[size=14pt]Militants protest Allison-Madueke’s choice for Oil ministry[/size]
Home | News | General | Militants protest Allison-Madueke’s choice for Oil ministry
Font size: Published 05/04/2010 00:30:00 The Nation


The umbrella organisation of Niger Delta militants, the Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC), has called on Acting President Goodluck Jonathan to drop a ministerial nominee from Bayelsa State, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, for alleged poor performance.
In an online statement by its spokesperson, Cynthia Whyte, JRC said it would no longer allow persons who do not understand the pains of the people of the Ijaw and Niger Delta to share in the gains.

To the group, Mrs Allison-Madueke parades a resume that impressed the acting President, but the people of Niger Delta are yet to see how she used her role in government and the private sector (Shell Petroleum Development Company) to improve the quality of lives of the people of Bayelsa State and Niger Delta.
It said: "Government is about representation and if those who claim to represent the interest and aspirations of their people fall short of their mandate, then they should be removed immediately.

"The struggle for the liberation of the Niger Delta is driven by the clamour of local people of the Niger Delta in their collective desire to access a better life.
"Mrs Diezani Allison-Madueke is elitist, out-of-touch and of no value to our people and our aspirations. For too long, she has been holed in the protectionist environment of imperialist Shell. She is a product of that imperialist mindset that for decades has driven Shell to exploit and pollute our environment and divide our people without just recompense.

"How many Bayelsans and Niger Deltans has she encouraged to pursue a Harvard education? How much value did Mrs Allison-Madueke bring to the Niger Delta when she was Executive Director at Shell? Was she not a defender of Shell and its hypocritical processes? Did she not defend Shell in its poor showing at Corporate Social Responsibility?

"As Minister of Transport, how many roads did she bring to the Niger Delta and her own Bayelsa State? How can such a woman be recommended to represent the people of Bayelsa State and the Niger Delta at the Federal Cabinet?

"How has her performance in the past brought joy and pride to the people of Bayelsa State? Her only value is that she is a friend to Acting President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, and that is not enough."


JRC further stated that Mrs Allison-Madueke’s continued inclusion was suggestive of the fact that Jonathan wanted to undermine the people of the Ijaw and Niger Delta territory and the fact that he rose to that position as a result of the sustained agitation of the people of the region.
It noted that politics and representation were about the transmission of prosperity, opportunity and human achievement, which the group said the ministerial nominee fell short of.


"We will watch the process and we will not be taken for granted. If Goodluck Jonathan does not do the right thing, then we will do the wrong thing. She may turn out to be the reason for an ethnic and regional-based rejection of the Goodluck Jonathan regime," declared the militants.


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