EWURU COMMUNITY SUSPENDS CURSE ON ANYONE WHO VOTES PDP, AS NOEL OMUDON, OTHERS INTERVENE
By Nicholas Ebegboni
Ewuru community in Agbor, Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State, has suspended its planned laying of curse on any resident of the community who would in the forthcoming general election, cast his or her vote for the ruling party in the state, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)
This is as the Delta State Honourable Commissioner for Works, Engr. Noel Omudon, Comrade Ameachi Igumbor, the Ika South PDP Chairman, Hon. Collins Bello the Delta State PDP Financial Secretary cum Chairman of Delta State Arts and Tourism Board, and Mr. Friday, General Secretary PDP Ika South intervened in the matter.
Some elders of Ewuru community who spoke during a meeting held at the residence of the traditional head of the community, Chief Augustine Emenim, the Iyase of Agbor kingdom, on Tuesday, February 7, 2023, decried the lack of government presence in the community.
According to the elders, Ewuru community has been the stronghold of the PDP since the inception of the nascent democracy in 1999, as they noted that the community has nothing to show for supporting the PDP for over 25 years, something they described as heartbreaking, hence the need to lay a curse on anyone who would vote for PDP in the community come 2023 general election.
Continuing, they affirmed that all the developmental projects carried out in the community were done by individuals, indigenes of the community who used their hard-earned money to execute projects that the government was supposed to execute.
Speaking further, they disclosed that, the community has made frantic efforts in reaching out to their representatives in government, especially concerning the road, all to no avail, and it has become a thing of shame for any leader of the community to ask residents of the community to vote for the PDP.
Members of the community revealed that for more than 6 months, the community has been in total darkness due to the breakdown of the transformer that services the community and since that time according to them, nothing has been done about it, not even the Benin Electricity Distribution Company ( BEDC) which is operating a private venture did anything, instead, officials of BEDC expect the community to provide logistics before they will fix the faulty transformer even when the people pay electricity bills to BEDC, yet they are still expected to pay to BEDC before the company will service their own equipment which generates money for the company and not the community.
Responding to the complaints of the community, the Delta State Honourable Commissioner for Works, Engineer Noel Omudon revealed that, he started the move to have the link road to the community awarded without prompting from any quarters because he has been part of the community for a long time, while he disclosed that the contract to rehabilitate the road has been approved by the Governor of Delta State, Sen. Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa.
Eng. Omudon assured members of the community, that in 2 weeks, the contractor to whom the project was awarded, will move to the site.
Also addressing members of the community, Comrade Ameachi Igumbor the chairman PDP Ika South chapter, affirmed that it is the right of the community to demand the dividend of democracy while appealing to them to trust in the administration of Sen. Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa to deliver the benefits of democracy.
In response to the visitors’ promise that the contractor to whom the rehabilitation of Ewuru community’s link road was awarded, would move to the site on or before two weeks, speaking on behalf of the community, Chief Augustine Emenim, the Iyase of Agbor and Chief Benjamin Ogwun the Oku-dein-wu-ukpe of Agbor, notified the Honourable Commissioner that, the leaders and elders of Ewuru community have agreed to suspend the planned curse, but that if the government fails to keep to its promise they would not fail to go on with the curse.
According to the duo, Ewuru community has suffered enough, adding that, members of the community accuse the elders and leaders of collecting bribes from the government, which is why the elders and leaders are always telling them to vote for PDP any time election holds.
They maintained that this time around if the government did not fulfill its promise, they would have no option but to give their vote to another political party since the party they have been queueing behind has refused to do anything for them. They pointed out that the only link road (Sakpoba Road) to the community is in a very bad shape that whenever it rains, people do not have access to their houses, a situation which they affirmed, the people are tired of.