Six governors of South-South and Niger Delta leaders under the aegis of Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) have emerged from an emergency meeting held in Asaba, Delta State over the plan to site a $2billion refinery in Katsina, an idea they roundly condemned, describing it as highly provocative and cheating to the people of the Niger Delta region.
In a communique read by the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Emmanuel Udom, the governors and leaders of Niger Delta accused President Muhammadu Buhari of implementing northern agenda to the detriment of other parts of the country, especially Niger Delta.
They said Buhari quickly pushed for the establishment of North-East Development Commission to rebuild North-East that was destroyed by disgruntled terrorists from the same region for no reason, but he chose to play politics with the cleaning of Ogoni that was degraded by Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria for the enrichment of the Federal Government.
They said Buhari’s government has wasted billions of dollars from Niger Delta’s oil and gas resources on the search for oil in the North while neglecting the gas city project started by former President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan in Delta State.
They also accused Buhari of leaving sea ports in the Niger Delta in a state of comatose, but has invested billions of dollars in the completion of Baro inland water port in the North to be commissioned sometime this month.
According to the communique, “the idea of building a refinery in Katsina State is not acceptable to the people of Niger Delta because there are several better places to site such monumental project in the region where the oil is being produced”.
They expressed concern that, it was a son of the region who crippled the most viable state in the region just to sponsor a man that was now marginalizing the region.
The South-South governors and PANDEF leaders unequivocally backed out of the ceasefire agreement between the militant group, Avengers and the Federal Government that they were instrumental to, and warned that Buhari should be held responsible if hostility and attacks on oil facilities resume in Niger Delta because he has shown clearly that he was an enemy of the region.
They further called Buhari ‘president of the North’, who asked the World Bank to focus development only on the North.
“We can’t believe that leaders of my region have still not reacted strongly to the $2billion Katsina Refinery plan, while Port Harcourt and Warri refineries are completely down. This is really sickening,” the leaders said.