One of the Councilors of Ukwuani Legislative Arm, Ukwuani Local Government Area of Delta State, Chokwuemeke Kenneth Victor, has tendered a sarcastic apology to the leader of the legislative arm, Rt. Hon. Durell Kenchoni Ossai.
The 13-point apology was not done only in perceived mockery of the system and processes, but was also very explicit and revealed quite a number of anomalies in legislative arm of the local government, but the state in general was taken to the cleaners.
Titled, Apology to the Leadership and Fellow Councillors of the 8th Assembly of Ukwani Legislative Arm, it reads:
- Please accept my apologies for allowing my sense of patriotism to obscure my sense of rational reasoning.
- I apologise for advocating for a process that allows for effectiveness and independence of the legislative arm in the Council.
- I apologise for my failures in not understanding the environment I was elected to serve my people.
- I apologise for working with colleagues who prioritise absence from our legislative duties over strengthening the governance of Ukwuani Local Government Area through legislations and oversight activities.
- I apologise for making efforts in defiling dictatorship in order to entrench and sustain the spirit of democracy. I do not submit to regrets for playing the biblical roles of Moses, especially for staking my peace of mind and mental health to achieve this.
- I apologise for prioritising legislative brilliance, over legislative quiescence, inactiveness, and dormancy premised on anachronism.
- I apologise for not yielding the earliest advice of my revered leader and father, Gen. Mike Ndubisi Rtd, who advised that my colleagues will betray my cause.
- 1 apologise for not yielding the earlier advice of the Council Chairman, Hon. Barr. Solomon Chiamaka Possible Ajede, that Councillorship is an empowerment.
- I apologise for not affirming the position of the Council Chairman, Hon. Barr. Solomon Chiamaka Possible Ajede, that Councillorship is a mere appointment. A jobless position, where Councillors are to earn salaries at the comfort of their homes.
- I apologise for accepting the kangaroo processes of handpicking principal officers without recourse to legislative procedures and due process.
- I apologise for not yielding the advice of the Delta State Finance Commissioner, Sir Fidelis Okenmor Tilije, who said there is no truth in the business of politics, that I should apologise to my colleagues.
- I apologise for not realising early enough that the administration of Local Government in Delta State is usually based on directives and orders from the State Governor, Leaders of the Local Government and bureaucrats, and not from the elected officials in the Council, and
- I apologise for not realising that the affairs of Local Government in Delta State, is an affair of sole administratorship.
- Finally, I apologise for prioritising efforts in creating a better place in history for Councillors of 8th Assembly over history that will remember us as Councillors who occupied legislative space, earned at the expense of poor tax payers, and ended up contributing void to governance.”
He then went further to state that his apologies do not underscore the fact that the people of Ukwuani Local Government Area are expectant of good governance laced with accountability and transparency.
He added: “It is my hope that these apologies be considered in good conscience, and the business of the 8th Assembly of Ukwuani Legislative Arm continues to thrive in the spirit of fulfilling our mandates, devoid of the current trend of aborting the natural flow of legislative businesses, and deliberate attempts to scuttle and violate House Standing orders, where plenary sessions are to be observed twice in a week.”
He then called on the leader and colleagues to wake the Legislature, as it has been put to slumber, embarrassingly for too long, since the inception of the current administration.
