By Emmanuel Aziken
Disputations about the academic qualifications of Chief Great Ogboru as a candidate in the forthcoming gubernatorial re-run election were, yesterday, dismissed by the Sunshine Organisation, Ogboru’s campaign platform.

The Sunshine Organisation in a statement expressed concern that the state Commissioner of Information Mr. Oma Djebah, who has led the attack on Ogboru’s academic qualification would abandon his state duties to become a trumpeter of the Emmanuel Uduaghan campaign of his former boss.

Mr. Djebah in reaction to Ogboru’s assertion of the alleged mismanagement of N800 billion by the James Ibori and Emmanuel Uduaghan regimes, had expressed concern on the ability of Ogboru, who he claimed to have only a school certificate to govern the state.

Ogboru is the candidate of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) in the re-run gubernatorial election ordered following the invalidation of the 2007 election that brought Dr. Uduagahan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to power as governor.

“We wish to state categorically that Chief Great Ogboru, the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) candidate in the re-run election in Delta State is eminently qualified to lead Delta State as governor given his sterling leadership qualities, exemplary corporate attainments, humane pedigree, and having obtained the necessary academic qualifications as required by law,” Duku wrote yesterday.

“The fact is Chief Ogboru earned an Advanced Diploma in Marketing from the Institute of Marketing, London, a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the Huron University of South Dakota (London Campus) and a Masters of The Arts degree in International Relations (MA/IR) from the University of Kent in Canterbury.

And for emphasis, Chief Ogboru’s comparative analysis of the effects of IMF’s Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) on the economies of Ghana and Nigeria is a classic research work in the University of Kent. These are empirically verifiable and can be done easily in this age of the Internet.”

While expressing concern that Mr. Djebah was unable to research the basic qualifications of Ogboru, the Sunshine Organisation said:

“In our opinion, Mr. Oma Djebah is a most uninformed Commissioner of Information. And this is just another reason we insist on a new order in our Sate.”

“That Mr. Djebah would libelously disparage Chief Ogboru’s strong character and exemplary life as a man who is poorly or lightly educated is reckless politics in the extreme. It is a loud testimony of the content of political leadership in our State. And, we are determined to end this for good.”

“In all, we use this opportunity to teach Mr. Djebah and all his likes in government that the Delta State Government is not an appendage of Dr. Uduaghan’s campaign and Goebbels-like propaganda office. He is paid with tax-payers money to publicise government activities and not to defend a paymaster who has been thrown out of office into permanent shame for usurping our peoples’ mandate.

We expect more lies and we will deal with them as they come. For us, we shall remain focused, like laser beams, on the real issues of good governance and prosperity for our people using the past as a guide for the future. We advise Mr. Djebah and his master to put Delta First, no matter how difficult.”