Former Delta state ex-convicted governor, James Ibori and former governor Emmanuel Uduaghan as well as past military governors shunned invitation of governor Ifeanyi Okowa to attend Sunday interdenominational thanksgiving service to mark the 26th creation of Delta state held at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Delta Province 3 Headquarters, Asaba.
HardReporters reliably learnt that governor Okowa had extended invitation to the two former governors of the state but they decided to ignore the invitation.
Meanwhile delivering his sermon during the service, Pastor Jonathan Ihwighwu called for support for Governor Okowa’s administration and urged parents to concentrate on instilling the right morals on their children for a better society to be achieved even as he challenged those in position of authority to use such to glorify the name of God by engaging in the right actions.
In his speech, Governor Okowa opined that the people have a lot of reasons to celebrate adding that “As a people, as a state and as a government, we have every reason to celebrate because, if not for any other reason, from August last year when we marked our silver jubilee to this year, there is reasonable restoration of peace, especially in our creeks where there is no longer destruction of pipelines.”
According to the governor, “Though the impact of the peace that has returned to the creeks may not have been felt in our economy, because, the state did not only suffer from the effect of consistent low price of oil for more than 38 months; we were not just affected by the price going down and the quantum produced but, there is hope that it will be better.
“We are grateful to the church for the prayers, we are thankful to the youths for sheathing their swords, we thank our traditional rulers for their interventions, and to all those who worked for peace to return to our state, we say, thank you, this is a time for us to think, we should submit ourselves to the fact that each and everyone of us has a role to play and we must be ready to offer leadership in one way or the other; we must continue to provide leadership in our homes and communities; each and every one of us is important in building a new Nigeria.
“We must be cautious of the statement we make because, the unity of this country is what all of us must work to sustain; we must learn to partner with ourselves and engage in actions that will deepen our love for one another. We thank God for the return of Mr President to the country, death is not a thing that one can wish any one and the return of President Buhari deserves to be celebrated, Nigerians have come to realize that it is better for us to remain united as a people,” Okowa stressed.
