Commissioner Chris Nehikhare, good evening.
I read the public letter you wrote to our respected leader Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu and have decided to reply you. It is sad that in your desire to please your pay master, you have ignored the obvious truths in what Pastor Ize-Iyamu said about Orhionmwon local government area; that amidst her bountiful endowment, she remains undeveloped.
In your letter, you didn’t deny the fact that Orhionmwon has the largest land mass in Edo. You also agreed that Orhionmwon has the highest gas deposit in Nigeria. You did not disagree that such a place, has no light, water, roads or hospital. Tell me, is the situation not pathetic enough for your attention? Which local government in Edo state is as undeveloped as Orhionmwon and Uhunmwode?
Yes, Pastor said Orhionmwon has never produced a Governor, Senator, Minister, State Assembly Speaker or even a Chairman of a ruling political party. Rather than engage in deep and sober reflection, you pathetically ignored the weight of this marginalisation by claiming Orhionmwon has had a Minister. Just to educate you, when our brother Engr. Chris Ogiemwonyi who retired as an executive director with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was nominated into the Federal Executive Council, there was great expectation that his appointment will end the years of Orhionmwon’s disenfranchisement. Alas, he was appointed Minister of State for works, i.e, a junior minister and was dropped unceremoniously a short while after. Is this the kind of appointment you are gloating over? May God liberate us from this slave mentality.
When you have nothing to say, you should keep quiet Chris Nehikhare. How do you justify being so naturally blessed, yet, so socio-economically and infrastructurally deficient?
Chris Nehikare ridiculed his intellect when he said Pastor has been Chief Of Staff (COS) and Secretary to State Government (SSG). Are positions of appointment at the state level the best Orhionmwon can get? Can these offices even award contracts? Chris Nehikare may not be aware that Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu got these positions while being active in the politics of Oredo Local Government area. It was in 2006 that leaders of Orhionmwon appealed and prevailed on Pastor Ize-Iyamu to relocate his political base from Oredo to Orhionmwon his ancestral home.
To add, Chris Nehikhare posited that Orhionmwon has produced a Deputy governor in the person of Rt. Hon. Dr. Pius Egberamwen Odubu. We do not dispute this but as conventionally known, a Deputy governor is not the Chief Executive. He/she functions at the pleasure of the governor and as such should never be misconstrued for a governor. Nonetheless, it is to the eternal credit of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu that the only Deputy governor Orhionmwon has ever produced was largely influenced by him.
At this point, Commissioner Chris Nehikhare should tell Orhionmwon people what he has done for them after 5 years in Osadebey avenue apart from getting fat from the crumbs he gets? In his desperation to debunk the obvious exclusion of his local government- Orhionmwon, Chris shockingly pointed that the area has produced members of the board of the Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC). For the sake of clarity, membership of that board is not a favour but a statutory entitlement because of their status as a front line oil producing local government. Unfortunately, it is on record that the only time Orhionmwon had the opportunity to produce an Executive Chairman for that commission, Chris Nehikhare and his governor truncated it through protests and frivolous court cases.
For the purpose of appreciating the goose that lays the egg, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu made reference to the huge gas deposits in Orhionmwon. Chris, in a sordid attempt to justify his wages exposed his insensitivity to the cry of abysmal neglect by his own people with his response to the presence of modular refineries in the local government. Ignorantly, these modular refineries he refers to as an achievement of the state government that he serves is the sole initiative of the Federal government and they are there because the gas they need are there. But then, by Corporate Social Responsibility, what understanding does Chris Nehikhare’s state government have with these firms and the host communities? What have these communities benefited thus far?
Today, our people have deserted their ancestral lands because of the absence of basic amenities and Chris Nehikhare who comes from there but has never slept there dares to say all is well. Our vast lands and forest reserves which our people use for farming have been forcefully seized by Chris Nehikhare’s state government and given to friends outside the state without compensation or alternatives. Can marginalization or oppression be worse than all these and more that Chris stands for? With the huge resources accrued to the State from the Federation account, the 13% derivation fund, the oil wind fall and IGR, can Nehikhare boastfully tell the good people of Orhionmwon what this administration has achieved in the local government area? Well, we pity his likes who for a mess of pottage can applaud the appalling neglect of their place of origin and shamelessly consent to attack their brothers who dare to speak to the powers that be. History will vindicate the just.
Hon. Etinosa Ogbeiwi
(Former Member, Edo State House of Assembly)
