NEW EKPAN COMMUNITY CHAIRMAN PROMISES UNITY, RECONCILIATION OF ALL AGGRIEVED PERSONS, GROUPS

State News




ADDRESS BY PASTOR (BARR.) INNOCENT ADJENUGHURE ON THE OCCASION OF HIS SWEARING-IN AS CHAIRMAN, EKPAN DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE ON FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2017.
The Honourable Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs
HRM Abe I (JP, OON) the Ovie of Uvwie Kingdom
Members of the Uvwie Traditional Council of Chiefs (Ogwedion r’Uvwie) here present
Usiavwe of Ekpan; Isirhierha of Ekpan, and other Chiefs here present
Ighuvwie of the various Quarters in Ekpan; Elders, leaders and Stakeholders of Ekpan Community; Special Adviser on Youth Affairs to the Governor;
The Youths; Ewheyas;
Representatives of the companies operating in Ekpan.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen.
It gives me the greatest pleasure to welcome you all to the historic occasion of my swearing-in as Chairman of the reconstituted Ekpan Development Committee (EDC) and the formal inauguration of the Exco by no less a person than the honourable and distinguished Usiavwe of Ekpan, Chief V.E, Otomiewo who, as you also know, is a former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice. I express profound gratitude to individuals and groups who supported and worked assiduously towards the successful conduct of the election/selection and our subsequent emergence. I give special thanks to the Usiavwe of Ekpan, Chief V.E. Otomiewo for his understanding and co-operation. I can’t forget the leadership and members of the previous EDC Excos for their role in upholding and pursuing the noble ideals which the Committee stands for.

Also worthy of gratitude is the Chairman, Barr. O.B. Otemu and members of the out-going Ekpan Interim Caretaker Committee (EICC). They performed creditably well in office during the relatively short period. My deep appreciation also goes to the Ekpan Integrity Group (EIG) from where I was nominated to contest the office of EDC Chairman. Special thanks to the Oghuvwie, the Chiefs, youths and women of Udumuoto Quarters for endorsing and presenting me as their candidate for the election/selection. I am also highly grateful to all the Ighuvwie, Chiefs, Youths and women of Ekpan for being there for me. Above all, I thank the entire Ekpan people for considering me worthy of being entrusted with such exalted office of high responsibility for the next three years.
I pledge to be alive to my responsibilities and justify the confidence and trust reposed in me.  I congratulate those who contested the positions with us for their spirit of sportsmanship. They demonstrated high sense of patriotism by offering themselves to selflessly serve their community. I bear no grudges whatsoever against anyone because Ekpan belongs to all of us and we all had the same desire and zeal to serve our community. Though a little bitterness and rancour may have arisen during the election/selection exercise, but the interest of the community requires that we put everything behind us and work towards the peace, unity and development of our land. I forgive those who may have offended me in the course of the election/ selection exercise, and I also ask those who I may have offended to forgive.
We have no other Community to call our own other than this. I therefore extend my hands of fellowship to my opponents and to all men and women of goodwill to join hand s with me to mobve Ekpan Community forward. I express immense gratitude to HRM ABE 1 the Ovie of Uvwie Kingdom for his fatherly role in the new Ekpan EDC issue and also for his exemplary leaderships that has undoubtedly place Uvwie firmly in the scheme of things in this country.
The EDC under my leadership would collaborate and work closely with HRM and the traditional council in the onerous assignment before us. We would also create and maintain a synergy with the state government.  The EDC would work hand-in-hand with there two arms of leadership as it affects Egan Community. The policy thrust of the EDC under my watch includes but not limited to employment, education, peace and security. We are resolutely committed and would leave no stone unturned in the realization of these objectives.
Before I round off this address, I must thank my Father and Mother in the Lord, Papa Ayo Oritsejafor and Mama Ayo Oritsejafor and all members of the Word of Life Bible Church for their fervent prayers, guidance and best wishes. Most especially, I thank God Almighty for making this day possible. All are invited to join us on Sunday September 24, 2017 for a Special thanksgiving service at the Word of Life Bible Church, Ajamimogha, Warri. Reception would be followed immediately at the Ekpan Town Hall.




The task before us is enormous and, therefore, calls for self-denial, uncommon courage, zeal and a firm commitment to the peace, unity and progress of our fatherland. Never again shall Ekpan Community play second fiddle, hewers of wood and fetchers of water. Arrangements are being put in place to pursue the  in Ekpan in the course of the fratricidal crisis in the community over the years.
Furthermore, all those who for one reason or the other have fond themselves staying away from the community are assured that all issues involved would soon be amicably resolved. Arrangements are also in advanced stages to completely eradicate those things that tend to divide and set us back as a people, and initiate and implement those things that would unite us within the context of an egalitarian society where everyone would be afforded a sense of belonging.
Thank you and God bless you all
PASTOR (BARR.) INNOCENT ADJENUGURE
CHAIRMN, EKPAN DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE (EDC)

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