By Daniel Gumm

KOKO – THE Itsekiri Development Congress, IDC, yesterday, expressed concern over the way the Itsekiri people had been excluded in federal appointments. The congress said that Itsekiri’s contribution to the nation’s oil and gas sector cannot be over-emphasised.

In an open letter to the President by Emmanuel Okotie-Eboh, Chairman; Solomon Iwetan, Secretary; Hosanna  Jalogho-Williams, Public Relations Officer; and David Atikpekpe, General Coordinator, IDC said the Niger Delta Ministry  which is “supposed to embrace all the ethnic groups in the Niger Delta is now treating Itsekiri as if it was not the Ijaw and Itsekiri that are most contiguous in the Niger Delta and share same challenges.”

The group pointed out that the Niger Delta Ministry had been hijacked by a clique and was now anti-Itsekiri in programmes and projects implementation, in addition to antagonising the ethnic group.

IDC drew the President’s attention to the Niger Delta budget of a few years back, where infrastructural projects were only available in Ijawland, while Itsekiri had nothing.

The group added that the Ijaw “are not bad people but a few political jobbers seeking relevance are responsible for these irregularities that are meted out on the Itsekiri.”