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By Giovanni Emephia

The Delta State Government has dismissed as pure mischief, views expressed by a former member of the Delta State House of Assembly and chieftain of the All-Progressives Party, APC, Hon. Efe Ofobruku, to the effect that Governor Sheriff Oborevwori’s administration was not up and doing in the administration of the State.

Speaking on Friday, March 8, 2024 in an interview on Arise Television, monitored in Asaba, the Chief Strategist to Governor Oborevwori, Dr. Festus Okubor, stated that “Elections are over. Elections have been won and lost in Delta State. Ofobruku has not adjusted himself to the fact that elections are over and the business of governance is serious business.”

Dr. Okubor stated that Governor Oborevwori’s nine months in office as governor of Delta State have been remarkable in terms of major projects embarked upon in different parts of the state.

He listed the N78bn construction projects being handled by construction giant, Julius Berger, in Warri, Uvwie and environs as a testament to Governor Oborevwori’s passion to develop the state.

“For the first time in the history of this democracy, a company like Julius Berger has accepted to work in Delta. It has significance. The state has engaged them to renew the cities of Warri, Effurun and environs.”

Okuborstated further that the present administration had embarked on the construction of massive underground storm drainage projects in Warri, Effurun and the Ika Federal Constituency axis to manage flooding in these areas and protect road infrastructure from being washed away.

“Anybody who says Governor Oborvwori is not working is either a diasporan or has eyes but has clearly failed to see.”

He averred that Governor Oborevwori’s administration was working in close partnership with security agencies in the state to ensure that the state was secure for investors as well as for Deltans, stressing that the Peace and Security component of the MORE agenda was being fulfilled.

“For the first time in a long while, the city of Warri, hitherto notorious for insecurity in the state, was peaceful during the last Christmas and New Year celebrations. Not one gun shot was heard in Warri.”

The Governor’s Chief Strategist stated that Governor Oborevwori should be celebrated for continuing and completing projects started by past administrations, while initiating meaningful new projects that would impact the lives of the average citizen.

On why the Governor was yet to begin regular media briefings, Dr. Okubor said that Oborevwori had always interacted with the Press each time he went on his regular project inspections and facility visits, saying, however, that the Governor was not averse to more formal press engagements.

Answering a question from Arise TV anchor Ayo Mairo-Ese, Dr. Okubor stated that other specific achievements of the Oborevwori administration include the employment of over three thousand new teaching and other staff, resumption of the payment of bursary awards to students of Delta State origin in tertiary institutions across the country, payment of accumulated salary arrears for all categories of civil servants amounting to N5bn, payment of a backlog of pension arrears, amongst many other projects.