WARRI STUDY GROUP
CONTACT ADDRESS:
C/O E. O. EKPOKO,ESQ,
forty, CemeteryRoad,
Warri,
Delta State.
GSM: 08033918605
Date: 27th July,2012
PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN, THE SOUTH-SOUTH AND THE IJAW.
QUO VADIS?
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT JONATHAN AND THE NIGERIAN PEOPLE
1.
INTRODUCTION
The emergence last year of President Jonathan from the South-South Geopolitical Zone was received with great joy for one obvious fact – a son of a Region that is the oxygen of Nigeria, has finally emerged to redeem the people of the South-South or Niger Delta. His emergence seen as a divine intervention,perhaps for a purpose – to transform the Niger Delta that previous administrations had seen as cursed by nature. The euphoria was quite great.
2. The expectations were these: he would free the Niger Deltans from the so-called domination and marginalization of the big three ethnic nationalities. His government would be fair to all ethnic nationalities of the Region. He would transform the Niger Delta Region and as one who come from humble background, he would feel our pains better than any one else.
3. Alas, things quickly appeared to be falling apart. Recent developments are beginning to reveal that it takes more than being a Niger Deltan or from the South-South to provide the leadership that can set the Region or indeed Nigeria on the path of development.
4. Nigeria is a nation of ethnic nationalities, the South-South or Niger Delta inclusive. This is a major fault line. Any government that must enjoy the confidence of the people must balance the ethnic scale so that one is not unevenly weighted against the other, in terms of appointments and spread of government projects. To do otherwise will promote discontent and bitterness among the ethnic nationalities within the Region.
5. It is in this regard that we intend to highlight the fault lines in the South-South or Niger Delta Region which is being widened daily under President Jonathan’s administration.
6.
POLITICAL APPOINTMENTS AND MARGINALIZATION OF OTHER ETHNIC NATIONALITIES IN THE SOUTH-SOUTH
The South-South Zone comprises Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Cross Rivers and Akwa-Ibom States made up mainly of Benin, Ishan, Igara, Urhobo, Itsekiri, Ijaw,Ibibio, Annang, Efik, etc.
7. President Jonathan is of Ijaw extraction.There are seven ministers from the South-South. The Ijaw has three key ministries of these, namely, Petroleum, Niger Delta and Housing.
8. In Delta State there are five major ethnic nationalities, namely, Urhobo, Ijaw, Itsekiri, Isoko and the Ibo speaking Delta North. Since the Itsekiri has the Governor of the State and President Jonathan being an Ijaw, one would have expected the President to pick either an Urhobo or Isoko as a Minister from the State but he chooses Elder Godsday Orubebe, an Ijaw from Delta State.
9. Elder Godsday Orubebe, the Minister for Niger Delta has sited the Housing projects cited in Ode Itsekiri, the traditional headquarters of the Itsekiri people by his predecessors in office in the Ministry of Niger Delta, to an Ijaw town in Gbaramatu. 90% of all Niger Delta Ministry’s projects meant for the Warri Area are in Ijaw towns, yet the Itsekiri remain the largest producer of oil and gas in Delta State. All entreaties by the Itsekiri to Elder Godsday Orubebe, have met adamant rejection. If we may ask is Elder Godsday Orubebe appointed by President Jonathan to continue the Ijaw aggression against other ethnic nationalities? Let him say what projects he has executed in Edo, Delta and even Ondo, outside Ijaw enclaves.
10.
THE AMNESTY PROGRAMME
Another area of discontent in the South-South is the amnesty programme. It has become a programme of the Ijaw by the Ijaw and for the Ijaw. Itsekiri are not part of his constituency and has never bothered to meet any Itsekiri leadership group since he has come on-stream. Its head, Hon. Kingsley Kuku does not pretend about it. We call on President Jonathan to probe the amnesty programme.Nigerians will want to know how much has gone into the amnesty programme.
11.
BOARD APPOINTMENTS
About70% of all federal boards and parastatals slots for the South-South are occupied by the Ijaw to the neglect of other ethnic nationalities. An Itsekiri,who was DG NIMASA, was dropped on flimsy excuse and replaced by an Ijaw to pave the easy award of the contract for the policing of our waterways to an ex-Ijaw warlord! No wonder the audacity of the call for a Trans-Delta, Edo & Ondo Torube State, which ignores all historical, legal and geographical considerations. Even in Ugborodo, Escravos where there are Chevron Tank Farms,Escravos Gas Project and several federal establishments/oil fields, the Federal Minister of Petroleum Resources has shown scant attention to the development of the area.
12.
CONCLUSION
We call on President Jonathan to look into issues raised. There is a wide discontent in the Region and it is brewing. There are fault lines which the President must address through dialogue with leaders of the ethnic nationalities of the South-South. The time to do that is NOW!
To be continued.
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria,
Long Live Delta State.
Signed
E.O. EKPOKO, ESQ TONY EDE
Chairman Secretary