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Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Ndokwa Neku Union (NNU), the apex socio-cultural organisation of Ndokwa people of Delta State, has inaugurated a 14-man caretaker committee to pilot its affairs for the next three months during which an election will be conducted for a substantive national executive.
Ndokwa area of Delta State is part of the Igbo-speaking section of the state, with rich deposits of oil and gas. The area is also home to the Okpai Gas Plant, the biggest in Africa.
In 2015, a governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Johnson Opone, was hurriedly inaugurated, albeit in controversial circumstance, as the president-general of NNU, when the tenure of the incumbent, Paul Enebeli, was yet to expire.
According to sources, there was no proper handover at the time, and Enebeli was not a party to the inauguration of Opone.
A competent source in the area told Daily Sun that Opone was inaugurated “based on political exigencies,” adding that the president became overtly partisan, making most stakeholders in Ndokwa uncomfortable with the union in the past four years.
This development, the source added, led to the inauguration of the caretaker committee on the recommendations of the advisory council. The committee has been saddled with the responsibility of re-positioning the socio-cultural organisation within three months.
Members of the committee include Wilson Ishima (chairman), Festus Odionwunaka (deputy chairman), Robinson Ndugbu (secretary), Victor Chukwuemeke (assistant secretary), Ambrose Abanum (coordinator of clan unions), Mrs. Bibiana Shonibare (women leader/treasurer), Mrs. Rose Igba (deputy women leader/financial secretary), Onyema Omenuwa (legal adviser), Festus Alika (deputy legal adviser), Emmanuel Akpati (publicity secretary), Titus Obiorah (deputy publicity secretary), Mrs. Esy Oluwafemi (diaspora coordinator), Emeka Enebeli and Dickson Okonta (members).
Inaugurating the committee in Asaba, immediate past president of NNU, Paul Enebeli, said the event was “a last-ditch effort to rediscover ourselves, recover our lost patrimony, restore our people’s pride and innovate for the progress of Ndokwaland.
“The caretaker committee is a creation of the NNU constitution, as enshrined in article 35 (3). We find its invocation the only window of opportunity for the revival of our apex socio-cultural organisation.”
Enebeli averred that members of the committee were men and women of strength and character, who believed in truth, justice and fair play; and that they were to pilot the affairs of NNU for three months, a period in which they should constitute an electoral committee that will bring forth a new executive for the union.
Chairman of NNU advisory council, Ossai Udom, remarked that, “Since the beginning of second quarter of 2015, there has been an avoidable interregnum as our kith and kin, acting like impostors, degraded the NNU constitution in their attempt at hijacking the NNU national executive in order to foist an overtly partisan leadership executive on Ndokwa.
“All of us seated here today, and other Ndokwa sons and daughters elsewhere, are aware of the fact that the legitimate but outgoing NNU executive, led by Pharm. Paul Osogbue Enebeli, is yet to hand over.
“Since there has been no legitimate incoming executive to receive the properties of NNU authority, leaving a vacuum still waiting to be legitimately filled.”
Ishima, on behalf of the committee, thanked the people of Ndokwa for finding them fit to serve.
“It is a great pleasure for me to be considered worthy of being among the distinguished Ndokwa sons and daughters who will serve in this historic NNU caretaker committee. I accept to be a member-chairman, together with the other members present here. We represent a new generation of servants whose role in the transformation of NNU will be ignited by competence and driven by efficiency.
“Man can make mistakes; only God is perfect. When mistakes are encountered, peaceable steps that are in accordance with the NNU constitution should be taken to correct them and the mistakes of the outgoing national executive is what we have begun to correct under the guidance of God as we have resolved to strengthen our bond of Ndokwa brotherhood through tolerance and reconciliation for the sustenance of unity and peaceful coexistence.”
High points of the event included the handover of properties of NNU from Enebeli to the chairman of the caretaker committee, Ishima.
