The Ovie of Idjerhe kingdom in Delta State, His Majesty Monday Whiskey, on Tuesday described the devastating flood that has killed over 600 people across the country as genocide against the people of Nigeria by the government of Cameroon.
The Ovie, who spoke to journalists in his palace at Jesse, urged the Federal Government to go back to the drawing board, discuss with the Cameroon Government or sue Cameroon in court to pay damages.
“This is a serious national disaster. I don’t see any reason why the Nigerian government should not sue the Cameroon government or individual states affected by the flooding should not sue the Cameroon government with over 600 deaths recorded in Nigeria communities with property worth billions and trillions of naira destroyed as a result of the heavy flooding.
“This is genocide. This is not flood, this is genocide. If the water is open to wipe away Nigerians and Nigeria, then we must as a country resist it,” he said.
The foremost traditional ruler, while expressing his anger over the failure of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the new minister of the commission to provide succour for the people of the Niger Delta region badly ravaged by the flood, lamented that “flood is ravaging everywhere in the Niger Delta, and the minister is busy staying in Abuja doing nothing”.
“The big question is what is he doing in Abuja. The ministry is called the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs. And so, he has no reason to stay in Abuja now. When the only East-West Road we are managing to ply has been washed off by heavy flooding. We want to know what his responsibility is in Abuja. What is the NDDC doing? The monarch queried.
According to him, “The minister and NDDC have failed our people. There is no reason to continue to have them remain in office and continue to allocate funds to them. This is the situation. We can no longer access Port- Harcourt City from Delta State because the road has been washed away by the flood.
“As I speak, over 16 kingdoms in Delta state and palaces have been taken over by flood. Royal fathers are relocating from Kingdoms and their palaces. And yet there is no headway or support from anywhere.
“Is it bags of rice and noodles that our people are going to depend on? Go to Patani and other communities, traditional palaces have been taken over.”
He also upbraided the Federal Government for not constituting the NDDC board three years after the would-be members had been screened by the senate.
Whiskey, added that over N700 billion had been allocated to the commission within the period under review without tangible projects on the ground, and appealed to the Federal Government to stop further allocation to the commission except for payment of staff salaries until the board is inaugurated.
On the issue of oil theft in the country, the traditional ruler described the phenomenon as “a collective crime”, adding “We are aware that the stealing of oil is coordinated by a cartel.”
While describing Government Ekpemukpolo, aka Tompolo as a “freedom fighter”, he called for collective action against the crime in order to shore up the country’s revenue, which he noted had been badly affected by the malady.
He, therefore, urged the Federal Government to stand by him in order to bring those in the oil theft cartel to book.
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