Member representing Khana/Gokana Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Dumnamene Robinson Dekor has insisted that Governor Nyesom Wike is the right person to lead the planned Multi-Stakeholder Consultative Meeting between Ogoni leaders and the Federal government over resumption of oil production in Oil Mining Lease 11.
Dekor said the controversy triggered by the choice of Governor Wike among sections of Ogoni people is unnecessary, arguing that as the Chief Security Officer of the State, there is hardly any such high level meeting with the federal government as was the tradition in the past without involving the State governor.
The federal lawmaker who is a former deputy speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, and one time Commissioner for Works in the State recalled similar occasions when past governors including former Rivers State governor, and now Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and his Minister for Niger Delta Affairs counterpart, Godswill Akpabio among others had been on Ogoni people’s delegation to the Presidency on issues concerning Ogoni nation.
Dekor warned against politicizing the matter.
He accused members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as architects of the seeming controversy on who should and should not lead the Ogoni delegation to the meeting.
The lawmaker described those opposed to the unanimous decision of Ogoni stakeholders that Wike should be at the head of the delegation as enemies of Ogoni people, stressing that the inclusion of the Governor who is the chief security officer of the state is in the interest of the Ogoni people..
Commenting on the 26th Ogoni Heroes Day Anniversary, marked November 10th every year, Dekor said the Ogoni martyrs did not die in vain, positing that their blood is the seed of democracy in Nigeria and connotes respect for human dignity.
Dekor who is House Committee Chairman on Host Communities said though Ken Saro-Wiwa and his kinsmen are gone, they still live on having left lasting legacies and everlasting memories in the heart of people.
