Leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Chief Edwin Clark, has accused Former President Olusegun Obasanjo of not having the interest of the Niger Delta at heart. This was the former president made some statements deemed to be against the Niger Delta region....CONTINUE READING
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo reportedly made a statement concerning resource control during an event organized by the Global Peace Foundation in collaboration with Vision Africa. He said that said oil found in the Niger Delta region does not belong to the people of the Niger Delta.
However, the Elder statesman from the Niger Delta wrote a letter to Obasanjo expressing disappointment at his statements. In the letter titled ‘My disappointment over your unprovoked outburst against the People of the Niger Delta region’, He accused the former president of nursing hatred for the region.
The letter read in part: “This is in spite of the environmental damages the region is suffering. Your Excellency did not deem it fit to empathize with the people of Nembe, Bayelsa State, in the recent pipeline explosion which has inflicted untold hardship on the people of the area and caused humungous damage to the area; the aquatic life is destroyed.
“The soot in Rivers State has assumed an alarming dimension with no hope of abating in the near future. The only thing people like Your Excellency, are thinking of, is how much a barrel of oil cost, how much revenue is continuously accruing to the country from the despoiled and ravaged Niger Delta region. A region where there is not even water to drink. To Your Excellency, the oil belongs to the country, while the sufferings belong to the people of the region.
“I am not surprised because your open hostility for the Niger Delta region was equally displayed when derivation went down as low as 0% during your period as Military Head of State. Even the current 13%, which happened reluctantly under your government later, came about after a sustained legal action to force you to implement what was provided for by the 1999 Constitution.
“The 2014 National Conference recommended 18%.” The elder statesman wrote a great, expressing his disappointment at the statements credited to the former president.
