Ogoni Youth Federation (OYF) has urged well meaning youth leaders in the Niger Delta to turn down an emergency meeting being called by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio on Friday 4th June, 2021 in Abuja.
Legborsi Yamaabana, the OYF President General said in statement that the meeting is only meant to divert attention from issues at stake.
“The meeting is not in the best interest of the Niger Delta region but an attempt by the Minister to divert attention from the pan Niger Delta agitation being propagated by the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) and other ethnic nationalities, in order to hoodwink the people and the government and continue to imposed his protégé and confidant, Mr. Effiong Akwa, as the interim sole administrator of NDDC for an indeterminate period under the bogus guise of supervising a supposed ongoing forensic audit that has already been compromised by the Minister and his surrogates” he said.
OYF insist that the meeting should be shunned until Akpabio complies with the demands of the youths and constitutes a substantive board for the NDDC as well as mobilize contractors to site to fix the East West Road, noting that if such meeting must hold, it should be held in any of the Niger Delta States and not in Abuja.
OYF further wondered “why the minister not call for this type of meeting before now, why must it be now that Niger Delta youths have risen to right the wrongs bedeviling the region”.
He said, “it is increasingly clear that Akpabio prefers to run the NDDC through proxies, rather than constituting a Substantive Board that guarantees proper corporate governance, accountability, checks and balances, and which effectively provides for broad representation of the nine oil producing States”.
OYF therefore, declare solidarity and total support for the legitimate demands of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) led by the President, Dcn. Peter Timothy Igbifa, adding that the protest can only be suspended if a substantive board is appointed and inaugurated for the NDDC as provided for by the Act and contractors handling the East West Road mobilised to site.
Yamaabana said in the coming days, Ogoni Youth Federation shall mobilize its rank and file and embark on a solidarity protest in support of the Ijaw Youth Council to draw the attention of the government to issues affecting the mutual interests and purposes of Ogoni Nation in particular and Niger Delta region in general.
