Spokesperson of the major opposition party in Delta State, the All Progressives Congress (APC), have been told to direct all matters relating to state and national security to the Comander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and the office of the National Security Adviser to Mr President.
In a swift reaction to a trending story on social media, wherein the APC image laundering secretary accused governor Sheriff Oborevwori over minor security breaches, the Director General of Delta State Orientation and Communications Bureau, Dr Fred Latimore Oghenesivbe, berated the opposition publicist for looking the other way, while the APC led national government failed to secure the country, after alleged billions and trillions of Naira released to address the vexed issue of national insecurity, to no avail.
He said, the opposition party spokesperson goofed big time on insecurity issues, noting that the last time he checked, neither governor Oborevwori of Delta State nor any governor in Nigeria, is the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, noting that there are no media reports on constitutional amendments which empowered state governors to fund, recruit and control the operations of the Armed Forces, the police or other security agencies in Nigeria.
Dr Latimore further stated that as Chief Security Officers of their respective states, governors can only assist federal security agents operating within their jurisdictions by voluntarily providing operational vehicles and gadgets where the federal government failed to do so, adding that all security personnel serving in Delta and other states receive salaries and wages from the federal government, and that the state governors does not have the constitutional powers to direct their full scale operations, and cannot also discipline any erring security personnel in the state
He noted that since the inception of the APC national government in 2015, the federal government had grossly under funded security agencies, which was why state governments had to dip hands into their state treasuries to unconditionally help the government at the centre, which ought not to be so, if we are to strictly follow the provisions of the constitution which placed the issue of national security in the hands of the federal government under the exclusive legislative list.
Dr Latimore reminded Delta APC that the current Grand Commander of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is President Bola Tinubu, under the APC national government, and it is the assigned responsibility of the C-N-C to direct his officers and men to secure the nation as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,1999, as amended.
The DG, corroborated the averment of the State Deputy Governor, Sir Monday Onyeme, by saying that Delta is one of the safest state in Nigeria, with a fast growing economy under the pragmatic and result oriented leadership of governor Oborevwori, assuring that Deltans will continue to support the governor to Advance the State beyond 2027.
He said the good measure of peace in Delta is traceable to the good governance strides of governor Oborevwori, known to be a youth friendly governor, judging from the multifaceted youth empowerment and skills acquisition programmes currently in place, and many more in the works to raise thousands of youth entrepreneurs in diverse sectors cross the three senatorial districts of Delta Central, Delta North and Delta South.
Oghenesivbe further disclosed that thousands of youths have been engaged, including a reasonable number of young graduates, who are currently working at various construction sites across the state, assuring that the State Bureau for job and wealth creation will soon commence full scale registration of youths and women for the reloaded vocational and skills acquisition programmes that would rapidly enhance the grow of the state economy, as encapsulated and projected in the MORE Agenda of the state governor.
He advised the state image laundering secretary of the opposition party to respectfully draw the attention of Mr President and the APC national government to the acute hardship and hyper inflation that is rapidly killing our people, occasioned by the unnecessary devaluation of the Naira, which now exchanged for N1,550 to one United States Dollar.
He said APC Delta must of a necessity join hands with Mr President to reverse the pump price of petrol to N86 and restore the Naira to it’s former value of N120 to one United States Dollar, as at May 29, 2015 when the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, handed over a robust economy to the APC regime.
“APC Delta and her image maker cannot be serious, and should never be taken seriously under any circumstances. It’s laughable for their him to say that national security has been assigned to state governors in Nigeria.
“By national security as entrenched in the constitution, it connotes the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, and Delta is among the 36 states.
“Governors as Chief Security Officers of their respective states is without portfolio. They cannot control the operations of either the Armed Forces, the Police or the DSS. The state commands report directly to either their Zonal Superiors or directly to their headquarters in Abuja.
“The state governors do not fund the operations of the Armed Forces, the Police or DSS. Their operational funds are captured in the federal budget, not in the state budget. What governors have been doing is to provide Palliative measures where the federal government fail in their responsibility.
“Delta APC image laundering secretary should do a simple research on how the armed forces and the police are funded to deliver on their constitutionally assigned responsibilities, either by protecting the territorial integrity of Nigeria, or effective policing for the attainment of national security.
“APC national government practically ruined our nation’s economy, deliberately projected hardship and poverty through anti people economic policies, coupled with gross mismanagement of the robust economy it inherited from President Goodluck Ebelle Jonathan on May 29, 2015. Nigeria has obviously become a laughing stock at the global stage in the past nine years and counting.
“Delta is safe and secured, minor security breaches notwithstanding. No country in the world is entirely without security breaches, not America, not the United Kingdom and not in the European countries.
“There are deviants and criminal elements in every society, in all states in Nigeria, and Delta is not an exception. Abuja, the seat of power is also harbouring criminals. The FCT minister is still battling with acute insecurity, and the end is not in sight. FCT is controlled by Mr President, who doubles as the FCT Governor.
“Governor Oborevwori is doing very well in all sectors of the state economy, and his good governance strides contributed immensely to the peace we are truly enjoying today and always, in Delta State.
“The meaningful development embarked upon by the governor has created thousands of jobs
for our teeming youths, skilled and unskilled, as well as professionals and women across diverse fields of specialization.
“I urge the good people of Delta State, and indeed, Nigerians, to disregard the baseless and unfounded insecurity allegation raised by the image laundering Secretary of Delta APC.
“Governor Oborevwori will continue to do the needful to spread infrastructure and socioeconomic development across the 25 local government areas in the state.
“Additional thousands of jobs will soon be created through the State Bureau for job and wealth creation that would profitably engage our people,” Oghenesivbe assured.
