Ahoada West Council Chairman/Ogadinma: Concerned Citizens Raise Pertinent Questions, Suspect Fifth Columnist
Reactions have continued to trail the alleged assault on one Minnie Ogadinma, a media aide to the chairman of Ahoada West Local Government Council, Hon. Eugene Epelle.
Minnie Ogadinma had alleged that her boss, the council chairman had assaulted her for drawing attention to a dilapidated school in Odiokwu community which eventually went viral in the media especially the social media.
Expectedly, a section of the public went into a frenzy, some judging and passing a verdict without hearing the complete story of what actually happened.
Granted that Miss Ogadinma has the right to impart and, or receive information as guaranteed under freedom of expression and speech, concerned citizens believe there may be more to the controversy that meets the eye given the fact that the accuser was an aide to the council chairman.
According to them, it is not expected that a media aide could so brazenly operate in a manner different or confrontational to her boss without the prompting of a fifth columnist.
The concerned citizens noted the following: That there was an altercation between an aide to the Chairman, Monday Uchechi and Minnie Ogadinma.
That Minnie Ogadinma was a media aide to the council chairman as at the time of the incident and is still serving as a media aide to the council chairman
That Minnie Ogadinma had weeks prior, raised the issue of Community Secondary School, Odiokwu, with the council chairman, who informed her that, Secondary schools, were outside the legal responsibilities of the local government council.
By the Nigerian constitution, education is on the concurrent list. Tertiary and Secondary education are the exclusive preserve of the Federal and State governments. This the Ahoada West LGA chairman was aware of.
Local Council authorities are only saddled with the responsibility of taking care of primary education.
It was also reported that the Odiokwu Community Secondary School had been nominated for renovation by the member of House of Representatives, representing Ahoada West/Ogba-Egbena-Ndoni LGAs, as part of his constituency projects, when he visited the school in 2024.
Also the Nigerian Delta Development Commission (NDDC), reportedly adopted Odiokwu Community Secondary School for remodeling and extensive renovations, including students hostels, laboratories etc, which project is to commence soon.
All these were facts known to the Council chairman and should be available to his media team, including Minnie Ogadinma.
The concerned believe that the motive of any aide of a council chairman, who goes to a school, that by the constitution is beyond the line responsibility of her boss and a school that has already attracted multi level intervention from Federal agencies, automatically becomes suspect.
they therefore questioned whose interest was she serving in shooting and releasing the video that instantly went viral? Was she a mole, a fifth columnist, embedded to implode the 6 month tenure of Hon. Eugene Epelle”
Furthermore, on the intervention of civil society organisations and activists, notably Relief International and Rivers Civil Society Coalition, a peace meeting was reportedly brokered.
After intense negotiations, a settlement was said to have been agreed, to which the chairman consented. An amount of money was fixed as compensation, with other stuff conditions to be met by the chairman of Ahoada West LGA.
He accepted all. and quietly, after writing down her account number for transfer of the agreed monetary compensation, Minnie Ogadinma, under the guise of answering a phone call reportedly disappeared and abandoned the peace meeting. Sources at the venue disclosed that she was whisked away in a black sedan, under heavily armed escort!
The question remains, who was the person in the other end of the phone call? Who provided the sedan and the heavily armed escorts? Who is Minnie Ogadinma actually working for?
