Niger Delta ex-agitator Endurance Amagbein has cautioned the leadership of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) against politicising the plight of the Niger Delta people over issues surrounding the renewal of pipeline surveillance contracts with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
In a statement, yesterday, Amagbein condemned IYC leaders who took a protest to Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, demanding the sack of the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Limited, Bayo Ojulari.
The ex-militant said Mr 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 deviating from its core mandate and delving into partisan oil surveillance politics.
According to him, the IYC’s call for Mr Ojulari’s sack was a result of his refusal to compromise NNPC Ltd’s policy standards in its operations, contrary to popular expectations.
While aligning with the IYC on the call for reforms in the NNPCL, especially in the area of decentralising surveillance contracts among stakeholders in the various Niger Delta states over their indigenous territories, Amagbein condemned the call for the outright removal of Ojulari.
He described the move as “premature and political.”
Amagbein, popularly known as Adaka Boro the Second, said that contrary to the claims made by the IYC, the administration of President Tinubu had been fair to the people of the Niger Delta, appointing key sons of the region into strategic national offices.
According to him, even if anyone pretends to be ignorant of the president’s goodwill towards the Ijaw people, they cannot deny that Niger Delta sons occupy top positions in institutions established for the development and peace of the region.
“Sen Heineken Lokpobiri, the Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil); Dr Samuel Ogbuku, MD/CEO of the NDDC; and Chief Dennis Otuaru, the Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, are all Ijaw people.
“But sadly, nobody remembers this to thank Mr President,” he said.
Amagbein added: “It is so sad that oil politics in the Niger Delta has infiltrated the affairs of the IYC, and its leaders have allowed surveillance contractors to dictate policy statements of the youth body.
“The IYC triumphs in its core values on the foundation of the Niger Delta development agenda, as 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 was to precede every one of its actions considered sensitive and of 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 Officer of NNPC Ltd.
“It is very obvious that the IYC has derailed into partisan politics, aligning its activities with surveillance contractors who have lost their goodwill over their operations in the last few years.”
According to him, it is never too late for the IYC to return to its 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 them before making any moves.
“But today, the efforts of stakeholders, who are the foundations of the Ijaw struggle, are being overlooked, and that is why they have gone astray.
