ASABA—DELTA State House of Assembly has discarded the bill initiated by the immediate past governor of Delta State, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, to restructure Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC.

The bill, which came up for deliberation, yesterday, was adjourned sine die, a technical way of throwing it out.
Vanguard learned that some of the lawmakers who were wary of the bill found justification in the pronouncement of the new governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, in his May 29 inaugural address that he had plans to reorganise the commission.

Meanwhile, reactions have trailed the dumping of the bill as it was gathered that the chairman of DESOPADEC, Mr. Oritsua Kpogho, has tendered his letter of resignation.

Loyalists of the founding father of Host Communities Producing Oil and Gas, HOSTCOM, in the state and pioneer DESOPADEC chairman, Chief Wellington Okirika, preferred to wait and see Okowa’s amendment to the existing DESOPADEC bill before making comment, while the group led by the national chairman of HOSTCOM, Chief Alfred Bubor, commended the House for “killing” the bill.

Chief Okirika, who was in Asaba, yesterday, said on phone that he would want to study the situation before making any comment.

However, National Coordinator of HOSTCOM, Prince Maikpobi Okareme, who was opposed to the bill, was joyful.

He said: “I want to commend Delta State House of Assembly for formally killing the satanic DESOPADEC bill at its Wednesday (yesterday) sitting.

“I also hail DESOPADEC chairman, Mr. Kpogho, for giving 30 days notice to quit as DESOPADEC chairman, a position he was appointed to more than three years ago after first serving as the pioneer director of finance.

“HOSTCOM calls on Governor Okowa to discuss with leaders of HOSTCOM from Delta State towards reconstituting a DESOPADEC board within 30 days as previously agreed before his election.”

Some members of the oil communities in the state had threatened to shut down flow stations in the state if the House did not pass the DESOPADEC bill initiated by Governor Uduaghan, but their leaders decided after Okowa stated that he would restructure the board and management of the commission in his inaugural speech, to wait and know his game plan first.