A former ex-militant leader, Osaanya B. Osaanya, has traced the sponsors of campaigns of calumny against the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, to persons promoting a core Ijaw agenda in Ijaw land.
Osaanya, a prominent youth leader in the Niger Delta, said the promoters of the core Ijaw agenda, especially in Bayelsa State, were not happy that Ogbuku, who hails from Ogbia, a local government in the state considered as non-core Ijaw, was appointed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to manage the commission.
He said such enemies of Bayelsa and the Niger Delta became more livid with anger that Ogbuku was delivering Mr. President’s Renewed Hope Agenda in the commission beyond expectations.
Osaanya, in a statement at the weekend, said the sponsors were wondering why an individual from former President Goodluck Jonathan’s local government would be given such a juicy appointment ahead of others from core Ijaw councils.
He said: “This parochial and primitive mentality has kept Bayelsa redundant in terms of development. The core Ijaw promoters have been pushing the evil and anti-social agenda that some persons born in certain local government areas are the real Ijaw while others in different local government areas in the same state are less Ijaw.
The promoters of the so-called core Ijaw want to dominate and lord it over others they consider non-core Ijaw from the same state. This backward thinking is what they brought into NDDC, and that is why they are sponsoring campaigns of calumny to pull down the Managing Director of the commission, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku.
They are even angrier that Dr. Ogbuku has won the admiration of the President through his performance.”
Osaanya told those warring against the NDDC boss to sheathe their swords, insisting that any attempt to truncate the current leadership of the NDDC would have far-reaching negative consequences for the Niger Delta.
He said Ogbuku and the current board of the commission have repositioned the NDDC, making it an all-inclusive interventionist agency with its unique stakeholders’ engagements.
Osaanya observed that Ogbuku’s leadership has reawakened the dead beliefs and trust in the commission by the people of the region, especially with its Midas touch in the infrastructural development of the Niger Delta.
He said the youths, men, women, traditional rulers, and all stakeholders, apart from a few enemies of the region, were happy that for the first time, the current leadership of the commission was able to complete many abandoned landmark projects and initiated and completed new ones within a short period. “Let the evil core Ijaw promoters in Bayelsa and others who consider Ogbuku a threat to their governorship ambitions in Bayelsa leave the NDDC boss alone to focus on his job.
Almost all the stakeholders in the region are happy with Ogbuku, and President Tinubu is also happy with his performance in the region.
The interests of a few greedy and self-centered individuals cannot override public interest and the general well-being of the Niger Delta,” he said.
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