President Muhammadu Buhari has been urged to appoint credible Niger Deltans to head the the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and the Presidential Amnesty Program (PAP).

Coordinator of Ijaws in Oil and Gas, Ebipams Johnny, also known as Aluta Bishop, said this will avert disruption of oil and gas operations as threatened recently, by several host communities in the oil-rich region.

He made the call in a statement on Saturday, noting that the happenings in the three Federal Government parastatals, calls for concern.

Johnny stated that since the commencement of the current administration, the people have been calling for the appointment of credible individuals who are products of the emancipation struggle, in order to drive development across the Niger Delta.

He alluded that the present office holders can be described as “political merchandise whose sole intention is to rubbish the efforts of our fallen and living heroes and aggrandize wealth for themselves in exchange for the development of the region”.

Speaking on the threats, the statement posited that the region is “sitting on a gun powder with the non-challant approach of the Presidency in appointing credible sons.


“These happenings may wade ways for another crisis in the region and we envisage one which may go beyond control like what is obtainable in the North Central and Eastern states where the activities of insurgents have crippled economy and social life.

“We can’t be fighting both corruption and Boko haram and be birthing another phase of unrest in the Niger Delta by erroneously appointing people whose actions and inactions will lead to chaos in the region.

“We want to call on President Buhari to do the needful in a bid to avert the threats and counter threats we have witnessed recently in the region by appointing credible men who can come out with a master plan to curb unrest and bring the needed developments in the region”.


Johnny in the statement, opined that among several qualified Niger Deltans to head the Amnesty programme is Chief Dennis Otuaro, who has “pedigree as a son of the struggle”.

Stressing that the corruption saga that has bedeviled the NDDC, has made “mockery of the region” and incited some of the threats on oil facilities, the statement added “we want to be in our oil platforms and rigs with some sense of security.”