Ijaw National Congress (INC) on Tuesday commended Gov. Douye Diri of Bayelsa for his effort to recover the state government’s Oil Mining Licence (OML) 46 for the Atala oilfield, saying that the oil asset was controversially revoked, and re-allocated to a private firm.

The pan Ijaw socio-cultural group noted that the decision of Diri to engage President Muhammadu Buhari in a bid to reclaim the oil asset for the government and good people of Bayelsa was a step in the right direction.

The position of Ijaws on the development is contained in a statement issued on Tuesday by Prof Benjamin Okaba, the President of INC.

It noted that the governor’s October 5 meeting with Buhari in Abuja where he sought the president’s intervention to resolve the orchestrated controversy around OML 46, revoked in April 2020, was a demonstration of his leadership in the affairs and wellbeing of the Ijaw nation.

Okaba also applauded Diri for also seeking the Federal Government’s intervention in road infrastructure in the state and the need to adopt Bayelsa Medical University as a suitable institution and location for the South-South region in the proposed establishment of six new federal universities of medical sciences and biomedical technology in the country.

“We wish to, however, state that the broad daylight deployment of the instrumentality of state by some privileged persons to grab Atala oilfield from Bayelsa State has vindicated our incontrovertible position that the foundation of Nigeria is monumentally faulty and thrives on injustice and inequality, which requires surgical intervention by way of restructuring.

“We thank President Buhari for expressing his commitment to Governor Diri to urgently look into the OML 46 controversy, and urge him to ensure that it is resolved in favour of Bayelsa State because that is the right thing to do in the interest of peace, justice and equity.

“We also urge President Buhari not to be dissuaded by any contrary suggestions from any quarters to restore the oil asset to Bayelsa State,” the statement read in part.

Okaba further said that the INC equally applauds the Senate for dispassionately investigating the OML 46 saga and resolving that the oilfield be returned to its original owner.

“Findings, according to reports, by the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions that the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), formerly Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), could not show evidence that the President directed the re-allocation of Atala oilfield to a private firm is very instructive and revealing.

“It is much more instructive and revealing that the Committee also upbraided the NUPRC for flouting a presidential directive that the original owners of OML 46 be given the right of first refusal in the award of the oilfield,” Okaba said.

According to Okaba, the INC is in solidarity with Diri and his quest as a leader of Ijaw nation to pursue justice concerning the Atala oilfield through peaceful means to a logical conclusion for the benefit of Bayelsa and Ijaw people.

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