Niger Delta Group Backs Senator Akpabio, Warns Against Demonizing Minister
A youth group under the aegis of Niger Delta Youths Movement (NDYM) has said that it would resist any attempt to demonize the minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
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The group in a statement in Uyo signed by its national president and the secretary, Comrade Joe Jackson and Comrade Joshua Osamuiyi respectively, said they believe in the capacity of Akpabio to bring sanity to the NDDC.
NDYM stressed that Akpabio’s capability was evidenced in the quality road networks, Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Akwa Ibom State University, Ibom Hotels and Golf Resort, Ibom E-Library, free and compulsory education as well as regular grants to primary and secondary schools’ heads, Four-Point by Sheraton Hotel, among other remarkable achievements he recorded as a governor of Akwa Ibom State.
The statement reads in part, “The Niger Delta Youths Movement views the unjustified excoriation of the minister for Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, by some persons as undeserving and unpatriotic.
“The movement, in consultation with the leadership of other well-meaning organizations notes the campaign of calumny orchestrated by fifth columnists in the Niger Delta region and their collaborators outside the region.
“We, therefore, make bold to state that any attempt to demonize the minister of Niger Delta Affairs to cause a stampede and civil unrest in the region shall be stoutly resisted.
“NDYM is aware that President Buhari and indeed the Federal Government means well for our region and we are also aware that the task of repositioning the Niger Delta will not be a tea party and as a result has decided to throw our weight behind the effort of Senator Godswill Akpabio in clearing the cobweb of sleaze and slime from the NDDC through a forensic audit.
“As a responsible and reputable organization that actively participated in the formation of the NDDC and particularly requested for the creation of the Youth Directorate of the commission, we shall not fold our arms and watch its downward slide.
“Therefore, we salute the goodwill of our compatriots from other regions and urge all youth groups in the region too, as a matter of patriotism, support this laudable initiative of President Muhammadu Buhari and the minister for Niger Delta Affairs”
NDYM added that they support the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to give Akpabio the onerous task of supervising and repositioning the NDDC for aggressive development of the Niger Delta.
The group, however, urged the National Assembly committees investigating the NDDC to exhibit the highest level of patriotism in handling the probe irrespective of the alleged involvement of some of its members in the NDDC matter.
“It is pertinent to also seriously advise that the forensic audit team should be time conscious in doing a clinical job since the incoming board and management should not be burdened by the challenges of pursuing errant contractors whose documents may have been muddled up by a compromised system.
“We also use this opportunity to urge that the audit team should go the extra mile in setting a template for transparent financial operations of the commission going forward.
“We wish to reassure President Buhari and his government that the youth of the Niger Delta Region shall support and stand by all programmes, projects and policies geared towards the genuine development of the people and region.”
