Oko Polytechnic Crisis: Panel submits report, blames Polytechnic, Community over crisis

www.odogwublog.com reports that the State Government has received the report from a 7-member Administrative Panel of Inquiry into the crises and disturbances of April last year at Oko Community in Orumba North Council Area.

The 3-volume report which was the outcome of 30 sittings of the Panel set up by Governor Willie Obiano on the 17th of October, 2014, was received on behalf of the State Government by the Governor at the Governor’s Lodge, Amawbia.

Receiving the documents, Governor Obiano said his administration is aggressively pursuing lasting peace and stability at the various communities as a prerequisite for meaningful development to ensue in the state.

He described the report as critical in government’s efforts to find a permanent solution to the lingering crises that has bedeviled development in the Oko community, commending the Panel for doing what he described as an excellent job.

The Governor assured that the state government will immediately review the report with a view to producing a white paper that will drive its next course of action towards ending the impasse.

According to the Governor, “It is our desire that communities live peacefully in the state. That is the only way we can guarantee the kind of development we are pursuing here. Also when there are disagreements, the parties involved should be able to resolve their differences without resorting to violence. That is the system we are working to entrench in the state.”

Presenting the report, the Chairman of the Panel, Retired Justice Vero Umeh explained that the duration was extended against the initial 10 sittings approved for them to enable the Panel do a thorough job and to avail all parties in the matter fair hearing.

She expressed the hope that the major parties in the crises will heed the recommendations in the report and join hands with Governor Obiano to find lasting solution to the crises.

“We issued the notice for submission of Memoranda by all parties, after which we deemed it fit to organize a hearing session for the parties whose Memoranda we have received, to make oral presentations on their submissions,” she said.
She continued, “After the hearings and in keeping with the 6-point terms of reference with which the Panel was set up, we have produced this report which is in three volumes comprising, the Proceedings and Correspondence, the Memoranda and Exhibits, and the Main Report”.

In a vote of thanks, a member of the Panel, Bar. Zik Obi thanked the Governor for the opportunity given them to serve the state, and observed that the urgency with which the Governor dispatches issues bordering on the welfare of Ndi Anambra depicts him as a leader with genuine passion to transform the state.

The Administrative Panel of Inquiry was set up with a 6-point terms of reference which included to determine the immediate and remote causes of the dispute, discord and disturbances within the Oko Community, to determine the major parties in the dispute and their respective roles in the matter and the impact of law enforcement agencies in addressing the crisis.

Others include to make recommendations to the state government for remedial measures, reconcile the parties and restore lasting peace in Oko community, to make recommendations to the state government on lessons to be drawn from the crisis to the benefits of other communities and to make other recommendations that the Panel deems fit for the harmonious existence of communities in the state.