The people of Isoko North and Isoko South local government areas of Delta State have drawn a battle line with Governor Sheriff Oborevwori following the move to relocate some faculties of the Delta State University of Science and Technology from Ozoro especially the Faculty of Business Administration to Orerokpe, his hometown in Okpe Local Government Area.
The governing council of the newly established university has concluded plans to relocate the faculties of Social Sciences and Management to the governor’s community in Orerokpe.
Following resistance from the communities, the governing council, however, claimed there was no going back because the directive was from the governor.
A pressure group, Ozoro Positive Voice, OPV, has condemned the decision of the governing council, led by its chairman, Ambassador Godson Echegile.
The leader of the group, Dr Enahoro Michael, said: “Historically, Ozoro and Orerokpe are brothers, as they are children of the same parents, and as such, an Ika man cannot come to divide us.”
Enahoro called on the governor to drop the resolution of the governing council on the relocation plan to save people’s investments in the town and avoid the total collapse of the newly established institution.
In the press conference held at Ozoro, Isoko North Local Headquarters, appealed to the Executive Governor who is their brother and son of the soil to jettison the devilish move of the Ambassador Echegile Godson led governing council of the university.
Dr. Enahoro said that the university is a specialized one with limited courses in line with requirements of the National Universities Commission, hence the only viable faculty is the school of social sciences and management with about seven (7) departments which is the soul and source of internally generated revenue of the institution.
He said with the upgrading of the former Ozoro Polytechnic to a university status by former Governor Okowa Arthur Ifeanyi, a lot of investors have surfaced in the Kingdom thereby boosting the economic activities of the town and its environs.
Dr. Enahoro further passionately appealed to the Governor to drop the resolution of the governing Council on the relocation plan in order to save people’s investments in the town and avoid total collapse of the newly established institution.
In the same vein, the former chairman of the Isoko South and Isoko North People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Elders Council, P. O. Oju, in a separate press statement, urged Governor Oborevwori to re-think his plan of relocating the university’s faculties.
He urged the governor to “go back to history and copy what H.E. Governor James Ibori did when he wanted to establish Oghara Polytechnic.”
He said of Ibori: “He did not kill Ogwashi and Ozoro polytechnics which were almost dying; he revived them and established the Oghara Polytechnic, and there was jubilation in the whole of Delta State.
“Governor Sheriff Oborevwori should not create unnecessary tension in Delta State in his time for people in Isoko to pass a vote of no confidence on PDP, our political party.
“It is my sincere and honest advice that H.E. should have listening ears and do his PDP members in Urhobo, Isoko and the whole of Delta State proud.”
The Delta State University of Science and Technology, Ozoro was first established as a College of Agriculture which was turned into a Polytechnic on January 1, 2002, by law during the administration of Chief James Ibori.
In February 2021, Governor Ifeanyi A Okowa upgraded the Polytechnic to a university, the same time he established two additional universities in Asaba and Agbor.
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