By Emma Amaize

WARRI—CENTRE  for the Vulnerable and Underprivileged, CENTREP, a rights group in Delta State, has cautioned the Federal Government to be cautious of those it called Niger Delta merchants masquerading as leaders of the region.

The group, in a statement by the Executive Director, Oghenejabor Ikimi, said: “We note with total dismay the fact that many of the persons, who paraded themselves as leaders of the Niger Delta region during the visit of the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, actually live in big cities of Warri, Yenagoa, Port Harcourt, Lagos and Abuja, and not in the creeks of the Niger Delta, and as such do not feel the pains of the people living in the creeks.

“Some had served in interventionist bodies like the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, yet they could not positively affect the lives of the people living in the creeks in Delta State. Again, some had served in successive governments in the state, which within May 29th, 1999 till date had received trillions of naira as derivation funds meant to develop the Niger Delta,    but same remains massively underdeveloped, courtesy of these Niger Delta “merchants, “who have reaped millions and billions of naira from the volatile region.”