The coastal oil-bearing Ibeno ethnic nationality in Akwa Ibom State and the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide have joined the rest of the world in mourning the late former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The late Nigerian leader was fondly described as “a friend of the Niger Delta.”
While condoling President Bola Tinubu, the Buhari’s family, the government and people of Katsina State and Nigeria at large over his passage , elders, youths, and stakeholders of Ibeno lamented the Buhari’s demise, saying his patriotic and detribalised disposition to national issues would be sorely missed.
The leaders, who spoke under the aegis of their socio-cultural association, Mpono Nnito Ibono Progressives Association (MNIPA), recalled that the former president’s interventionist regime, by approving the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), had contributed largely to dousing tension in the region.
The group’s spokesman, Chief Eshiet Okpo, extolled the deceased former president’s sterling qualities, describing him as a man who was hated for standing up for the truth.
Chief Okpo, who read the communique arising from their extraordinary meeting in Upenekang, headquarters of Ibeno local government area, at the weekend, pointed out that “the late President Buhari was a detribalised leader who hated injustice with zero tolerance for marginalisation.”
They noted that “his quest to address years of injustice against the people of the Niger Delta motivated him to push for the then PIA Bill through all the legislative processes and then gave his assent to become a law in 2021.”
“The PIA has brought fresh breath into the oil and gas industry and, most importantly, the host communities through the Host Communities Development Trust Fund (HCDTF).
“As one of the LGAs benefiting from the PIA, many life-touching projects and social empowerment schemes have come to the Niger-Delta, including Ibeno LGA.
“The administration under Buhari was serious in making the host communities of oil and gas companies have a stake in the wealth from their domain, devoid of any political sentiments or ethnic discrimination.
“Buhari was a friend of the Niger Delta, who believed the Goose, that lays the Golden Eggs, must be rewarded without any bias to language, culture, and locations.
“Late President Buhari was a true Nigerian leader and a patriot who understood the pains of Nigerians across the six geo-political zones. Despite his shortcomings as a human, he was committed to addressing the challenges of poverty, unemployment, and equity in resource distribution.
“Now that he has passed unto eternal glory, the people of Ibeno, Niger Delta and the entire Nigeria will remember him for those legacies,” the communique read in part.
The group, however, commended President Tinubu for renaming the University of Maiduguri after the late Buhari to immortalise him and praised the humane dispositions of some past Northern Nigerian leaders, who had variously touched the lives of marginalised Nigerians in the Delta region. The group recalls how these leaders have contributed to the transformation of the region and Ibeno in particular.
One such moment they recalled was the late General Sanni Abacha’s creation of Ibeno LGA, which thereby gave them an identity as a people. They prayed that such feelings of nationalism should also touch President Tinubu in their agitation for the creation of Obolo State to douse the long years of tension borne out of neglect and marginalisation.
In the same vein, the IYC worldwide expressed their condolences to the former first family and expressed solidarity with the Obolo people in their demand for a separate state, stating the need for more equitable distribution of resources and greater representation.
They prayed that God would continue to grant President Tinubu the courage to right the wrongs in the country.
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