The Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, has spoken against “people” making “demeaning” remarks against President Muhammadu Buhari.
“There is no need for people to have the paraphernalia of security – you have the police, you have SSS, you have all (that). And those are the ones that help you to sleep in the night and then you come out to say that the presidency is deceiving people,” Mr Akpabio, in what looked like a veiled attack apparently targeted at the governors of the states that make up Nigeria’s Niger Delta region.
Mr Akpabio said in his speech at the inauguration of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) permanent office building in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Thursday, while he inaugurated the 13-floor storey building on behalf of Mr Buhari.
Apart from Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State, no governor from the NDDC operational states participated in the ceremony.
The minister, with a shaky voice, appeared apprehensive when he was delivering his speech.
“Without even the president, you can’t sleep (at night) even if you are a governor,” he said.
“Some of them have not asked themselves what have we done with the 13 per cent derivation, but yet they will open their mouth and talk about the presidency in very demeaning terms.
“I want Mr President to ignore those things.
“It is not outsiders that have destroyed this place; trillions have been sent (in) but nothing has been seen on ground,” Mr Akpabio said.
It is unclear who Mr Akpabio was referring to among the governors in the Niger Delta region.
Apart from Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, governors in the region rarely make critical remarks against Mr Buhari.
Mr Akpabio, in his speech, said past managements of the NDDC refused to connect to the public power supply, the commission’s rented office, for over 15 years, so they could give out contracts for the supply of diesel. “That became a different racket on its own,” he said.
Mr Akpabio thanked President Buhari for “the love he has for the Niger Delta region”.
“Mr President this is a monument that will stand to remember you in history, positively,” he said of the NDDC office building.
He appealed to the Niger Delta people to cooperate with Mr Buhari’s administration “for the region to move forward”.
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