Minister of and
Sports, Mr. Solomon Dalung, has been controversial since President Muhammadu
Buhari enlisted him in his cabinet, but what happened, Wednesday, last week,
took everybody by storm.
It was the Minister himself, who personally
released the bombshell. He said he visited Oporoza, the traditional
headquarters of Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri South-West Local Government Area,
Delta State and held an interactive session with Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, the
most dreaded militant group in the region, a feat the military and others have
not achieved since the beginning of their year. *Dalong My Oporoza visit-
Dalung He told a select group of journalists at the end of stakeholders’
meeting of the Southern Senatorial zone, Shendam, Plateau state that he
undertook a two-hour journey on the sea to Oporoza in Gbaramatu kingdom
where he met with the leadership of the NDA who gave him a sealed hand-written
letter to deliver to President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said, “On reaching
the community after the two-hour journey on the high sea, I met with the
members of the communities who told me that their dream was to be included in
the Nigerian project, that the education facilities and other basic social
amenities are almost non-existent in the communities. They also raised concern
of incessant attacks by the Nigerian military.”
The Minister said he
took the trip last Wednesday as part of federal government’s commitment to good
governance and his strong concern for the Nigerian youths, adding, “As a youth
minister, I know that the Avengers are mostly youths who have potentials to be
great citizens of this country.”
Dalung stated that after
meeting with the communities, the Niger Delta ambassadors escorted him to the
leadership of Avengers, who gave him a hand-written letter specifying their
demands, which he said he was yet to present to the President.
Although the Minister said
he did open the letter, he said the Avengers had raised three important issues
to him; “The issues include the Niger-Delta Maritime University, pipeline
community policing which they said the government had denied them, and the
inability of the government to continue with the amnesty programme established
by former President Umaru Musa Yarádua Yar’Adua.”
While speaking on the
level of degradation and poverty in the area, he said past administrations had
been unjust to the Niger-Delta communities, adding, “After going round some of
the communities, I noticed that government projects were almost non-existent. I
saw a secondary school signboard somewhere but the school is yet to be
developed, the community has a clinic but still at the foundation level and a
borehole that is not functional.”
Minister under fire
Dalung expected to get
kudos but he is under fire from higher quarters, which saw his visit as a
misadventure, but particularly from the people of Gbaramatu kingdom, who are
aghast that the minister allowed himself to be conned by swindlers and in the
process, painted the community in bad light.
What, however, is still
ambiguous was whether Dalung knew he was dealing with impostors or he had a
genuine mission, but did not know that those who brought him to Oporoza were
charlatans and that the person they made him to believe was Tompolo, whom he
allegedly spoke with on phone was not Government Ekpemupolo.
Dalung neither met
Avengers nor spoke with Tompolo – Tour facilitator Saturday Vanguard was able
to identify the youths that took Dalung on the contentious visit to Oporoza.
The leader of the team
is from Bayelsa state. One of them, who in fact accompanied the minister
on the visit, debunked media reports that the minister met with members of the
Niger Delta Avengers and spoke with ex-militant leader, Tompolo.
On media reports that
Dalung met with some members of the Niger Delta Avengers and spoke with Tompolo
on phone on his way to Oporoza, the source said: “There was no time during the
trip that Dalung spoke with anybody on the phone claiming to be Tompolo or had
a meeting with representatives of Niger Delta Avengers.
His words: “The claim that he met with members
of the Niger Delta Avengers was actually cooked up by the sponsors of such
report to enable them sell their papers. But the the letter
he was given was given to him by representatives of the community, who equally
demanded that that their children whom were arrested by the military be
released and academic activities at the Nigerian Maritime
University should commence as soon as possible.”
Dalung visited Oporoza
in company of three persons identified as James Brisibe, Jude Tabai and Ken
Gold.
The source asserted that
they did not plan to be fraudulent but the mission backfired the way Dalung
went back and spoke to the media. How we hatched plot Raising fears that they
have been receiving calls threatening them over their agenda on the trip, he
told Saturday Vanguard: “We have been receiving calls and threats from
individuals, including security personnel saying they would deal with us.”
Giving details of how
the visit was planned the source explained that Dalung had planned to visit
Oporoza in company of the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe
Kachikwu, who was tactically ousted from the trip over a likely
media hype that would accompany the visit owing to the personality of Kachikwu.
