Niger Delta ex-agitator, Mr Endurance Amagbein, has disagreed with the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, over its call for the removal of the Group Chief Executive Offcer, GCEO, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, Engineer Bayo Ojulari.
Amagbein, the self-styled General, also cautioned the IYC leadership against politicising the plight of the Niger Delta people over issues of renewal of pipeline surveillance contract.
The ex-militant, in a statement in Abuja at the weekend, said Ojulari was carefully chosen by President Bola Tinubu to take the nation’s oil and gas industry to the next level.
He expressed displeasure over the recent actions of the IYC, accusing the group of derailing from its core mandate and delving into partisan oil surveillance politics.
According to him, the IYC’s call for Mr Ojulari’s sack is as a result of his refusal to compromise policy standards of NNPC Ltd in its operations contrary to popular expectations.
While aligning with IYC on the call for reforms in the NNPCL, especially in the area of decentralisation of surveillance contracts amongst stakeholders in the various Niger Delta states over their indigenous territories, Amagbein condemned the call for the outright sack of Ojulari.
He described the move as “premature and political.”
Amagbein, popularly known as Adaka Boro the Second, said contrary to the claims made by IYC, the administration of President Tinubu had been fair to the people of the Niger Delta and had appointed key sons of the region into juicy national offices.
According to him, even if anyone will pretend to be ignorant of the love of the president towards Ijaw people, they cannot erase the fact that sons of the Niger Delta occupy top key sectors in the institutions established for the development and peace in the area.
“Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, the Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil); Dr Samuel Ogbuku, MD/CEO of NDDC, and Chief Dennis Otuaru, the Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, are all Ijaw people.
“But sadly, nobody remembers to thank Mr President for this,” he said.
Amagbein added, “It is so said that oil politics in the Niger Delta has infiltrated into the affairs of the IYC and its leaders have allowed surveillance contractors to direct policy statements of the youth body.
“IYC triumphs in its core values on the struggle for Niger Delta development agenda. The founding fathers laid out their ideas on non-partisan services to the region through people-oriented programmes.
“In the past, the tradition of the IYC is to precede every of its actions that are considered sensitive with wide consultation of major stakeholders in the region.
“But this cherished tradition was ignored in their call for the sack of Ojulari.
“It is very obvious that IYC has derailed into partisan politics, thereby aligning their activities with surveillance contractors who have lost goodwill over their surveillance activities in the last few years.”
According to him, it is never too late to go back to their roots anchored on the collective interest of the people.
“The founding fathers of the IYC knew the priceless contributions of stakeholders to the struggle, and that was why they always consulted with them before making any move.
“But today, the efforts of stakeholders who are the foundation of the Ijaw struggle are being overlooked and that is why they have gone astray.
“When Chris Ekiyor was President of the IYC, he succeeded because he never neglected the stakeholders and he was always consulting them before doing anything, and his administration recorded a huge success.
“It is the sacrifices of stakeholders that brought about peace to the Niger Delta and that is why IYC now has a voice, these sacrifices should not be overlooked.
“Anything that has to do with the Niger Delta requires serious and careful thoughts in other not to spark flames, because as stakeholders, we know the sacrifices we are paying to maintain the peace and security of the region.
“Like the last presidential election, it was the efforts of myself and Alhaji Asari Dokubo that brought peaceful elections in the Niger Delta, and this we did by galvanising our supporters and engaging other stakeholders to ensure a smooth process.
“That is what I want the IYC to do – to know the mind of stakeholders before doing anything; so that they can have the full support of the people.
“President Tinubu made wide consultations and made an informed decision in the appointment of Mr Ojulari.
“Rather than causing distractions, I, General Endurance Amagbein, encourage stakeholders to support President Tinubu’s development plans already laid out in progress for the Niger Delta region,” he said.
He, therefore, advised the IYC to shun partisan politics, especially oil politics in the Niger Delta.
“They should not be seen to be carrying out the agenda of certain surveillance contractors in the region,” Amagbein concluded.
It would be recalled that the group, during its Abuja protest, accused Ojulari of non-performance, financial mismanagement, systemic neglect, among others.
It also noted his failure to deliver visible benefits to the Niger Delta despite the region being the mainstay of Nigeria’s oil wealth. NAN
