OYC condemns planned protest against NDDC Sole Administrator
…says appointment is in good faith
Barth Ndubuwah Port Harcourt
The Obolo Youth Coalition (OYC) worldwide said it has keenly followed up several threats of protests against the newly appointed Sole Administrator of NDDC, Barr. Effiong Akwa and another heavy protest-plot that may cause chaos in the NDDC system, if allowed to continue.
In a press statement issued in Port Harcourt by the OYC President, Hon Ijonama Mkon Amon,the Group said, “at this juncture, we deem it necessary to officially notify the Ijaw Youth Council, 8th administration and other Niger Delta youth bodies who are planning the said heavyweight protest that, the appointee in question is an Obolo son and by extension an Ijaw man in Niger Delta.
“The OYC, having perused through the dramatic episodes on merit without mincing words, criticizes the protest approach and consequentially condemns in the strongest terms, another biased and sentimental proposed protest intended to resist the appointment of Barr. Effiong Akwa, an Obolo Son as the Sole Administrator of the NDDC.
“This, the OYC viewed as an unjustifiable action, ostensibly orchestrated by few persons who lack information about the contributions of the Obolo Ethnic Nationality to the growth of Nigeria that gave birth to the existence of the NDDC.
“We want the intending protesters to note that, all the eight Obolo local government areas in both Rivers State and Akwa-Ibom State are oil producing local governments, but we have been marginalized since the creation of the commission in the scheme of board appointments and silent with patience and that has finally given birth to the said appointment,” the statement said.
The President General of the body, Hon. Amb. Ijonama Mkpon Amon, said the OYC challenges any person or group in the Niger Delta to a debate that the planned protest is ill-conceived as this appointment is not the first sole administrator appointed in the Commission and therefore sued for intellectual approach and not crisis.
The statement recalled that in 2015, an Ijaw daughter hailed from another ethnic nationality in the region was wholeheartedly appointed and allowed to manage the affairs of the Commission for about six good months duration with neither a conception nor display of any protest from Obolo Bloc or any other tribe among the ijaws to challenge the said appointment and asked why reverse is the case now.
The statement further said that the OYC wonders why the appointment of an illustrious Obolo Son and by extension, an Ijaw man from the same Niger Delta will be victimized to the extent of generating unexpected protests to sack him and reactions to pull him down .
“OYC therefore calls on the perpetrators and sponsors of such planned protests to desist forthwith as the Obolo people through its youth wing will lawfully resist the scheming to oust any of its indigenes from deserved positions.”
Mkpon said that, while the OYC maintains her support for the development and phase-renewal of the Niger Delta region through the instrumentality of the Commission, it also frowns at the sentimental timing to deny the Obolo nation for the first time, her scarce opportunity to contribute to the well being of the Niger Delta region in particular and the country in general through the Commission.
The OYC President, consequently, sends a-Save-Our-Soul (SOS) call to the Commander in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the selfish political plottings in the region intended to completely silent the Obolo people who he said have exercised due patience, despite being the major economic hub in the Niger Delta region.
Amon opined that, if this illicit move is allowed to sale through, it is tantamount to causing disaffections amongst the ijaws and Niger Delta at large and its consequential results in the polity.He therefore, called on the President to discard their pressures and threats as they are ill-intended.
The OYC President said he encourages the Sole Administrator of the NDDC, Barr. Akwa to disregard all forms of distractions, while he concentrates to discharge his official duties as directed by Mr. President to the Commission for the good of the region and the country at large.
He equally advised all sons and daughters of Obolo land to remain calm while justice would not only be done, but seen to be done to give Obolo ethnic nationality in the country for their patience over the years,which he said has earned them genuine opportunity to serve.
