A former Niger Delta militant leader, Eshanekpe Israel alias Akpodoro, has fired back at the leader of the defunct Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Asari Dokubo, after he accused President Bola Tinubu of betrayal, vowing not to support his re-election bid in 2027.
Asari, in a video message, accused the President of betraying him and the Ijaw people, claiming that he had emptied his bank accounts to campaign for him in 2023, only to be abandoned together with his people.
“I apologise to our fathers because they were not wrong in allying with the North, and as young men, we will now start that same alliance,” he said in the video.
“From today, I will work and form an alliance with the North. President Tinubu betrayed me after I spent all my money and emptied my bank account campaigning for him.”
But while reacting to the threat, Akpodoro, who doubles as the Mayor of Urhoboland, said Asari is free to form an alliance with whoever he wishes, noting that he is only an individual with his right to support anyone of his choice.
Akpodoro, while speaking with journalists in Abuja during a pro-2027 Coalition for President Tinubu’s re-election bid, said Asari should only speak for himself, declariing that the entire Niger Delta region stands with Chief Government Ekpemukpolo aka Tompolo, who is a strong ally of the President.
“The President Tinubu-led administration has been fair to all sections of the country in his bid to build an equitable political system including empowering the next generation of Nigerians to take the mantle of leadership when their time comes,” Akpodoro said.
“Tinubu’s government emerged through the collective efforts of the Nigerian people including Niger Deltans, who overwhelmingly voted for him at the polls and not the making of one man.
“It is mischievous for anyone to expect President Tinubu to patronise him at the detriment of the development and growth. He appointed a technocrat, Dr. Dennis Otuaro, as the Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP); the engine of the service in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is grinding non-stop.
“Those we trust in the region were appointed and more than ever before, our creek is experiencing peace as Tantita Security Services Nig Ltd, is waging relentless war on oil thieves thereby whittling down the power of criminals.”
Akpodoro insisted that the people of Niger Delta region are satisfied with the socio-economic evolution pervading the entire region in the form of human and material development under the current administration saying, the realities are far cries from the immediate past when the people were deep in poverty and despondency.
“Satisfying the voracious appetite of one man is not the standard for measuring the performance of the APC administration in the region,” he added, maintaining that, rather, the socio-economic and political well-being of the majority of the people as it concerns human empowerment and growth are the best indices for measuring the standard of governance in the region.
He added that come 2027, the people of Niger Delta would “massively and overwhelmingly vote for President Tinubu to enable him to complete his national reformative assignment.”