By Kelechi-Esogwa-Amadi
The Founder/Life President of Pioneer Patriotic Parrot Youth Brigade, Dr Sokari Soberekon, has said that he decided not to participate in this year’s independence celebration because of the insensitivity of the Nigerian government to the plight of the Niger Delta people.
Speaking with TPCN in his office in Port Harcourt on Monday, 14thOctober, 2019, Dr Soberekon, who said he and his brigade had participated in Nigeria’s independence celebration since 1960, bemoaned the continued neglect of the Niger Delta by the federal government despite the fact that the region supplies the mineral resources that sustain the nation’s economy.
He said there is no sense in participating in the independence celebration when the Nigerian leaders have refused to give the people of Niger Delta and all other oil-producing states autonomy to control their resources.
Soberekon, known for his activism and popularly referred to as Senior Advocate of the Niger Delta (SAND), lamented that since oil was found in Oloibiri in old Rivers State (now Bayelsa) in 1956, no meaningful development has been witnessed in the place, adding that the federal government has abandoned the Niger Delta Region, leaving the people poor, hungry and marginalized.
He further lamented: “Citing Oil and Gas Museum in Oloibiri is not enough. It should be Gas Institute – Oil Drilling and Management Institute – instead of a museum, especially in Oguta in Imo State, which will bring about more employment and knowledge to Nigerians both born and unborn.
“Do Nigerian leaders have a conscience at all or is their conscience dead? Why can’t they give us independence or allow us to control our resources? I have been calling for the restructuring of Nigeria into six geo-political zones to correct all this injustice.
“The federal government is collecting our oil but they refuse to give us water to drink. All the water projects have been abandoned. We have plenty of rivers and seas but they are not drinkable because they are saltwater. Our people are forced to open boreholes in order to get water to drink and these boreholes will cause an earthquake in future.”
The Ijaw activist decried the poor transport system in Rivers State where he said there is no functional boat for the inland waterways, calling on the federal government to release the state’s boat it seized in 1976.
“Look at the inland waterways; there is no functional boat. A ferry boat bought by Diete-Spiff and named Ogina Bereton was seized by late Murtala Mohammed and renamed Rowan Yaro. It was luxurious for Rivers people. Buhari should return that boat.
Even the monorail, the government, through the former governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Amaechi, who is now the minister of transport, does not want to complete it. How can I be happy to participate in the independence celebration?
“I participated in the agitation for independence in Lagos with Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and others. And since independence in 1960, I have been participating in the celebration,” he said.
Rev Dr Soberekon condemned the frequent borrowing by the Buhari government to finance the nation’s budgets, arguing that it shows that the future of Niger Delta is bleak.
“If they did not develop the Niger Delta with the oil boom money which they used to develop other parts of Nigeria, is it the borrowed loan that they will use in developing the Niger Delta? The best thing is for them to give us independence or 50% tax-free oil derivation fund so that we can use it to develop our region,” he said.
Soberekon revealed that of all Nigerian leaders, only General Yakubu Gowon (Rtd.) gave his people a sense of belonging by creating 12 states including Rivers, followed by Alhaji Shehu Shagari who approved oil derivation fund when he confronted him in 1981 at the Civic Centre in Port Harcourt after former governor of Midwestern Region, Ambrose Ali failed to achieve same at the high, appeal and supreme courts.
He further explained: “Governor Ambrose Ali and Chief Obafemi Awolowo failed to achieve this in the court because the Nigerian leaders’ conscience was dead until God compelled Alhaji Shehu Shagari. Almighty God will compel President Buhari to restructure Nigeria and allow people of the six geopolitical zones to control their resources and pay tax to the federal government and that is true democracy. That is the only hope for the people of oil-producing areas in Nigeria.
“There is no need for anyone to carry arms like Major Jasper Isaac Adaka Boro and Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu and fail. We only need to pray. God will surely do something.”