“Though Kachikwu was technically ejected from the trip, he insisted that his
(Dalung) police security should accompany us on the trip, but I insisted that
no single security official should follow us to Oporoza to ensure that the trip
is discreet as possible as can be.
“I personally called the
Minister on phone, introduced myself and told him of what we are facing as a
people. After the pleasantries that ensued, he invited us to come and see him
in his office.
“At his office, we
started talking about the challenges of the Niger Delta region; it was at this
point that he brought up the issues of the Niger Delta Avengers and among other
challenges troubling the region,” he disclosed.
His words: “After much
talk on what he has been doing to handle the issues of youth restiveness, he
confided in us that he would like to assist in finding ways to tackle the
attacks on oil installation in the Niger Delta region.”
“He said he was
interested in visiting Oporoza to witness and see the pains of the people of
the region. Some days later, he called us, fixed a date to include
Kachikwu on the trip, but we told him that if Kachukwu accompanied
us, the entire world would be aware of the visit even before we arrive and that
there was need for us to embark on the visit as private as possible,” one of
the facilitators said. He said:“They were the ones that
made arrangement for flight and boat to be used for the trip and that was how
we traveled to Oporoza where we met representatives of the community, including
chiefs and youths at the Oporoza community football field.”
$2, 000 to wedge
kola
Also debunking rumours
in some quarters that there was financial undertone to the visit, the source
said: “As I speak with you, we never benefited a dime from that visit. Even the
$2, 000 that the Minister had traveled with on that visit, he used it to wedge
kolanut and entertain representatives of the community, who had come out in
their numbers to welcome us.”
“The crux of this whole matter is that the
minister did not go to Oporoza to see Avengers, neither did he actually meet
anybody there claiming to be members of Avengers,” he added. What he
told us – Youth spokesperson Spokesperson of Oporoza Youths, Paul
Kirifade, who was in the community when the minister visited and actually
received him, told Saturday Vanguard that when the team got to the community,
the minister who had earlier introduced himself as a member of an NGO,
refused giving details of himself.
He simply said that he was a humanitarian that
came to felicitate with the people following the military invasion of the
community. “While addressing us, he told us that he heard of the military
invasion and the arrest of 10 innocent students, being a good person and a
humanitarian that once stayed in Escravos in 1994, he decided to wade into the
matter.
“He also promised us that we would henceforth
sleep with our two eyes closed as there would no longer be any form of military
invasion on our communities. He also said that he would eat the fishes used in
welcoming him with his two daughters aged four and 6 six years when he got back
home as the gifts were given to him with a pure heart.”
If Dalung thought he could get away with his
surreptitious visit to Oporoza and the slant he gave to it to please his
masters, he made a big blunder, as it has turned out to be a blunder on his
part and bad public relations for the government he serves.
Story full of lies
Oporoza leader, Mr. Piniki Azaiye, who seethed
with anger, said: “Some days ago, a newspaper carried a story of how the
Minister of Youths and Sports visited Oporoza in Gbaramatu to meet with the
Niger Delta Avengers and he was given a letter by them to personally give to
the President.”
“Lies are being told here. If it were that he
came to Gbaramatu on the instructions of the President, he would have
identified himself to the people at Oporoza and not only that, he
said he spoke to Tompolo on his way to Oporoza to see him there. How did he get
his mobile number, he should make it public because I need it too.” He said:
“The public should be
informed that since Oporoza was invaded, Tompolo has not
been seen in the community and his whereabouts are unknown
and if his coming was known by Tompolo, that he was coming to Oporoza, the
kingdom would have being so informed to receive him.”
“None of these happened. While he was
addressing the people, he refused to identify himself and when he was even
called Dalung, he did not respond to his name. What kind of a minister is
that. On the other hand, did the federal government send him on a
spy mission to establish that Avengers are living in Oporoza to come back and
destroy the town? Alternatively, what is he after that he is hiding from the
public as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? He is a shame to the
present Buhari regime.
How they fooled him
“He did not come to
Oporoza as a minister, but on his own personal ground. The jobbers, who assured
him that he would meet Tompolo one on one, took him to Oporoza to fulfill their
contracts with him.
“And they were adequately paid by the minister
to cover the cost of the private jet that took them to Warri and other
logistics to the creek and their professional fees,” he said.
