By Onoriode Etatsemi
Members Of Okpe Youth Council Worldwide have called on Senator Godswill Akpabio to tender an unreserved apology to the chairman of the Traditional Rulers of Oil and gas Minerals Producing Communities of Nigeria (TROMPCON) HRM Major General Felix Mujakperuo (rtd), the Orodje of Okpe kingdom for reportedly failing to recognise him when he, Akpabio, visited Tompolo in Gbaramatu kingdom.
In a press statement jointly signed by the president of Okpe Youth council, Comrade Israel Ejiro Otomewo, Comrade Amb . Samuel Okakuro Ekpo (National Secretary ) and Comrade Itorho Precious, (National Publicity Secretary), the youths said Senator Godswill Akpabio should, as a matter of urgency, apologise to the Orodje of Okpe kingdom and other Urhobo monarchs in the region for allegedly neglecting the monarchs when he landed at Osubi airport in Okpe kingdom.
According to the statement, the Okpe youths said: “the attention of Okpe Youth council worldwide, the apex youth body both at home and in the Diaspora, has been drawn to the high level of negligence meted on our highly revered monarch, the Orodje of Okpe kingdom and other Urhobo traditional rulers by Senator Godswill Akpabio.”
They explained further that when Senator Akpabio landed on their soil in Osubi airport and drove through Uvwie to the Nigerian Airport Authority in Warri and took a boat to visit Government Ekpemupolo aka Tompolo due to the seven day ultimatum given to the federal government to constitute a substantive administrative board in NDDC, met with OMOBA, the Itsekiri king awaiting coronation.
“We also recall that the Vice President of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo, neglected and abandoned Urhobo kings without apology in Petroleum Training Institute conference Hall in Effurun Delta state during an official tour to Niger Delta sometimes in 2019, but the Vice President Visited Gbaramatu Kingdom and the Olu of Warri.
“The current chairman of the Traditional Rulers of Oil Minerals Producing Communities of Nigeria (TROMPCON) is our very distinguished monarch, HRM Major General Felix Mujakperuo rtd, Orhue 1, the Orodje of Okpe kingdom. Senator Godswill Akpabio did not see any reason to visit him considering his office and and being a major stakeholder of NDDC in the region “
The statement added “Okpe kingdom has OML 38 and OML 41 oil blocks operated by SEPLAT Petroleum Development Company Ltd with a lot of oil wells under these blocks. We have oil and gas pipeline transversing major part of our kingdom. If this gross marginalization continues, we will be forced to shutdown oil companies in our kingdom.”
They advised Senator Akpabio to, “as a matter of urgency, retrace his steps and apologise to the Orodje of Okpe kingdom and other Urhobo monarchs in the region. The federal government of Nigeria should not take the peaceful nature of Okpe youths for granted. Failure to adhere to this warning will have devastating effect on the economy of this country, ” the youths warned.
