N-Delta group urges Egbema people to boycott Oborevwori's cabinet swearing-in ceremony over alleged marginalisation
Dele Ogunyemi, Warri
A Niger Delta group, the Egbema Unity Forum, has called on the Ijaw speaking Egbema people of Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State to boycott the state executive council swearing-in ceremony by Governor Sherrif Oborevwori over alleged marginalisation of the Ijaw ethnic nationality in the nomination and appointment of the Commissioner-nominees.
According to the group, "the two Commissioner-nominees from the Local Government Area are Itsekiris while the Egbema Ijaws are left with nothing to contend with in the State Cabinet".
This was contained in a statement jointly signed by Architect Joshua Lemigha and Mr. Tobou Tamaralayefa, the Chairman and Secretary respectively of the Egbema Unity Forum, copies of which were made available to journalists in Warri on Monday.
The ethnic group lamented that they have come to accept their "fate as people whose trust have been taken for granted" by successive governments in Delta State since the administration of Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, despite their contributions to the elections of the various governments in the State.
"Little did we know that there is a grand plot to keep the Egbema people under political subjugation now and in the future", they stated.
They alleged that "The Egbema votes are only good in increasing the voting strength of Warri North but the fruits thereafter are appropriated by the powerful Uduaghan's and the Micheal Diden's (a.k.a. Ejele) of the Itsekiri ethnic extraction".
The statement read partly, "Since the creation of Warri North Local Government Area in 1991 all consecutive Chairmen of Council have been Itsekiri until 2020, when a son of Egbema, Hon. Smart Asekutu, emerged Chairman 27 years after! It took years of gun battles and protests until 2020 when it pleased God to use former Gov Ifeanyi Okowa to correct the invidious political imbalance.
"Many may wonder how on earth a people with Four (4) Federal Wards as against their Six (6) Federal Wards would take 27 years before producing a Chairman. Did Egbema people simply sleep on their inalienable right?! Then, what of the Delta State House of Assembly? Has it not been perpetually taken by Itsekiri for 32 years running? They currently have the member representing Warri North Local Government Area, Hon. Fred Martins. By 2027, they would probably have had it for 35 years back-to-back!
"The Warri Federal Constituency has become their national heritage since the time of Chief Okotie-Eboh, in 1952. Today in 2023, 71 years after, that seat at the green chamber of tge National Assembly is firmly in their grips! 'America wonder', Nigerians may call it.
"Today, in 2023, the majority Ijaws are nowhere near the Government House, Asaba. Where is the equity in starting the "rotation" with a minority? The irony of all this is that, while Dr. Uduaghan uses his "majority" status to oppress a so-called minority in his local government, Warri North, he is a historic beneciary of majority benevolence in Delta! He left the party to contest for Senate in 2019 and lost. Today, he's back to the PDP and has his daughter as a Commissioner and member of State Executive Council against the justified wish of the Egbema people who have not had it for 32 years to the State EXCO except the six months brief period of Dr. Joel Bisina".
"Throughout the tenure of Dr. Uduaghan, he made it a state policy to ensure that the Egbema people never had a project that was worth a million naira. Nonetheless, he used our votes in Egbema to win the primaries, the general election and even the re-run. Our oil wealth sustained his government all through his years in office but what do we see today, what reward? Ingratitude.
"The plight of the Egbema people can best be described as the American Negro and the South African Apartheid era of relegation of black or Negroid race. When the blacks were asked, "When will the Negroes be satisfied?" The response by Martin Luther King Jr was, "The Negroes will never be satisfied until they are free.
"Consequently, we passionately appeal to our dear Egbema sons and daughters to boycott, stay away from any meeting called by these people, and also the swearing-in of the two commissioners from Warri North until such a time when political certainty and sanity return and the error corrected in the name justice".
Ends