“My happiness is that nothing happened to him
if not it would have being said that Tompolo invited him to kill him and the
military would use it as an excuse to bombard Gbaramatu kingdom again.
“Those that received
them said that one Jude Tabai led the minister on the private mission; this
said Jude Tabai should be questioned to unveil their mission to the creeks or
their connection with the Avengers? He said.
His words: “We beg them
in the name of God to stop calling Oporoza bad name in order to destroy it and
Avengers are not in Oporoza, the government should use their
intelligence to know who they are and where they stay in Nigeria and leave
Gbaramatu alone.”
Fraudsters swindled him
The militant group,
Avengers, were the first to slam Dalung on the alleged meeting with Avengers.
Their spokesperson, self-styled Brig Gen Mudoch Agbinibo, said:
“The Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon
Dalung narrated how he met
with some self-claimed Niger Delta Avengers in Oporoza, Gbaramatu Kingdom. We
are here to let the public know that Niger Delta fraudsters have
defrauded the Minister.”
“Niger Delta Avengers
cannot stoop so low to send representatives to meet with a common Minister of
Youth that does not know his work. Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung
has been defrauded and played by Niger Delta fraudsters.
“He did not have any meeting with us (Niger
Delta Avengers). Let us make this clear; any meeting with Niger Delta Avengers
that the International communities are not part to witness, we,
(Niger Delta Avengers) will not be part of any such dialogue,” Agbinibo added.
Impostors double-crossed
him
chairmen Spokesperson of Gbaramatu Communities
Chairmen Forum, Mr. Johnbull Demebi, in a statement, said: “It is
pertinent to state that to the best of our knowledge, we, the leadership of the
community did not receive the Hon. Minister of Youth and Sports, or any other
government official in Oporoza town last week.”
Insisting that to the best of
their knowledge, Mr. Dalung had not visited the community, Mr. Demebi said,
“The last government visitor to Oporoza community was the Acting Inspector
General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris.” He advised government functionaries and
VIPs “to be careful and mindful of persons they associate with, particularly
with the intention of visiting our communities, as some persons are out to make
money from top government functionaries and bring the name of the community to
disrepute.”
He added that Mr. Dalung
has been deceived by “mischievous persons and perhaps must have been swindled,”
suggesting that intending visitors to the community “should make proper
arrangement with the leadership of such communities to avoid any mishap in the
course of such journey.” Unholy claim The Foundation for Human Rights and
Anti-Corruption Crusade, FHRACC, also lambasted the minister over his comments.
The Diaspora
coordinator, Otuaro Jerry, asserted: The statement Solomon Dalung
made that he paid a visit to Oporoza town to have interactive session with
members of the Niger Delta Avengers is prodigiously contemptuous as same
is obviously laden with the characteristic of surreptitiously labeling the
peace-loving people of Gbaramatu kingdom as criminals.” “The claim, to say the
least, is without doubt a calculated attempt to call a dog a bad name so as to
kill it. We make bold to condemn in the strongest term this unholy and
unrighteous claim of the Honourable Minister. “The fact that the Honourable
Minister also claimed to have been invited by High Chief Government Ekpemupolo,
who, based on our investigation, was last seen in the kingdom more than four
months ago, to visit him at Oporoza, as a means to justifying his invasion of
the community, also lend credence to his malaise laden visit. “It is wicked,
atrocious and calamitous for the Honourable Minister to allow his esteem office
to be used by some unscrupulous and political jobbers to achieve their egoistic
and self-centered ends,” the group said.
FHRACC added: “It should
be on record that the Honourable Minister, who is known too well by all
well-informed Nigerians, and a host of other unidentified persons, including
some well-known political jobbers invaded Oporoza community without
pre-informing the leadership of the community of their planned visit.”
“Interestingly, a surprised and unplanned welcome of the strangers, who refused
to introduce themselves, was organized by people on ground upon acknowledging
the presence of the Honourable Minister, but all attempts to ascertain the
rationale for their visit was banished on the flimsy excuse anchored on
security reasons. “We see and condemn this unholy claim as it plays the role of
a travaux preparatoire for future military invasion orchestrated by those that
are head bent in wishing for a genocidal attack on the people of Gbaramatu,”
the group said
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