Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa resumed office Monday with a prayer session at the Government House Chapel.

Okowa who was accompanied by his wife, Dame Edith Okowa, Deputy Governor, Mr Kingsley Otuaro and political aides and associates joined in the devotional session by staff of the Directorate of Government House.

Speaking at the brief service, the Governor urged Deltans to continually pray for the success of the programmes and policies of their leaders stressing that prayer is the key to success.

“Christians especially Deltans have a burden to pray everyday for the success of the state, Delta State will go places by the grace of God. I want to assure you all that I will always join this devotional service every morning throughout my tenure”, he said.

He called for the support and understanding of Deltans for the success of his administration.

In his exhortation, the Chaplain of the Chapel, Rev. Ben Golley urged Dletans to shun negative criticisms and excessive and unnecessary praises stressing that they need to pray for their leaders and support them for the growth of the state.

Okowa later inspected a guard of Honour mounted by the Nigeria Police and was taken round the various offices and halls in Government House by the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Benson Oburoh.

Meantime, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has suspended the ongoing recruitment exercise into the state civil service.

Okowa said that the suspension was sequel to the flawed process which was fraught with sharp practices and could not be adjudged to be credible.

In a statement signed by the State Head of Service, Mr Patrick Origho, Governor Okowa said “it is public knowledge that the process was fraught with sharp practices ranging from abuse of office to sale of jobs slots and therefore cannot by any stretch of imagination be adjudged credible, no flawed process produces a credible exercise” adding “this abysmal handling of the exercise culminated in the suspension of the chairman and members of the Commission and the setting of the an Administrative Panel to review the recruitment process”.

He appealed to Deltans for support and understanding on the suspension of the exercise assuring that” action will be taken to study the report of the Administrative Panel at the appropriate time with a view to strengthening the Delta State Civil Service Commission and ensuring transparent recruitment process”.