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TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
The South-South Chiefs and Elders Network has declared that people of Niger Delta are behind the under-developed and impoverished state of the of the region, not Federal Government.
The group has also described Niger Delta citizens behind the corruption saga in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), as “a bunch of thieves”.
National leader of the group, Chief Omubo Harry, stated this yesterday, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, while reacting to the ongoing drama unfolding in the National Assembly’s probe of financial misappropriation in NDDC.
Omubo said it is unfortunate that Niger Delta people, particularly from South-South zone, were at the centre of the scandal, saying they are a disgrace to the region.
He expressed: “Niger Delta, with special reference to the South-South states, is very disappointed. We are disappointed in the sense that, in the Interim Management Committee on NDDC, majority of them that are making the waves in corruption are all from the South-South states.
“There is no need to look for our problems outside. Our problems are inside-rights; they are unpatriotic, so greedy to feel that where they are supposed to amend their houses, they refuse to amend these houses and go outside to act and disgrace their people. It is shameful.
“No geopolitical zone is marginalising us. It is Niger Delta that is marginalising Niger Delta. We are marginalising ourselves”, he stressed.
Speaking further, the elder statesman said all the Niger Delta people who, in one or the other have denied the region development through NDDC, should be traditionally cursed.
Harry said: “Traditionally, they should be placed on curse. Very soon, most of these people that are involved in NDDC corruption, the South-South Chiefs and Elders will place a traditional curse on them. Without mincing words, they have disappointed the environment, our youths, our fathers and mothers and even the spiritual blessing that God has given to us. They are unproductive children of the Niger Delta, as far as the South-South is concerned. Sometimes, you wonder if they are realbreded or adopted children of Niger Delta or South-South.
“Imagine N81.5 billion! And there is nothing to show of the money. Look at the condition of the only road (East West road) that connects the South-South states. Niger Delta representatives in NDDC will sleep and wake up to embezzle the money meant for the development of the region. It’s wickedness”, he decried.
The group called on President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the current management of the commission and others indicted in the current financial rascality in NDDC.
Harry advised that appointments into the commission should be on merit, not political patronage to loyalists.
