Niger Delta: Dekawei Urges Goodluck Jonathan To Wake Up To His Responsibilities
By Binebai Princewill
Niger Delta Youth leader, Amb. John Dekawei has called on former president Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to live up to expectations of Niger Deltans by prioritising the development of the Niger Delta region while meeting with the presidency.
He said the political manipulation foised on the Niger Delta region by the presidency and enemies of the region calls for great concern hence Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, leader of the region and immediate past president of the country should not keep quiet in the face of such brazenly sustained political subjugation.
Amb. John Dekawei, renowned Niger Delta philanthropist cum advocate of good governance in Nigeria made the call yesterday in Abuja while reacting to the state of the Niger Delta region via a statement issued to newsmen, a copy of which was sent to The Liberator Newspapers.
The youth leader maintained that Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has been seen frequently visiting the Aso Villa, discussing with the presidency and coming out smiling, he wondered what the former president would be discussing with President Buhari smiling when the Niger Delta region is grappling with multifaceted challenges from the federal Government.
According to Amb. Dekawei, while the region continues to dance the eerie dance of underdevelopment, the story of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) have continued to be another joke of the century.
He said presidency have completely infiltrated into the NDDC with its endless interim administration from one questionable interim leadership to the other with series of financial misappropriation cases hoovering around it.
Dekawei had wondered when the forensic audit onging in the NDDC will ever end if it will take the whole of four years to complete the exercise, adding that Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as a good leader should have tabled such important issue and other burning matters affecting the region to his friend, president Muhammadu Buhari for steps to be taken to ameliorate the fears of the people.
The rights activist asserted that there is nothing wrong if the presidency urgently correct the wrongs by putting in place a substantive board to effectively oversee the day to day running of the commission to attend to the region’s age long developmental challenges, stressing that as it is, Niger Delta is losing out big time in the present government.
He emphasised that the former president must henceforth begin to look into such key issues when visiting the presidency, maintaining that with the good name he has for himself in Nigeria and the world at large, he can recommend trusted ally to the presidency from the region to occupy such office.
Meanwhile, Amb. John Dekawei is the President general of the revered Niger Delta Socio Cultural Group under the aegis of Delta Ijaw Youth Movement for Political Advancement (DIYMPA).
It would be recalled that Amb. John Dekawei is also the chairman cum founder of the John Dekawei Foundation (JDF), a Non Governmental Organisation he has used in transforming the lives of many across the globe.
