Delta APC factions at war over NSTIF Board chair position

The Chief Cyril Ogodo and Jones Erue-led executives of All Progressives Congress(APC) in Delta State are currently in a war of words over the chairmanship position of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund(NSITF).

The Ogodo-led executive had described the appointments of Mr Austin Enajemo-Isire and Chief Frank Kokori as Chairmen of NSITF and Michael Imoudu Institute of Labour Training, respectively, as “pleasant and encouraging news.”

Ogodo said: “Delta APC members, have raised baseless issues seeking to query the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige for not announcing Chief Kokori as the Chairman of NSITF as they earlier wished and speculated.

“We wonder what their special interest is in NSITF that this group of persons would prefer to force the hand of the Minister on who to appoint to chair the fund.

“The era of NSITF being a cash cow for fraud is over.

“We also call on our erring party members to desist from continuing to give Delta APC a bad name of ingratitude, disunity and use this opportunity to plead with the Minister not to take offence as Delta APC is not prepared to lose any of the two appointments as a result of contrived rascality by unknown elements.”

Responding yesterday, the Jones Erue-led executive in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Sylvester Imonina, denounced the statement by Ogodo, saying “Chief Ogodo has no power to issue a statement on behalf of the party, hence we condemn the statement in totality.”

The Erue-led exco also questioned the membership of Enajemo-Isire as a member of APC, saying “the implication of his shadowy/questionable membership of the party is that he has no impact on the party at his ward.

“Delta State APC wants to state that Chief Kokori is known to her, but Enajemo-Isire is not and it is our belief that Enajemo-Isire’s fitness and capability is cheap media hype.

“The statement of commendation of Dr Ngige about Enajemo-Isire’s appointment does not enjoy the support of Delta APC and we hereby condemn it in its entirety.”