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| Isoko Equity Group in a Press Conference at Abuja demanding for a Ministerial Appointment |
... Says Isoko has been unjustly marginalized by successive federal governments in terms of political appointments and infrastructure development.
In continuation of its agitation for a ministerial appointee from the Isoko ethnic group in the second tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari, the Isoko Equity Group, IEG, through its Convener, Silas Buowe has corrected the erroneous impression that Isoko has/is part of the Urhobo ethnic group.
Buowe stated this while responding to Journalists during a press conference today in Abuja, adding that Isoko people are only neighbours to the Urhobos but never shared the same ancestral affinity.
"Outside a mere political arrangement that brought both Isoko and Urhobo together years ago, there is no ancestral affinity that made Isoko part of Urhobo ethnic group. They are our neighbours and we have very good relationships as ethnic neighbours. Isoko has been and will continue to be a distinct ethnic group with origin traceable to Igbo, Bini and Benin Republic. There is never a time that the Isoko were either conquered by the Urhobos or traditionally part of Urhobo ethnic group and broke out as it is erroneously insinuated", Buowe said.
The group that is demanding for a ministerial appointment for the Isoko people, also said that of the ten Ministers that Delta State has produced since the return of Democracy in 1999, none of them was from the Isoko ethnic group, which is one of the five major ethnic groups in Delta State. It stated that outside being supportive to the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari since 2015, there seems to be a breach of the Constitution of Nigeria, which gave credence to federal character in political appointments.
"We are a grossly marginalised people by successive federal government administrations in Nigeria in area of infrastructure but particularly in the distribution of political appointments.
"Today, we have oil flowing to the national coffers from 8 oil fields and flow stations. Isoko is the largest onshore oil producing area in the Niger Delta area with its obvious ecological problems.
"From 1999 to date, out of a total of 10 Ministers so far appointed from Delta State, no one is from Isoko. While many ethnic groups in the Niger Delta believe in violence, we the Isoko people believe in constructive engagement and negotiation", the group said.
IEG also stated that it has confidence in President Muhammadu Buhari that he will correct the years of unjust treatment of the Isoko people because he is a man that is averse to injustice.
"We are emboldened to seek the intervention of Mr. President because we are confident that he is averse to injustice. We are therefore confident that our plight will be addressed by him.
"We are therefore here to call on President Muhammadu Buhari, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to look the way of the people of Isoko land by appointing the next cabinet Minister to represent Delta State from Isokoland."
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