14 July 2015, Warri – Urhobo youths, under the auspices of Urhobo Youths Alliance for Equity and Justice, UYAFEJ, have urged Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, to withdraw the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC Amendment Bill until all ‘gazetted’ ethnic nationalities in the state have taken their turn to occupy the commission’s chairmanship position.
They also advised members of the Delta State House of Assembly of Urhobo extraction to dissociate themselves from the bill, which they alleged was to deny the ethnic nationality of its right to take a shot at the chairmanship position of the commission.
Reacting to the bill sponsored the governor, spokesman of the group, Mr. Emmanuel Skido, argued that the law establishing DESOPADEC provided for rotational chairmanship of the commission among the five ethnic nationalities of Ijaw, Itsekiri, Urhobo, Isoko, and Ndokwa that were gazetted.
He said: “The Ijaw and Itsekiri ethnic nationalities have taken their turns as Chairman of DESOPADEC with all the benefits attached; so, after waiting patiently for years, it is now the turn of Urhobo to occupy the chairmanship seat for a full tenure as stipulated by the law establishing DESOPADEC in 2006 as amended in 2010; but the Delta State Government is sending series of bills to the Delta State House of Assembly in the name of restructuring the commission just to deprive Urhobo ethnic nationality of occupying the position and the Urhobo youths in UYAFEJ are saying ‘no, to this.”
– Vanguard