–Blank NEWS Online (NIGERIA) –By Albert OGRAKA:

The Managing Director/CEO of the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC), Bashorun Askia Ogieh FCNA, CrFA, has said he decided to appreciate God for using Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to bring him to limelight promising to use the commission to champion development in oil bearing areas.

Read the remarks by Bashorun Askia:

REMARKS BY BASHORUN ASKIA OGIEH AT THE THANKSGIVING SERVICE ON HIS APPOINTMENT AS MANAGING DIRECTOR/CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF DELTA STATE OIL PRODUCING AREAS DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION, HELD AT THE ST. MATTHIAS CATHOLICH I, UZERE, ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 26, 2020

PROTOCOLS:

I welcome you all who, despite your tight schedules, commitments and even at short notice joined my family and I in giving heartfelt thanks to God Almighty for His various acts of mercies and blessings upon our lives.

My Lord Bishop, I will be very brief, as I know that our Catholic Mass is also a brief one and I do not wish an episcopal sanctions from the pulpit on myself.

Permit me to use this opportunity to specially thank and express my deep appreciation to His Excellency, Senator (Dr.) Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa, our amiable Governor, who has in various ways enhanced and ensured my political trajectory in Delta State and beyond.

This Thanksgiving Service is for my appointment as the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) which Your Excellency graciously made possible. In all, we give thanks and praises to God for guiding you in giving me this privilege to serve our people.

Your Excellency, I appreciate that you let me into where the political paddle of Delta State is hidden and the Canoe has been sailing smoothly even in rough waters. My gratitude knows no bounds. It is profound. And you know, it is without regrets. For me, it is the right thing to do, to effortlessly show immense gratitude to you.

As we have it in our local cliché, to whom much is given, much is expected. Your Excellency, I do not take lightly the huge confidence you reposed on me and my team with our appointments. It is a call to duty, a call to build a Delta primed to equip our people with the wherewithal to become entrepreneurial and by creating a clement environment for them to achieve their potentials. I will not fail you. I will not fail our good people of Delta State.

To our people in the oil producing communities, I pledge that under my watch, we will be engaging and liaising with you in decision making. In project execution, the desires and priorities of the communities will be paramount. This is an effective way of making the people buy into and own the projects in their areas.

My Lord Bishop, I cannot put into words my appreciation to you. When I approached you about my intention for a Thanksgiving, you promised to be present but did the unthinkable and the unusual. You gave me the profound honour to choose the date myself, an action that will amaze all Catholics, hearing about this. That you are here with us and presiding gives me the chills. That I am grateful is an understatement. My dear brothers and sisters, please join me to give our Lord Bishop an applause of appreciation!

I also wish to use this opportunity to copiously thank all other persons who have played various roles in getting me to where I am today. Those who prepared my path and nurtured me are many, both the young and the old. Permit me to take the safest route by not mentioning names. It is dangerous to do so because you know, it can cause a massive political earthquake in our state if some names are left out. I am already full of regrets, as I understand my invitation cards for this Thanksgiving Service could not get to all persons that should be here celebrating with us. To this very dear group of persons, I offer my very sincere apologies.

I am an apostle of “Politics is Local” as it is what you do at that level that enhances your status at both the state and federal levels. My political followers, especially of the Peoples Democratic Party stock, across the Isoko Nation can attest to the fact of my modest sharing of my successes with them even at the immodest risk of saying so myself. I can take that risk, after all, no good politician should be quiet about even the little things he has done for his people. And I think I am a decent politician, with special grassroots touch, even though not a wily one like some in the opposition.

It is in this regard therefore, that the BASHORUN ASKIA FOUNDATION (BAF) will be encouraged now more than ever to continue to carry out those activities that one way or the other elevate the status of our people. I will, in this instant, encourage all of us to do the same, just as I will advise that we should not envy, deride, do or say things that may discourage those who are modestly sharing their successes with their brothers and sisters without means. We must all resist the worms that devour from within and among us.

Let me once again appreciate all those who graced the Thanksgiving Service, especially our Governor and his amiable wife, the First Lady, and my friends who came from very far and near to be with us today.

On a lighter note, I must not forget to thank those already seated at the reception ground waiting to be served food and drinks while some of us were lucky to have listened to the Homily and set us in the mood for the reception. See you there…

In a sermon, during the Sunday Thanksgiving service held at Saint Mathias Catholic Church, Uzere, the Catholic Bishop of the Warri Diocese, Most Reverend John Afareha commended Governor Okowa for using Bashorun Askia to attract people oriented projects into Uzere town emphasizing that he has distinguished himself in the position he occupies in DESOPADEC.

The Bishop said any talent deposited into any man must be used for the good of all, stressing that many lost their gifts because it was used for wrong purposes.

Eminent Personalities stormed Uzere, Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State, hometown of the Bashorun Askia Ogieh for his appointment as Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Delta State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (DESOPADEC,) by the state Governor Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa.

Chief among the guests at the event were Governor Ifeanyi Okowa who had on Saturday commissioned some projects executed by the DESOPADEC, including venue of the reception ceremony, Ultra-Modern Civic Centre, Uzere, Opute Hall, Ozoro, and some structures at the Delta University Engineering Faculty, Oleh Campus and Maritime University, Okerenkoko; and his wife, Dame Edith Okowa.

Also at the event were former Delta State Governor, Chief James Ibori, Chief Ovuozorie Macaulay, Chief Ross Uredi, Prince Johnson Erijo, Chief Mike Usige as well as traditional rulers including the Ovie of Igbide, Edward Obukeni II; among others.

Other prominent Deltans include; the Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Sheriff Oborevwori, former Rivers State Military Governor , Chief Paul Omu and Wife, Chief Mrs Stella Omu, business mogul, Senator representing Delta South, Senator James Manager, Chief Eta Enahoro, Chief DEA Etaluku, President-General, Isoko Development Union, Chief Idu Amadhe , an Aide to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, Sese Omu , member representing Isoko South Constituency 1 at the Delta State House of Assembly, Kenneth Ogba, and his counterpart at Isoko South Constituency II, Ferguson Onwo, Professor Abednego Ekoko, and Executive Secretary, Delta State Technical, Vocational Education Board, Michael Akpobire.

Guests were later treated to a sumptuous reception at the Ultra-Modern Civic Centre, Uzere which was filled to capacity.