A chieftain of the All Progressives
Congress and leader of the Itsekiri nation in Delta State, Dr. Alex
Ideh, has accused President Goodluck Jonathan, the presidential
candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, of failing the ethnic group.
The APC stalwart, in a statement made available to SUNDAY PUNCH
on Saturday, said people of the region and other geo-political zones in
the country would, therefore, cast their votes en masse for the APC
presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), in the election
scheduled for next week.
Ideh said the recent return of Buhari
from the United Kingdom had put an end to the lull in the political
space and served as a reassurance of the candidate’s ability to garner
Itsekiri votes for the APC in Delta State.
“The outcome of the election will affirm
the Itsekiri’s massive support for a Buhari presidency. Jonathan has
failed the Itsekiri people through denial of economic empowerment and
demonstration
of ethnic jingoism.
“The President, in November last year,
was supposed to have come to perform the groundbreaking of the $16bn
Export Processing Zone at Ogidigben, which is an Itsekiri community, but
refused to do so 48 hours to the event, because of protests from the
Ijaw community led by an ex-militant, Government Ekpemupolo (aka
Tompolo), who told the President that his security could not be
guaranteed if he dared to come.
“Nobody from the presidency thought it
fit to come and give any explanation. It is now that elections are
around the corner and the tempo seems to be favouring Buhari that the
President thought he could quickly come and visit Olu of Warri and give
explanations. We feel he is giving too much credence to ethnic
considerations because the instigated protest was coming from his
people,” he said.
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