Mosogar Community in Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State has threatened a showdown with the Delta State Government over the position of Provost of the Delta State College of Education (COE), Mosogar.

We learnt that some leaders in the Mosogar community had vowed to cause mayhem if the State Governor, Senator (Dr.) Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa refused to play in the dirty game.

A group known as Concerned Residents in Mosogar Kingdom, who described the leaders as faceless, said Dr Moses Ogheneovo Omayuli, who they supposed to be fighting for, did not meet the requirements to be named as provost of the institution.

The patriotic group in a statement frowned at the purported lies put together by the “faceless individuals”, stressing that in the item number iv of the requirements for the post of provost as published in the corrigendum to the COEM advert dated Wednesday, March 11, 2020, in the Pointer newspaper, specified that the applicant must not be more than 60 years of age as at the time of assumption of duty.

“It is not in our style to respond to fictitious allegations, but there is the need to put the records straight for the sake of the unsuspecting masses”.

“This fact, those who want to cause mayhem in the State also admitted in their publication in the Oasis Magazine of Monday 11th May, 2020. This clearly shows that the said Dr Moses Omayuli who is already 62 years of age was not even qualified to participate in the said interview. If others were appointed in breach of laid principles in the past, such errors should be corrected henceforth,” the statement by Concerned Residents in Mosogar Kingdom read.

According to the group, Governor Okowa as a man of principle and due process should not be conned into playing the dirty game of nepotism.

“It would also interest you to note that the petitioners and their co-travellers maliciously claimed that one of the interviewees, Dr. Imide Israel Onokero has not spent up to 5 years as a Chief Lecturer. Our findings show that this falsehood is a calculated attempt to hoodwink the Governor and the Governing Council.

“The records before us revealed that Dr Imide has been a Chief Lecturer since January 1, 2011, a period of 9 years. So it is sad that those who want to perpetrate trouble in the State failed to check the appropriate records before making their bogus allegations. But that notwithstanding, as shown in previous appointments, our detribalised Governor, Dr Okowa will never shortchange any qualified individual based on sentiments.

“There is also the need to correct the wrong impression that the provost of an institution must be an indigene of where it is sited as alleged by the petitioners. In sane climes, heads of higher institutions are selected based on merits and not on sentiments. The Delta State government has followed this precedence from the onset. There are no known indigenous heads of the State owned institutions like the Delta State University, Abraka, Delta State Polytechnics in Oghara, Ozoro and Ogwashi-Uku and the Colleges of Education in Warri and Agbor.

“It is our passionately appeal to the Governor to ignore the false allegations of the petitioners and appoint the most qualified candidate for the position,” the group averred.