By Joel Grandball,
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Communities, DESOPADEC, Bashorun Askia Ogieh has vow to take risk for the development of oil producing communities in Delta State.
He gave this assurance during his special Thanksgiving to mark his appointment as the MD/CEO of the DESOPADEC Board at St. Mathias Catholic Church in Uzere, Isoko South local government area.
According to Askia, “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.
Expressing his gratitude to God and governor of Ifeanyi Okowa, He said, “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.
“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.
“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.”
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.
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.
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 area.
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.
In his homily, the Bishop of Catholic Diocese, Warri, Most Rev. Dr. John Okeoghene Afareha said, “To return gratitude to God is always difficult but, God loves a grateful heart; be thankful to God.
Afareha urges Askia to use his position for the development of the oil producing communities and his mandate area of representation.
