ESCRAVOS—GRADUATES in the Niger Delta region, under the auspices of Graduates Association of the Niger Delta, GAND, have described the alarm raised by the House of Representatives over the private jet saga involving the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke as a calculated attempt to kill the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB.
President of GAND, Mr Progress Omo-Agege, who spoke to newsmen during a protest at Escravos in Warri South-West Local Government Area, Delta State, said that rather than first publicly tell Nigerians their annual budgetary allocation, individual remuneration and allowances, members of the House of Representatives were accusing the Minister of Petroleum of profligacy because she “is one of the arrowheads working towards the passage of the PIB intended to ensure rapid development of the Niger Delta.”
He noted that the “activities of the House of Representatives have been fraught with inciting, unsubstantiated, spurious and politically motivated allegations targeted at further weakening the political relevance of Niger Delta people in this unholy marriage called Nigeria.”
He said that the scarcity of fuel across the country was a grand design by some business magnate “who could not pressurise our delectable minister in their failed bid to purchase oil blocs and some key members of the House of Representatives to discredit the Minister of Petroleum and implicate the President Goodluck Jonathan administration before Nigerians, particularly as the 2015 general elections draw closer.”
Stressing that the House’s allegation against Allison-Madueke was anti-Niger Delta, GAND said that the statement credited to Alhaji Usman Bugaje of the Northern Elders Forum that “crude oil in the Niger Delta is a property of the North” is a tirade against people of the Niger Delta, which will not augur well for the peace of the country.
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