Niger Delta group slams new NNPC boss

The oil monitoring group alleged that Baru is one of those that destroyed the NNPC, add that he does not mean well for the corporation.

NDIMRC said the new NNPC boss never liked the reforms initiated by the minister of state for petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu.

The group also condemned the removal of Kachikwu despite the work he has put in place to ensure that peace is restored in the Niger Delta region.

The President of NDIMRC, Nelly Emma, in a statement said “The whole world is our witness that we raised alarm in April this year that Baru was desperate to be the GMD of NNPC and was mounting pressure on the President to sack Kachikwu and now we have been vindicated.

“We are sad over the unfair treatment of Dr Kachikwu by the President. The former GMD was committed to the total reform of NNPC of which Baru was against. By the sacking of the hard-working Dr Kachikwu and replacing him with Baru, it is now clear to us as a group and the whole world that the President is not serious about his promise to turn NNPC around for the better.

“The appointment of Baru by the President is not in the best interest of the nation, but to satisfy the interest of the North. The removal of Dr Kachikwu at a most sensitive time, has raised concerns among stakeholders in the region that the administration of President Buhari has remained adamantly unresponsive to the accusations by the militants that some of the local oil firms exploiting the hydrocarbon resources in the Niger Delta region and polluting the environment belong to non-indigenes of the oil producing communities.

“Last April, our findings revealed that the Adviser On Gas to the GMD of NNPC, was behind a devilish rumour that Dr Kachikwu was sacked.”

The group alleged that some influential people from the North pressured President Buhari to appoint Baru.

They said it was unfair to remove Kachikwu at a time when he was working hard to restore peace to the Niger-Delta.

The group also recalled how he risked his life to visit Gbaramatu to see the militants, adding that the minister’s trip to the troubled Niger-Delta restored a degree of calm in the region.

NDIMRC also said “The President should have honoured Dr Kachikwu for his hard work. We must say that we are disappointed with the choice the President made for the NNPC. Can Dr Baru take a trip to the Niger Delta region? As the new GMD of NNPC, can he plead with rampaging militants in the Niger Delta region to give peace a chance and they will listen to him? The choice of Dr Baru as the man at the helm of affairs in NNPC by the President is not the best.

“As an oil monitoring group, we are highly disappointed that the President decided to at this crucial time leave the affairs of the NNPC in the hands of Dr Baru who helped to destroy the corporation. We are not impressed that President Buhari in his bid to satisfy Northern Nigeria with more juicy positions at the detriment of the oil producing people of the Niger Delta region left the affairs of NNPC in the hands of a desperate Dr Baru, who will only sit in the comfort of his office in Abuja without thinking about the pains the oil producing people of the Niger Delta region are passing through.”

Dr. Ibe Kachikwu is now the Chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) board.

A cross section of Nigerians have also condemned Buhari for appointing Baru as the new NNPC boss.

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