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Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Mr. Martin Ngozi Okonta, who held a thanksgiving service, previous Sunday, in his Eluma Abavo Central country home , in the Ika South Local government area of the state, has pledged to sacrifice the rest of his life for the good of his people.

A pledge he made before a teeming crowd which he said he had left to God “Concerning the crowd here today, I leave that to God. It is for you to comment on that. Whether the man is good, whether the man is bringing the dividends of democracy to his people, whether he is generally accepted. What you have seen is a clear manifestation that the man is generally accepted. In fact, I’m going to sacrifice my life to help my people. I want to be a man that would look at the needs of his people.

The people matter a lot in life. Let me tell all of you here: Whatever you have, on earth, you are not going to carry it down to your grave. Is it the building that I will take to the grave? Is it the vehicles or what ? But what people enjoy from the dividends of democracy matter a lot. I’m going to enhance and empower people, especially the youths. They need to be assisted . They need to be educated . They need to be given scholarship. That is what interests me most.”

Okonta who took over the leadership of the House from Mr. Olisa Imegwu was involved in a legal battle with one of his kinsmen over the 2007 election. A matter which had to be settled at the appellate court in Benin, Edo State. At last, Okonta was declared the winner. Otherwise, he would have been thrown out of the House, for the case had a lot to do with allegations of illegal substitution.

There is no doubt, therefore, that the thanksgiving service and the attendant feting of guests estimated to have cost some millions of Naira, in his expansive residence, has a lot to do with the court case.
Earlier, at the church service, held at the Holy Rosary Catholic Parish, there at Abavo, elated Okonta expressed gratitude to God before the large turnout of the crème-de-la crème in Delta and to some extent, Edo State who graced the occasion.

Expressing his appreciation for God’s blessings upon his life, he urged every one to serve God. “Be diligent, focused and believe in yourself and never try to fight for power. Okonta who recounted his experiences in life, said:”We must always learn to believe in our selves. Once you have God, He will make a way. Do not take what belongs to another person, what belongs to you will always come.”
Alluding to his victory in the court case, Okonta, while speaking with newsmen during the ceremony in his residence, said: “What God has ordained, nobody can change it , You can only try, you cannot defeat the voice of God. What you are seeing is a manifestation of God’s testimony. I wish to thank every one of you. May God be with you. As you all know, I belong to the pen profession, I worked for the News Agency of Nigeria( NAN) for 11 years, and that’s why I have always refused to join issues with some of our people. We should always see reason from divergent opinions, do not report news from one side. Some were saying, Okonta would go to jail, some say that Okonta had murdered the rulings of the courts.”

Speaking on what has been described as the unusual sittings and unusual adjournments of the House these days, culminating in its indefinite closure, Okonta said, there was nothing unusual about the sittings of the House. “There is nothing unusual about our sittings my brother, there is a due process about the House. Let me tell you, there are a lot of petitions before the House. And the engine of the House is the committee, The committees cannot command what is called locus sin quo , that is , you visit the scene of an incident.

For example, if you have a spillage, in Warri, you need to have an impact assessment of what happened in Warri, would you sit in the chamber and report what happened in Warri?You need to have physical verification of what is on ground. In that case, we need to adjourn, so that the committees can visit locus sin quo to determine what happened, the level of impact, the level of assessment, and remedy.

That is why, you see that the House has adjourned, so that we can address the petitions of our people. If a man has been working in the civil service, and he is relieved of his job unjustly, without due process followed, the House as a sacrosanct House needs to look at the nitty gritty, why the man is being marginalized . In that regard, the House has to visit some areas to attend to the petitions. This is why the committees must be allowed to their work. It does not mean we must be in the open chambers always. The committees have to do their jobs.. Without the committees reporting, the House cannot function well.

So, adjournment is not unusual. On the allegation that the House adjourned indefinitely for long, owing to lack of funds, Okonta retorted, what you see here, does it show there is no fund, while at the same time, calling on Delta people to be sincere to succeed.” Tell the truth, do not take what does not belong to you.”