LAGOS AUGUST 27TH (URHOBOTODAY)-The imprisoned former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, is said to have twisted the arm of current Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to appoint his former national treasurer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Williams Makinde, as the Managing Director (MD) of the newly restructured and reconstructed Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC).
SaharaReporters reliably learned that following ex-Governor Ibori’s vested interest in the commission from his far away London prison, he manipulated Governor Okowa to appoint Mr. Makinde as the pioneer MD of the commission, denying the people of Ughelli North Local Government Area to choose a head of the local council themselves.
Governor Okowa had told Deltans that he would strengthen the DESOPADEC law by restructuring the board and management in line with the NDDC model, through an amendment. However, the appointment of Mr. Makinde, it was learned, is generating controversy.
Pender Agwarive, the chairman of Ughelli North’s division of the Host Communities of Nigeria (Producing Oil and Gas), or HOSTCOM, warned against any attempt to deny the local people of the opportunity to produce their own director of DESOPADEC, saying such a move would be highly resisted.
“I strongly oppose [that] and if they try it we shall protest. If they dare to pick the MD from Ethiope West, which has the lowest quantum of oil production capacity, the rest of Urhobo ethnic oil-producing communities will join Ughelli North to carry out a protest that will lead to the shutdown of all the flow stations and oil wells and this will ultimately impact on the national economy. They will not dare it because if they do the consequences will be dire,” he warned.
Saharareporters