Scrapping of Niger Delta Ministry: Don’t Allow Niger Delta To Return To Dark Days – Ozobo tells Tinubu

By Peters Monday, Abuja

Renowned Niger Delta Activist and environmentalist, Comrade Ozobo Austin has cautioned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu against scraping Niger Delta Ministry.

This was contained in a statement that he signed by himself and forwarded to a Congress news correspondent on Saturday.

Ozobo, advised Tinubu not to scrap Niger Delta Ministry, adding that the move may cause fresh hostilities in the Niger Delta region.

The IPDI president, in a statement titled, Scraping of Niger Delta Ministry: Matters Arising, said: “I was inundated with calls and messages daily over the abrupt scrapping of Niger Delta ministry at a time l was still reviewing the motive in which president Tinubu was advised to scrap the ministry.

“Again, I was also inundated with daily charts while l was still accessing the positive developmental impacts of the Niger Delta ministry. But in all, I frown at the haste by Tinubu in scraping the ministry despite a record of poor performance.

“You may agree with me that the Niger Delta ministry was created to consolidate the developmental lacuna of the region by the late Yara’dua. It is expected that proper consultation of stakeholders and leaders be made before deciding on whether to scrap it or not.

“It is succinct to state that the scraping of the ministry was seen as a move to fight the Niger Delta region by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“I share this position, despite the ministry’s poor performance, owing to the abrupt scraping which is an utmost disregard and abuse on the collective yearning of the oil-rich Niger Delta people.

“As people of Niger Delta, we will not applaud Tinubu for this unpalatable and wrongly conceived tantrum. In all, the Niger Delta ministry is not the only federal ministry that recorded poor performance in the country. If this move is holistic, it is expected that all non-performing and moribund federal ministries be scrapped alongside.

“In conclusion, Niger Delta people are strongly against the attempt to scrap the Niger Delta ministry, as the move is provocative, mischievous, unscrupulous, barbaric and unconstitutional. We demand that he should retreat from this inconceivable move as it could incite uproar and unrest in the region,” he warned.