Niger Delta ex-agitator, the self-styled General Endurance Amagbein, has cautioned the leadership of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) against politicising the plight of the Niger Delta people over issues of renewal of pipeline surveillance contracts.
Amagbein expressed displeasure over the actions of the IYC leaders who took a protest to Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), demanding the sack of Bayo Ojulari, the Group Chief Executive Offcer of NNPC Limited.
The IYC claimed that the protest was due to non-performance, financial mismanagement, systemic neglect and administrative failure, exclusion of Niger Deltans from key oil and gas decision-making processes despite years of promises from successive administrations, and failure to deliver visible benefits to the Niger Delta despite the region being the mainstay of Nigeria’s oil wealth, but Amagbein disagreed.
In a statement on Saturday, Amagbein accused the IYC of derailing from its core mandate and delving into partisan politics.
While aligning with the IYC on the call for reforms in the NNPC, especially in the area of decentralization of surveillance contracts amongst stakeholders in the various Niger Delta states over their indigenous territories, Amagbein condemned the call for the outright sack of Mr Bayo Ojulari; describing it as premature and political.
Amagbein, popularly known as Adaka Boro the second, said, contrary to the claims made by the IYC, the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been fair to the people of the Niger Delta, and has appointed key sons of the region into juicy national offices.
“It is so sad 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.
“In the past, the tradition of the IYC is to precede every of its actions that are considered sensitive with significant national importance with wide consultation of major stakeholders in the region, but this cherished tradition was ignored in their call for the sack of Mr. Bayo Ojulari, the Group Chief Executive Offcer of NNPC Ltd.
“It is very obvious that the IYC has derailed into partisan politics, thereby aligning their activities with surveillance contractors who have lost their goodwill over their surveillance activities in the last few years.It is never too late to go back to their roots anchored on the collective interest of the people.
“However, I want to advice the IYC to shun partisan politics, especially oil politics in the Niger Delta, and they should not be seen to be carrying out the agenda of certain surveillance contractors in the region,” Amagbein saud. .
