[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Chairman of Lifeguard Security Ltd, Chief Charles Okonkwo, has described the Delta State Gubernatorial Election Petition Tribunal’s judgement on Friday as fair, just and very well deserved congratulations to the state Governor, Sen Dr Ifeanyi Okowa.

The three man Tribunal headed by Justice Suleiman Belgore, sitting in Asaba, had on Friday affirmed the election of Governor Okowa while dismissing the petition of Chief Great Ogboru of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for lacking in merit and competence.

Reacting to the judgement on Saturday, Okonkwo said:

“First, is my gratitude to God for the Tribunal’s judgement which is fair and just; and very well deserved congratulations to His Excellency, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, Governor of Delta State to 2023; and also congratulations to my Party, PDP, for generating the confidence of the political context for the tremendous renewal of Dr Okowa’s mandate”.

Okonkwo, who noted that there was nothing wrong in individuals seeking audience in court, however, described the recourse to the tribunal process as a waste of time in the face of overwhelming indications that Okowa and the PDP won the election in very fair and clear manner with a very wide margin, describing the effort as a waste of “time and scarce resources”.

His words: “While there is nothing wrong in seeking audience of the judiciary, am disappointed in persons who go to Tribunal just to waste our time and scarce resources as it was incontestable that the PDP won with huge margins in 23 of the 25 local government areas of the electoral constituencies for the Governorship election.

Chief Okonkwo said that the verdicts reflected the true wishes of the people as well as victory for democracy and rule of law and reaffirmed their support for good governance in the state.

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]ssociation of Community Newspaper Publishers of Nigeria (ACNPN), Delta State Council, have congratulated His Excellency, Senator (Dr.) Ifeanyi Authour Okowa, Governor, Delta State,on his victory at the tribunal.

In a letter to the Governor, signed by Sir Cyprian Eboagu, State Publicity Secretary, ACNPN, the group said the victory at the tribunal was well deserved.The letter read: “On behalf of the Association of Community Newspaper Publishers of Nigeria, ACNPN, Delta State Council, we congratulate Your Excellency on your well deserved victory at the tribunal.

The group added: “We the publishers of community newspapers across the state are very much committed to collaborating with your administration by ensuring that your programmes and projects are executed according to your administration’s specifications through our assessments and reports from the grassroots.

“We believe that as we report the feelings, aspirations and expectations of our people at the grassroots to the world,
your government will continue to take the advantage of our professional impute as you raise the bar of governance
through your successful SMART Agenda.

“We appreciate your co-operation and support during your first tenure and pray for an improved collaboration and support for the community newspapers who are agents of transformation, education and information dissemination in our rural communities.”

ACNPN wished the Governor divine strength and the needed enabling environment to actualize his dreams for Deltans as enunciated in his speech during the swearing-in ceremony.The publishers promised to continue to be supportive of the Governor’s laudable projects and programmes geared towards giving prosperity to all Deltans, as they appealed to members of the association to continue to guide their reporters and correspondents to live up to the tenets of good and positive journalism by ensuring professionalism.
ACNPN thanked the judiciary for affirming the Governor’s electoral victory by dismissing Ogboru’s petition and that of his party, the APC.

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]niocha/Oshimili  five-day entrepreneurship training programme for entrepreneurs of sponsored by  Hon. Ndidi Elumelu has commenced.

The programme being sponsored by the Minority Leader of the House of Representative, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu started on Monday 16th September, 2019 with 200 participates drawn from the four local government areas within the Federal Constituency.

The training programme being organized and handled by Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), a reputable entrepreneurship development training organization is expected to end on Friday 20th September, 2019 at the Conference hall of the Ministry of Higher Education, new secretariat by Marian Babagida way, Asaba, Delta State.

The closing ceremony which starts by 11am, according to the Director General on Ndudi Elumelu Campaign Council, Chief Anene Chigbue, will be attended by the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu who, he confirmed, will present the certificates of participation to the participants, where each of them are entitled to a low interest loan up to the tune of N10 million by the Central Bank of Nigeria with no collaterals.

It will be recalled that Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, two weeks ago requested constituents interested in this training and loan facility to contact designated persons, whose phone numbers were also provided for this purpose. Consequently a total of 200 persons were selected to participate in the strategic human capital development programme by the Federal Legislator.

In an interview, some of the participants expressed happiness for the training and said it will go a long way in helping them to achieve their goal of establishing and expanding their small scale businesses. They acknowledged that the gesture is a timely intervention by the Minority leader.

They appreciated and commended Ndudi Elumelu for not wasting time in fulfilling his promise of doing his best to empower the people from the constituency through programmes such as this, even as they prayed that God will continue to guide, protect and endow him with wisdom to continue to lead the people in the right way.