CAP GOVERNORSHIP CANDIDATE DR. KUBOR PICKS FORMER HOS AS RUNNING MATE
The race to Creek Haven is becoming more interesting by the day. Dr. Imoro Kubor – the Governorship Candidate of the Change Advocacy Party has picked Rev. Obegha Julius Oworibo - a former Head of Service to the Government of Bayelsa State as running mate. Some describe him as a very scrupulous administrator while other see him as a man of impeccable character and the fear of God.
The running-mate to Dr. Imoro Kubor in the Governorship race of Bayelsa State is Rev. Obegha Oworibo is the immediate past Head of Service of the Government of Bayelsa State. Rev. Oworibo did his National Youth Service in 1983 to 84, having graduated from the University of Lagos in 1983. He also bagged a Post-Graduate Diploma in Public Administration in the University of Calabar, Calabar.
Rev. Oworibo started his working career as an Administrative / Personnel Officer in 1986 in the Rivers State Ministry of Education, Port Harcourt. As a result of his diligence and dedication to duty, he was appointed, Secretary, Rivers State Projects Monitoring & Implementation Committee, Port Harcourt – a position he occupied until 1995. His last assignment in the Old Rivers State was in Government House, Port Harcourt, where he was supervisor of Special Project – Schools Renovation in Ogoni Land.
Following the creation of Bayelsa State in 1996, Mr. Oworibo became the pioneer Principal Secretary, Government House, Yenagoa and he served in this capacity till 1998. He later became Head of Personnel Department, Governor's Office, Yenagoa until he was appointed Chairman, Caretaker Committee, Ogbia Local Government of Bayelsa State. He served in this capacity till a democratically elected government was put in place in 1999.
In May, 1999, he was appointed Permanent Secretary, Management and Welfare Service, Office of the Head of Service and later deployed to General Services. He was later redeployed to be Permanent Secretary, Establishment, Training & Pensions Bureau, Office of the Head of Service- a position he served till 2004. He served in the same capacity in the Office of the Secretary to the State Government till December 27th 2009. On Dec. 28th, 2009, he was appointed Head of Service, Bayelsa State a position he served until his retirement on May 3rd 2011.
Rev Oworibo has massive administrative and managerial experience. Accordingly, he has traversed the length and breadth of the bureaucracy. He was Chairman, Rivers State Committee on payment of 1991/93 Bursary to students in Institutions of Higher Learning. In 2000, he served as Chairman, Committee on Bayelsa State Unified Parastatals Pensions Scheme. He was also appointed Secretary, Bayelsa State Boundary Committee (June, 2004 – Dec. 2009), the same period he served as Secretary, Bayelsa State Tenders Board/Procurement Board. The running mate was Chairman, State Technical Committee on Public Financial Management Reforms (PFMR), and member, Steering Committee on Bayelsa State Public Financial Management Reforms (PFMR). He also coordinated the State Expenditure Effectiveness for Opportunities and Results (SEEFOR) Project (2010). As a result of his penchant for preaching peace, Rev. Obegha was appointed Bayelsa State, which automatically qualified him as member, Presidential Panel on Amnesty and Disarmament of Militants in the Niger Delta Region.
He is a man who toiled hard to achieve greatness. He won the 1983/84 Kano State NYSC Merit Award in recognition of outstanding performance through distinguished hard work and exemplary character. In 2003, he added another garland to his kitty. He won the Bayelsa State Government Productivity Merit Award in recognition of outstanding contribution to the development of Bayelsa State as a Permanent Secretary. He is an outstanding gentleman even in his ecclesiastical calling. It was not surprising therefore that the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria INC, Bayelsa Chapter, Honour him with the most Outstanding Christian Civil Servant in the State in 2006. He was invested as Justice of the Peace, Bayelsa State on 4th of April, 2007.
With the entrance of this man of character and humility, the electorate is now faced with very hard choices. The duo of Dr. Imoro Kubor and Rev. Obegha Oworibo is one that has very serious technocratic appeal, such that is we have to jettison partisan interest and look at individuals who have the capacity to deliver, the CAP under the Kubor/Oworibo ticket is the one to beat. If this impressive resume can be translated into dividends of democracy, Bayelsa electorate can heave a sigh of relief that the contest is done.
Kingsley Ebikibena, Yenagoa