By Eseoghene Emuke
At least seven serving commissioners in Delta State have resigned as members of the State Executive Council (SEC).
Their resignation is in line with section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act which mandates political appointees to resign their appointments before participating in the 2023 general elections as delegate or seeking for elective position.
While some are resigning to vie for elective positions, others resigned to participate as delegates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the party’s primary as statutory delegates.
Among the commissioners who have resigned are Evelyn Oboro, Basil Ganagana, Christian Onogba, Julius Egbedi, Ovie Oghoore, Jonathan Ukodhiko and Chika Ossai.
Oboro, commissioner of Water Resources Development, resigned to contest as member of the House of Representatives for Okpe, Sapele and Uvwie Federal Constituency.
Oboro was a former House of Representatives member and Uvwie council chairman.
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For Basil Ganagana, an erstwhile speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, until his resignation was the commissioner for transport.
Sources close to the former lawmaker disclosed that the Patani-born politician is running for the Patani/Bomadi Federal Constituency into the House of Representatives.
Also, Jonathan Ukodhiko, a commissioner for Power and Energy, resigned to vie for the Isoko Federal Constituency.
Similarly, Christian Onogba is resigning as commissioner for environment to contest the Ethiope West Constituency into the Delta State House of Assembly.
Chika Ossai, commissioner for primary education, resigned to run for the State Assembly.
It was, however, not clear if Julius Egbedi and Ovie Oghoore, who were both commissioners for Project Monitoring & Audit and Agriculture & Natural Resources, are also running for elective positions in 2023.
NIGER DELTA TODAY reliably gathered that more commissioners are expected to resign their positions as statutory delegates for PDP.
It was further learnt that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa also reached a deal with the resigning appointees including Special Advisers and Executive Assistants to be returned after the primaries of the party.
