"Perform or be fired," Ebonyi’s Gov. Nwifuru warns political appointees

Gov. Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi on Tuesday in Abakaliki charged commissioners and political appointees to perform optimally or get the boot.

“The cliché: `to err is human and to forgive, divine’ will not apply in this administration,’’ he warned while swearing in the political appointees of his administration.

He stressed that any appointee who erred would be fired without looking back.

“You will leave office the moment I come and see lapses. I will never call you back to serve again and you know the number of people I called to serve.

“There is nothing like to err is human, as no one is going to forgive you,’’ he added.

Nwifuru, however, congratulated the appointees and urged them to take their work seriously.

“The people are looking upon us and we have to show them our style of leadership,’’ he said.

Responding on behalf of the appointees, Prof. Emmanuel Echiegu, Chief of Staff to the governor thanked him for appointing them and pledged that they would not disappoint the governor.

“We need prayers from the people to enable us to succeed in our new endeavours,’’ he said.

Nwifuru later assigned portfolios to the commissioners, four of whom served in the administration of the immediate past Gov. David Umahi.

The returning commissioners are Chief Sunday Inyima (Capital Territory); Mr Ogbonnaya Abara (Infrastructural Development); Mrs Ann Aligwe (Human Capital Development) and Mrs Chinwe Okah (Budget and Planning).

One of the new commissioners is Chief Nnanna Elechi, son of former Gov. Chief Martin Elechi, who was in office from 2007 to 2015.

Another is Prof. Omari Omaka, the first Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) of Ebonyi descent.