The Mayor of Urhoboland, Eshanekpe Israel a.k.a Akpodoro, has told Asari Dokubo, leader of the defunct Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF), to feel free to form alliance with whoever he wishes saying Dokubo, as an individual, has the franchise to support anyone of his choice.
The Mayor spoke to journalists over the weekend in Abuja, where a pro 2027 Coalition for President Tinubu’s re-election bid formed the nucleus of the roundtable conference.
He added that Alhaji Asari is a respected personality among his peers and should also speak for himself saying the entire Niger Delta region is firmly under the whims of the Chief Government Ekpemukpolo a.k.a Tomopolo otherwise known as the ‘GOC.’
Akpodoro noted that the people of Niger Delta region are satisfied with the socio-economic evolution pervading the entire region in the form of human and material development under the current administration.
He said the current realities are far cries from the immediate past when the people were deep in poverty and now being exited from hopelessness and despondency.
He noted that satisfying the voracious appetite of one man’s greed is not the standard for measuring the performance of the APC administration in the region saying, rather, the socio-economic and political wellbeing of the majority of the people as it concerns human empowerment and growth are the best indices for measuring the standard of governance in the region.
Tinubu’s government, the Mayor noted, emerged through the collective efforts of the Nigerian people including Niger Deltans who overwhelmingly voted for him at the polls and not the making of one man who has found occupation in blackmailing the current administration due to avoidable flippancy and lust for money.
Akpodoro further stated that, again, and more than it was in 2023, the people of Niger Delta would massively and overwhelmingly vote for President Tinubu to enable him complete his national reformative assignment.
The President Tinubu-led administration, Akpodoro noted, has been fair to all sections of the country in his bid to build an equitable political system including empowering the next generation of Nigerians to take the mantle of leadeship when their time comes.
Akpodoro stated that the people of the region shall queue behind the President come 2027 based on his numerous achievements in all national economic fronts including the surge in the foreign exchange reserve which he said has risen to $39.07billion according to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso as of September 2024.
He added that the President as at the moment is working on returning democracy to the people by working towards practicable and independent local government administration.
“Perharps, my brother, Dokubo wants me to school him in the art of governance. No government services the interest of one man, and nobody can single-handedly lay claims to the emergence of President Tinubu as the president.
“Our support was built on his track records, competence, achievements – socio-economic political and economic, his giant strides are milestones achieved based on his power of accurate thoughts and judgement.
“For instance, the removal of the twin – handles of corruption; the removal of subsidy and the floating of the Nigeria currency was an action no president in the history of the country had the political will to take. But if not for Tinubu, Nigeria would have collapsed by now.
“It is, however, mischievous for anyone to expect President Tinubu to patronise him at the detriment of the development and growth of the Niger Delta. He appointed a technocrat, Dr. Dennis Otuaro, as the Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, the engine of the service in the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC is grinding non stop.
“Those we trusted believe in the region were appointed and more than ever before, our creek is experiencing peace as Tantita Security Services Nig LTD, is waging unrelentless war against oil thieves thereby whittling down the power of criminals,” Mayor Akpodoro said.
He called on Dokubo to wait for 2027 to align with whoever he wishes while the rest of the Niger Delta file behind President Tinubu, a southerner and the one with the midas touch for a new Nigeria where gunrunners would have no place to breathe.