DC-23 mourns Delta governorship aspirant

Following Friday’s sudden death of a Delta State governorship aspirant, Chief Kenneth Okpara, Delta Central 2023 (DC-23), a group lobbying for the senatorial district to produce the next governor has been thrown into mourning.

The deceased, who’s a former Commissioner for Finance and Economic Planning in the state
was aspiring to be governor come 2023 under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) before the Friday incident.

It was gathered that Chief Okpara had been battling with a protracted illness, before she gave up the ghost on Friday.

Delta State Commissioner for Urban Renewal, Chief Arthur Akpowowo, who hails from same community with the late Okpara said that Chief Okpara died at about 4:00a.m on Friday 19, 2021 at Eku, Ethiope East Local Government Area of the state.

Akpowowo, who is also the National Publicity Secretary of DC-23, stated that their country-home “Eku will remember you for a long time to come. RIP Kenneth O. Okpara.”

Meanwhile, when contacted, the National Chairman of DC-23, Chief Ighoyota Amori, described the death of Okpara as very painful and tragic.

He noted that Deltans, Urhobo and his immediate community would greatly missed him because he was a good man to reckon with.

Okpara, until his death, was an international financial expert, astute political leader, Urhobo patriot and a pan-Deltan.

He was born into the great Okpara Dynasty of Eku on February 8, 1961 in Eku Community, Ethiope East Local Government Area of the state.

He had his Primary Education at the CMS in Eku and attended the Saint Peter’s Claver, Aghalokpe and later proceeded to the University of Maiduguri, Borno State, where he bagged Bsc degree in Accouting in 1987.

He, thereafter, went abroad for further education and did his Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) in the prestigious Cambridge University, Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK).

Chief Okpara was a top-ranking governorship hopeful in Delta State with intimidating intellectual pedigrees and vast managerial acumen.

He was a product of Havard University, JFK School of Government Executive Education (Cutting Edge of Development Thinking Programme) May, 2013 and Cambridge University in London, Judge Business School, April, 2011.

He was Associate Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria,1999, fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation 1998, Microsoft Professional-Internet (MCP- 1) 2000, Microsoft Certified System (MCSE) 2000.

He was also a Chartered Accountant with strong leadership and analytical skills, a highly accomplished professional with proven successful track records of performance and result in diverse and multi-cultural environments who achieved results by continuously focusing on the big picture and applying lessons learnt from failures and successes in life.

Okpara was a Senior Financial Management Specialist with the World Bank and saddled with the responsibilities of Financial Management, implementation support and supervision of its funded and multi donor trust fund investment projects in Afghanistan, South Asia.

Late Okpara worked as a co-Task Team Leader/Manager for Public Financial Management Projects funded by the World Bank here in Nigeria as well.

He was appointed the Honourable Commissioner for Economic Planning in September 2011-July 2013 by Dr. Ewetan Uduaghan, former governor of Delta State.

He proved himself a financial guru whose tenure led to the boosting of the economic base of Delta State and later appointed as the Honourable Commissioner for Finance by the same former governor, Uduaghan, in July 2013 – May 2015.