Fred Itua, Abuja
Secretary of Cyril Ogodo-led faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State, Silas Buowe, has revealed that the crisis rocking the party, may hinder it from coming up with a nominee to be appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari as minister when he forms his new government next month.
Buowe who doubles as convener of Isoko Equity Group, while briefing newsmen in Abuja, said his ethnic group is being marginalised and has never produced a federal minister since 1999.
He said the crisis in APC in the state has prevented Isoko party leaders to table their grievances on alleged marginalisation at the federal level.
“You know we have a crisis in APC in Delta State. Because there are factions, we don’t even know how to channel our grievances. Therefore, we have written to the national chairman of APC, Adams Oshiomhole, to consider someone from Isoko.
“We are a grossly-marginalised people by successive Federal government administrations in Nigeria in areas of infrastructure, but particularly in the distribution of political appointments.
“Isoko land is the second place where oil was first struck in commercial quantity at Uzere in 1958, in the present Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State.
“Today, we have oil flowing to the national coffers from our several oil fields and eight flow stations. Isoko is the largest onshore oil producing area in the Niger Delta area with its obvious ecological problems,” Buowe said.
He said Isoko leaders decided to “seek the intervention of Mr. President because we are confident that he is averse to injustice. We are, therefore, confident that our plight would be addressed by him.
“From 1999 to date, out of a total of 10 ministers so far appointed from Delta State, no one was from Isoko. While many ethnic groups in the oil-producing Niger Delta believe in violence as a tool to command attention, we the Isoko people believe in constructive engagement and negotiation.
“We believe that by appointing an Isoko man into the federal cabinet, Mr. President will be righting the wrongs of several decades. More importantly, even in the recently-concluded general elections, the Isoko nation massively supported Mr. President in a politically difficult terrain as Delta State.
“While it is the president’s prerogative to appoint whoever he deems qualified as his minister, we want to state that the Isoko nation parades some of the most qualified persons and therefore requests Mr. President to kindly consider them in making his choice of next cabinet member from Delta State.”