BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

PORT HARCOURT—SENATOR Magnus Abe has said that the failure of the Federal Government to implement the recommendations of the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, on Ogoni was why he decamped from  the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Senator Abe, who represents Rivers South-East senatorial district, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. He said that if the APC was voted in at the federal level in the 2015 elections, the party would implement the report.

He said: “About two years ago, Shell Petroleum Development Corporation told us during its annual general meeting in London that the $1 billion for the clean-up of Ogoni environment was ready and that what was left was for the government to move into action. I have met with the minister several times over the issue and Governor Rotimi Amaechi, who carried same to President Jonathan Jonathan, but nothing happened.

“Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who initiated the remediation move, is not from the Niger Delta. The late President Yar’Adua, who signed a Federal Government’s resolve to implement the outcome of the investigation is not from the Niger Delta, but someone, who is from the Niger Delta region has refused to implement the UNEP report.
“I cannot continue to belong to PDP, when those who are in-charge of the party have refused to attend to the needs of my people.”