterday.
But, the House asked Mrs. Orezi E. Osievo, former commissioner
during the era of former Governor James Ibori and Lady Mudiaga Erhue
to appear before it for screening, Tuesday, July 22, for their own
screening.
This development, a source said, underscored the credibility of
Uduaghan’s promise to run a lean cabinet, so as to reduce
unnecessary expenditure, because, the Federal allocation to the
state had since dropped from what it used to be. For the reason
which he slashed the numbers of commissioners in Ibori’s
administration from 27 to 22 when he resumed office, May 29, 2007.
“By the time he (Uduaghan) starts creating portfolios for his
loyalists after they are being sacked from the Appeal Court, his
cabinet would have exceeded that of Ibori.
It was also gathered that the elections of some lawmakers, mostly
from Delta north senatorial district, and are presently occupying
plum positions in the House and enjoying the favour of Ibori’s camp,
may be nullified based on the same reason of unlawful substitution.
“What is happening now is confirming the spate of electoral fraud
that characterized the 2007 elections”, a source in Chief Edwin
Clark’s camp revealed.
Another source disclosed that “it was done to save Ochor’s political
career and to compensate him for his loyalty to Ibori’s PDP camp,
following the judgement of the appellate court which ordered that
Dr. Alphonsus Ojo, one of the men in Chief Godswill Obielum,
governorship aspirant with Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, be sworn in
as the authentic flag bearer of PDP in the state, having earlier won
the party’s primaries before his name was unlawfully substituted
when the former helmsman’s camp allegedly colluded with the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to impose their
candidate on the people.
“What you are seeing now, the source continued, is just the
beginning. Two weeks ago, Mrs. Mercy Almona Isei was sacked from the
House of Representatives over the same issue of unlawful
substitution by INEC, Ochor’s case is again seconding it. I can bet
it with you, more are still going the same way. All these candidates
being declared winners were short-changed by Ibori, and they are
mostly from Chief Clark’s camp, while their own cronies were imposed
on us. Thank God, we now have a judiciary that is up to its task”. |
