Posted on: 05:34 Sat, 19 Mar 2016



Chief Ayiri Emami, chieftain of the All
Progressives Congress, APC, has said his
benefactor and former Delta state governor, Chief James Ibori, who is serving a jail term in the United Kingdom, would return home to Nigeria, not later than July.

Chief Emami, a confidant of Chief Ibori, Friday, in Warri said he plans to embark on a campaign to mobilise stakeholders and resources to bring lasting solution to the menace of vandalisation of oil facilities which he said was causing huge damage to the nation’s economy.

He said, “There have been speculations as to when Ibori would return, but I can confidently tell you that by June or at most July, he would return home to Nigeria and we all need him, especially in Delta to sanitise things again.

“If he were here, a lot of things would not have
happened. Ibori was one of those who
predicted that Goodluck Jonathan and the
People’s Democratic Party, PDP, would not win
the 2015 Presidential election. It was fear of
the unknown that made his brother, former
Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan to remain in
PDP. I listened to Ibori, I had to leave”
On content of his campaign to end pipeline
vandalism in the Niger Delta, Ayiri said, “Far
from applying force to shut out the vandals.

The whole idea is to ensure that the oil and
gas being taken from the region make meaning
in the lives of the host communities. We’ll not
achieve this if the vandalisation continues.

“The gas Nigeria produces supplies electricity
to several parts of the country, but the
communities from where it is being extracted
don’t have electricity. The crude oil from the
land is refined into fuel but there are no fuel
distribution outlets to serve riverine
communities so they perpetually buy from the
black market.

“People are shouting now about fuel scarcity
because of recent irregularity in importation,
but year in year out, coastal communities in
Niger Delta never get fuel at the normal pump
price. My campaign to be unfolded soon is to
ensure the adequate provision of infrastructure
and opportunities in the oil producing area so
that vandalism will stop”, Ayiri added.