WARRI—APEX Itsekiri youth body, Itsekiri National Youth Council, INYC, has flayed Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi, saying the statement credited to the one-time Minister of State for Education, on the visit of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo to the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Ikenwoli, was “typical of a man driven by ethnic bigotry against Itsekiri and a clear example of crass ignorance on the state of Nigeria’s economy.”

Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo (middle); Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa (left) and His Majesty Ogiame Ikenwoli the Olu of Warri, during the Vice President one day working visit to Delta State.

INYC, in a statement by its President, Esimaje Awani, described Olorogun Gbagi’s comment as “unfortunate, irritating, un-statemanly, cheap attention seeking and a confirmation of why Gbagi’s long time governorship aspiration had continued to record failures.”

The statement contended that that “Deltans will not allow a man who thinks that the state is solely owned by one ethnic group to govern them,” declaring that Gbagi’s statement that oil and gas would not dry up in the Niger Delta, but would be available for the next 100 years, “is either misleading to Niger Delta youths or a sign that Gbagi is ignorant of the fact that most of Nigeria’s current revenue are generated by FIRS, Customs and other agencies, with minimal percentage coming from the troubled oil as well as gas sector.”