Traditional rulers of oil host communities in Ekeremor Council of Bayelsa State have accused the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, of turning the state’s slots for federal appointments into his family business.
This followed the quest for the next Chairman and Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in the soon to be constituted board and management.
They accused him of being behind the lopsided appointments into the boards of federal agencies and ministries, stating that he had given almost all federal appointments to his kinsmen.
In a letter signed by paramount ruler of Koromotoru Kingdom, Perekebina Alfred, paramount ruler of Peretorugbene, Chief Alexander Daunemighan and seven other traditional rulers, they said although Ekeremor has more oil wells than Nembe, Sylva had sidelined them for his Nembe kinsmen.
They urged the minister to support an Ekeremor indigene, Denyanbofa Dimaro, for the Managing Director of NDDC to balance the irregularities he had created.
They said Dimaro is a trusted All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain and his emergence as MD of NDDC would open doors for more people to join the party and secure its victory in future elections.
“As Minister of Petroleum, Sylva controls the Nigerian Content Monitoring and Development Board (NCDMB), the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas with his kinsmen, Simbi Wabote and Edmund Daukoru, as Executive Secretary and Chairman and it will only be logical, if he supports our son to balance the equation.
“By his action, Bayelsa West Senatorial District, comprising Ekeremor and Sagbama councils are unfairly treated. Ekeremor Council is a major oil and gas producing area, besides giving substantial votes to the APC in the 2015 and 2019 elections that gave it victory,” the letter reads.
They solicited President Muhammadu Buhari’s assistance to consider appointing the substantive Managing Director of NDDC to someone from communities in Ekeremor Council, adding: “In our opinion, the polity and the region is already overheated and anything that will cause further agitations should be avoided.”
BESIDES, the Niger Delta Oil and Gas Producing Communities (NDOGPC) also accused Sylva of delaying the constitution of a substantive board of the NDDC.
In a statement issued by its National Coordinator, Chief Preye Olomu, the group stated that Sylva’s interest in nominating Maxwell Okoh from his Bayelsa East Senatorial District, which already has majority of the federal appointments, was causing disaffection in the Bayelsa West District.
It faulted the situation in which Bayelsa West had been shortchanged due to Sylva’s ethnic bias in spite of their commitment and contributions to the APC.
While commending the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio for his choice of an Ekeremor indigene from Peretorugbene in the person of Denyanbofa Dimaro for the Managing Director in the new board, Olomu hinted that Sylva had nominated other federal appointees without ceding any position to Bayelsa West District.
