Moses Abeh: Unserious persona with moral ambiguity

We have read with consternation, another spineless propaganda written by one disgruntled Moses Abeh, a former Senior Special Assistant to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa on Inter-Party Affairs, who was relieved of his portfolio on account of his morally bankruptcy purportedly calling on the Governor to render account of his administration’s handling of affairs of state.

Ordinarily, Abeh does not deserve any iota of attention for his virulent attacks on the Governor and his administration which reeks of deliberate blackmail and personal vendetta, but Deltans and indeed, Nigerians need to know that Abeh’s appointment was terminated about two years after investigation over many allegations of sleaze and malfeasance against him by his colleagues. The colleagues only wanted him to account for the funds released to his office, but his failure to do so led to his sack so as not to let him cast a smudge on the administration reputed for transparency and accountability. Therefore, with that ignoble tag which Abeh put on himself because of avarice, he does not need anyone to tell him that he lacks the locus standi and moral capital to seek accountability from anybody or authority entrusted with public responsibility. Abeh couldn’t account to just his colleagues.

We thought he would have been quiet and forlorn in shame for the way he was eased out of government, but let it be known that the discerning public is aware of who the Governor of Delta is and the thrust of his governance. Okowa is known by Deltans at home and in the Diaspora, and even by other Nigerians, so no amount of lies, blackmail and propaganda propelled by malice and vendetta by Moses Abeh would sway the people from their knowledge of and love for Okowa and his administration.

The allegation of giving his daughter N400m is spurious and a concocted lie. The Office of the Girl Child Empowerment is not even headed by the Governor's daughter and budgets are estimated income and expenditure for a given period. The said amount was appropriated for the empowerment of the girl child across the state as part of government’s deliberate efforts to make the girl child entrepreneurs and less dependent.

If Moses Abeh and his cohorts want to know if Deltans’ lives truly matter, they should visit sites of ongoing dualisation of Ughelli-Asaba road, the Trans Ode-Itsekiri roads and bridges, the Ovwor-Olomu-Effurun-Otor bridge, the storm water drainage projects in Asaba and Okpanam and in Warri and Uvwie, which have made life more meaningful for the people.

They should also ask the no fewer than 700,000 Deltans benefiting from the Delta State Contributory Health Insurance Scheme, as well as the numerous youths already empowered through all the Job Creation Schemes, including STEP and YAGEP, Widows’ Empowerment Programme and other windows provided through the Ministry of Youth Development, Delta State Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises (DSMSMEs) Development Agency, inter alia.

If Moses Abeh and his co-travellers want additional information on the issues the Commissioner for Information raised during his media engagement with journalists few days ago, they are free to approach the Ministry of Economic Planning, because by saying that the governor should come on television to respond to the lies by Adams Oshiomhole and his APC gang, whose unabashed concoctions and falsehood-peddling
are legendary and pathological, have just established the simple fact that they do not understand how government is run.

It is important to state that Delta State Government did not construct the Okuta road at Ebelle community in Igueben Local Government Area which was inaugurated by Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa on the invitation of Gov. Godwin Obaseki. Perhaps what is being misconstrued is the agreement reached by both governors to reconstruct the roads leading to borders of both states by their respective governments. This agreement became necessary since the Federal Government refused to repair the failed sections on the very important Uromi-Agbor road.

Maybe, Abeh, even with his stint in government before greed, his nemesis, dealt with him, does not know that governors invite their colleagues to inaugurate projects. Instances abound – Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers and his Sokoto State counterpart, Aminu Tambuwal, had at different times been to Delta to inaugurate projects executed by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.

It is also important to state further that Smart Delta Documentary runs on both DBS and DRTV. Our Documentary on Gov Okowa’s transformation series is showing every Saturday on DRTV Warri at 7:30pm and DBS Asaba at 7:30pm every Friday. But when a man is blinded by sentiments, he refuses to do due diligence before coming to the public to sell tales of falsehood.

It is sad and disheartening for anybody to state that “the Governor of Delta State is wasting taxpayers' money to pay his bunch of unenlightened and unintelligent media team heads, starting from his Commissioner for Information to his Chief Press Secretary.

Moses Abeh's disparaging comments on Okowa’s media heads clearly reveal that he is out of touch with the reality on ground. The Commissioner for Information, Mr Aniagwu Charles, the Chief Press Secretary, Mr Olisa Ifeajika and other media appointees of the Governor are all seasoned journalists with clear head and understanding of the role of bridging communication gap in government, and if someone feels that the way both men are handling their responsibilities to the government is making it very difficult for those with hidden agenda of de-marketing the governor and government of Delta, then we owe nobody apologies for the duo who have been on top of their games.

It is worthy to note that the Commissioner for Information speaks for the government of Delta state; so what else does anyone want that he hasn’t provided? Whoever is chasing shadow or trying to deliberately bring low the name of the Governor should consider looking for something better to do with his time.

Finally, over the course of the last five years, the Governor has always had quarterly media briefing where journalists have the opportunity to ask questions and for which they always get answers from the Governor on any issue. We therefore urge the general public to disregard the attention-seeking Moses Abeh, who is obviously on a malicious mission and vendetta only embarked by persons with his pedigree. Remember the counseling of Prof. Chidi Odinkalu that "a man with a moral deficit should not be granted social capital."