By Emeka Nwokocha
Political advocacy group under the aegis of Urhobo Youth Democratic Movement (UYDM), has relaxed its earlier 7-day ultimatum to the Nigerian Government to inaugurate a substantive NDDC board to restart infrastructural development of the Niger Delta region.
Disclosing this to Journalists on Saturday 5 June, after an emergency meeting held by UYDM in Effurun, National Coordinator of UYDM, Deacon Monday Enudi, said, “having listened to the wise counsels of our traditional rulers, and elders, we have decided to relax the 7-day ultimatum we gave to the Nigerian government to inaugurate a substantive board of NDDC to progressively pilot the affairs of the interventionist agency.
By this decision, we are extending the ultimatum to 30 days, and urge President Muhammadu Buhari, and the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio to constitute and inaugurate a substantive board to achieve the objectives for which the NDDC was created.”
Continuing, Deacon Monday said: “We are calling on Mr. President, and Senator Godswill Akpabio to thread the path of wisdom by inaugurating the hitherto screaned 15- man NDDC board led by Dr. Pius Odudu (Chairman) and Chief Bernard Okumagba (Managing Director), to pilot the affairs of the interventionist agency, stressing that the Urhobo nation deserve a fair treatment in the constitution of a new NDDC board.
“We are very concerned about fair treatment of Urhobo nation in the composition of the incoming management team of NDDC. This is the reason we are passionately requesting that the office of the Managing Director of NDDC should be given to Urhobo,” he stated.
Reacting on IPOB’s activities in recent times, Deacon Enudi said, “UYDM uses this forum to warn the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafran (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu to desist from including the Urhobo nation in the purported map of Biafran. We seriously frown at the overzealous posturing of IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, and unequivocally state that we are not part of Biafran or IPOB.”
Deacon Enudi continues, “from all indications, no IPOB leadership has consulted the Urhobos before bringing us into the Biafran map. We regard that action as an affront to us. We therefore reject and resist every ploy by Biafra and IPOB to bring Urhobo nation into their map. We want to reiterate that we are not Biafrans, we are in Mid-western region and we remain Niger Delta people, that is our position and we strictly stand by it,” Enudi stated.
