LAGOS JUNE 18TH (URHOBOTODAY)-Okpe leaders on Sunday took a swipe at former president, Mohammadu, Buhari, describing the re-naming of the Osubi International Airport after Alfred Diete-Spiff as a monumental error and big slap on the Okpe people.

‘’The Osubi International Airport is located in Osubi, a major town in Okpe Local Government and was commissioned for commercial use 1st April 1999.  Towards the twilight of the last administration, the Okpe Union was both shocked and dismayed to hear that the outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the re-naming of the Airport after Alfred Diete-Spiff, a former Military Governor of old Rivers State under the General Yakubu Gowon era. We appreciate the need to name certain national assets after eminent citizens, dead or living’’.

They argued that the issue at stake was the naming of a federal asset after someone that didn’t serve Nigeria at “Federal” level.

‘’Alfred Diete-Spiff had nothing to do with either the old Midwest region or Bendel or Delta States. He was not in any way connected to Osubi nor was he indigenous to Okpe land or the Okpe people of Delta State. With all due respect to him, he never served Nigeria at “Federal” level such as to suggest that any national asset “anywhere” could be named after him. Therefore, the Okpe Union is of the view that the re-naming of the Osubi International Airport after Alfred Diete-Spiff is not only a monumental error but a big slap on the Okpe people for which an immediate redress is required. The Okpe people have several eminent citizens such as Senator David Dafinone, a prominent Senate Leader in the Second Republic, General Patrick Aziza, a leading light of the military era, HRM Ezezi II and HRM Orhoro I, both eminent traditional rulers and statesmen after whom the Osubi International Airport may be renamed’’.