Uvwoh blames Niger Delta people for the region's woes

– Uvwoh expresses optimism in Buhari’s ability to deliver change

– The Niger Delta chieftain blames his people for their selfishness

– He described Jonathan as a weak president

Sandys Omadeli Uvwoh who is a Niger Delta chieftain has blamed people from the region for the cause of the problems it is encountering.

In an interview with Vanguard, the septuagenarian described the poor state of the region as self-inflicted.

He said: “We do share in the failure, in quite significant proportion. As far as I am concerned, we failed ourselves. Should I start with the Jonathan’s era because we had the most opportunity to make change then? Jonathan was a President of Nigeria, not a President of the South – South. I won’t say Jonathan was a failure as a Niger Deltan. Rather, it was a collective failure of the leaders who enthroned him.
“None of us during Jonathan’s era went to him to say this was what we needed in the best interest of Niger Delta and he refused. Rather, the political fathers, uncles, cousins and leaders were always going to him to make selfish demands which they got to the detriment of the common good. What they were impressing on him was, ‘this is my boy, give him appointment’. None has come up to say ‘we led a delegation to Jonathan and asked for this and that.”

Asked how those people benefitted from their selfish interest, Uvwoh said: “I will not mention names. Some of the people who are billionaires and what have you today were nothing back in the 80s, in early 90s. They were practically nothing, some could not pay their rent, some had no cars, but they became men of means during the Ijaw and Itsekiri crisis. They came claiming, ‘Jonathan was my class mate’, ‘Jonathan was my co-worker,’ ‘Jonathan was my colleague in the university’. Nobody went to him and say, ‘Look, you have to develop this region’. Their primary interest was themselves and that was not the failure of Jonathan. That is why I said Jonathan did not fail us, rather we failed ourselves.”

“If those with him never wanted the common good, how could he have succeeded? He supported existing structures and established other ones to make the task of changing Niger Delta achievable. He appointed his own brothers and charged them to drive the processes and made substantial funds available to them. What more could he have done?

“Do you think those uncles, brothers, friends, fathers, university mates and what have you, who helped him to fail, think of his era as failure as the ordinary Niger Deltan feel? They obviously don’t see any failure. They all had more than a handful. A man in such a state of mind wouldn’t term Jonathan a failure. They all succeeded in filling their pockets to the point of overflowing. Their personal successes were the failure of the larger Niger Delta.”

The author also commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his determiniation to bring change to the country. “No doubt about that. Development shouldn’t just be viewed in terms of physical development. You must instill sanity into the society. Where there is sanity, people now have conscience for physical development. The problem we are having is that we no longer have conscience. I have confidence in Buhari. I have not met him, but I believe he is committed to changing our ways of life. Anyone desirous of bringing positive change must change our ways of life. It cannot be business as usual.” The septuagenarian lashed out at Senators from the region who are only concerned about their own pockets rather than the development of the Niger Delta.

“They are worse than our past leaders. Tell me, since 1999, have they fought for anything for the Niger Delta that truly satisfied the common good? They struggle to be ministers, for Board chairmanship, NASS Committee on Niger Delta, NDCC, want to be this, want to be that, but the primary interest for all that struggle should have been how to appropriate the votes for the common good. At the end of the day, in the midst of huge provision budgetary provisions, no development gets to the people. Stagnation reigns, but their personal estates and vaults witness astonishing development.

“You then see people that never had the opportunity of buying a third hand vehicle; by the time they get there, they become something else. That is why I said our politicians and those of us local leaders failed the region. For instance, there was crisis in the Niger Delta where you had all categories of fighters fighting for purported liberation of the region. For want of how to settle this, people went for Amnesty, saying our sons and daughters should be paid, sent abroad and, in doing that, we forgot about the cause of the fight or struggle. The same people who struggled and personalized the Amnesty to fill their pockets are the loudest voices saying Amnesty failed. What benefit did that give us with all the billions provided?

“ Look at what happened with the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East. The people asked for a commission to be set up to develop the zone. They did not ask for amnesty, they did not ask for cash. They want the regeneration of the region because of the destruction they have suffered. You will now find out that the people have foresight. They know what they are doing because the leaders have concern for the common good.”