The face-off between Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and oil-bearing communities over the amendment to the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) law, worsened yesterday.
Ijaw and Urhobo youths urged the governor to drop the proposed amendment or face their wrath.
Urhobo youths, under the aegis of Urhobo Youth Alliance for Equity and Justice (UYAFEJ), urged Okowa to withdraw the bill within two weeks or face the consequence of his action.
The Ijaw youths gave the governor three days to backtrack, if he does not want them to cripple oil production.
The Urhobo youths frowned at Okowa’s perceived plan to rob them of their chance to produce the next chairman of the board and to give his (Okowa’s) district undue an advantage in the management of oil funds.
An Urhobo leader, Emmanuel Skido, in an online statement, warned: “UYAFEJ will make Delta State ungovernable for Okowa,” if he went ahead with the plan.
Skido accused the governor of acting a tribal agenda.
Also, Comrade Sheriff Mulade, Chief Moscow Johnny and other chairmen and members of oil producing communities of Gbaramatu Kingdom, who are hosts to Abiteye, Otuunana, Makaraba, Jones Creeks and Egwa I flow stations, warned the governor against amending the DESOPADEC law.
They said Okowa would face their anger, if he failed to retrace his steps within 72 hours, starting from Tuesday evening.
A statement yesterday in Effurun, after the Ijaw youths’ meeting, reads: “We are giving the Delta State Government and the House of Assembly a 72-hour ultimatum to halt the bill or face the wrath of oil communities in Gbaramatu Kingdom.”
The host communities condemned the proposed amendment to the DESOPADEC bill.
They noted that “the bill clearly seeks to rip us off of the 13 per cent derivation fund given to oil and gas producing communities in the state”.
The statement added: “As host communities in Gbaramatu Kingdom, we want to vehemently say that the bill is not only inimical to the principle of derivation but it is an explicit display of wickedness by the governor.
“Therefore, we will not fold our arms and watch Dr. Okowa take away our economic and political rights by politicising the 13 per cent derivation fund meant to develop our communities through DESOPADEC.”
They urged President Muhammadu Buhari to call Okowa to order and make the House of Assembly to halt proceedings on the bill.
The communities said this was the only way peace and uninterrupted oil and gas production could be guaranteed.
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