New Wards, CADA Bill, Other Issues, Dekawei Addresses Ijaw Political Leaders In Delta

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By Binebai Princewill 

President general of the revered Niger Delta Socio Cultural Group under the aegis of Delta Ijaw Youth Movement for Political Advancement (DIYMPA), Amb. John Dekawei has blown hot on latest political happenings in Delta State. The Liberator Newspapers can report. 

The Niger Delta Youth leader particularly accused Ijaw leaders as being too docile in their various spheres of representation, stressing that the political leaders of Delta Ijaw are not protecting the Interest of Ijaws in the state, a situation he described as worrisome. 

Amb. John Dekawei made the remark earlier today in Asaba while reacting to the creation of new wards in the state without creating anyone for the Ijaws in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State and other pressing political issues bedeviling the Ijaws in Delta State. 

Dekawei noted that Ijaws are the architects of their own problems, adding that while other representatives and political leaders are prioritising the Interest of their ethnic groups, the political leaders in Ijaw continue to remain mute and celebrate the worsening state of underdevelopment and political backwardness in Ijaw nation.

Amb. John had wondered on what could have been more disturbing to the political class than to see their political counterparts in other ethnic nationalities influencing wards and making political progress in the state. 

He said despite Ijaws occupying sensitive political offices in Delta, the woes of Ijaw ethnic nationality in the state has continue to snowball for the worse as no new political progress is being made so far but rather the Ijaws are being reduced in each political dispensation. 

According to John Dekawei, he said from the last political dispensation till this moment, the Ijaws have occupied the office of the Deputy Governor of Delta State, Ijaw man was the Chief of staff to the Delta State Government during the first administration of Okowa, now Ijaw man is the Senior political adviser to the Governor, Ijaw man is the commissioner for Oil and Gas, Delta State, Ijaw man is the commisioner for economic planning, Delta State, Ijaw man was the commissioner for power and energy, Delta State. 

He continued, Ijaw man in Delta is in the Nigerian Senate, Ijaws are in the House of Representatives, Ijaws are in the Delta State House of Assembly.

He noted again that Ijaw men are Council chairmen and occupying other sensitive offices including the Delta State Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC), adding that with all these positions and appointments, the Ijaws continue to retrogress from even where they were to a lamentable state. 

Speaking further, the Niger Delta human rights activist opined that Ijaws in Delta State must not shift their blame on other ethnic group’s political leaders that are representing their people well but rather hold their political leaders accountable for not being progressive and unproductive. 

John Dekawei said while others are creating Warri, Uvwie and Environs Development Agency and the Asaba, capital territory development agency have been influenced and created already to add to other development agencies in these areas, the Coastal Areas Development Agency Bill, a Bill that will address the developmental yearnings of Ijaws in Delta is yet to be debated on the floor of the Delta State House of Assembly by the Ijaw lawmakers “not to talk of passing into law now. Who are we to blame on this issue?” Dekawei asked 

Dekawei asserted that recently the Nigerian Senate has approved the restoration of Abraka constituency, a move influenced by a second term senator from Urhobo, “what has our own influenced to the Ijaw people along this line, does it mean that the Ijaws in Delta are okay, that they don’t have any problem?, Burutu Local Government and other Ijaw Local Governments are large enough to be splitted into different council areas. ”

“The case of Burutu is even easier as it is already producing two house of Assembly members, Burutu North and Burutu South In the Delta State House of Assembly. As important as it is, who will free the Ijaws from this iron fisted political slavery ?.

It would be recalled that Amb. John Dekawei is 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.