Former agitators within the Niger Delta region are gearing up for a massive protest over the deplorable state of the East-West road and how it alludes to their marginalization at the national level.
They posit that the road project had been abandoned, despite that it led to critical national infrastructure like the Port Harcourt Refinery, the Onne port, and Indorama Eleme Petrochemical Ltd, etc.
Osaanya Osaanya, one of the leaders of the repentant militants, in a statement issued in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, said they would mobilize for what he termed the mother of all protests, to express their anger over the neglect and marginalization they’ve suffered as evidenced by abandonment of the road by the government.
Osaanya further said the protests would last for days and the youths in the region had agreed to join the protest, which would compel the Federal Government to immediately fix the road.
He described the road as a death knell, adding that commuters and drivers spent days at a particularly deplorable section of the road before getting to their destinations.
Osaanya said trucks and other vehicles were repeatedly trapped on the road between Bayelsa and Rivers states and wondered why the Federal Government, through the Minister of Works, David Umahi, was looking the other way.
He stated that “the problem we are facing on the East-West Road is caused by the Minister of Works.”
“How on God’s green earth will David Umahi carve out the most disturbing spot that needs urgent attention to a sub-standard contractor?
“Or is the Minister intentionally suffering and sabotaging the people of the Niger Delta? We will bring the protest to the doorstep of the Minister and the President so that they will know what we are going through.”
Osaanya called on all the relevant groups and leaders of the Niger Delta such as the former President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, the Ijaw Youth Council, the Ijaw National Congress, the Ijaw Elders Forum, and the Movement for the Survival of Ijaw Ethnic Nationality to join the protest.
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He further urged Ijaw leader and elder statesman, Edwin Clark; the Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, who he said had started the protest, as well as former Governor Seriake Dickson and Rivers State Governor, Siminialayi Fubara, to identify with the demonstration.
“We can’t continue to live like this as a people. This is the major road connecting all of us in the Niger Delta, where the bulk of the resources used in constructing mega roads in other parts of the country come from.
“Why should we always be on our knees to beg for what we rightly deserve? He asked.
It remains to be seen how things progress from here on out.
