President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday said the ground-breaking ceremony for the Gas Revolution Industrial Park at Ogidigben in the Warri South West Local Government Area earlier slated for last Friday was postponed to allow for dialogue among warring stakeholders.
He said the decision was not an anti-Itsekiri agenda on his part as being alleged by some stakeholders.
It would be recalled that the project, which was due for commissioning by the president last Friday, was aborted following severe threats by ex-Niger Delta militant, Chief Government Ekpemupolo aka Tompolo and other Ijaw indigenes.
While the Itsekiri leaders called the president a coward and demanded his resignation and that of the State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, Tompolo kidnapped 14 journalists in furtherance of the protests by Ijaws. He has since freed the journalists.
But speaking through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity on Monday, Dr. Reuben Abati, the president regretted that elders, community leaders and parties to the dispute have resorted to threats and accusations of partisanship against him in press conferences and paid adverts in newspapers.
Abati said the president was saddened by the unwarranted accusations of nepotism and partisanship that have been made against him in the wake of the postponement.
Contrary to the accusations, the statement said President Jonathan looked forward to performing the ground-breaking very soon in conditions of communal peace, unity and harmony.
The statement read, “President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has noted with regret the very unnecessary controversy and acrimony that has arisen over the postponement of the ground-breaking ceremony for the Gas Revolution Industrial Park at Ogidigben in the Warri South West Local Government Area.
“President Jonathan is deeply saddened by the very unjust, uncharitable and unwarranted accusations of nepotism and partisanship that have been made against him in the wake of the postponement.
“The President is particularly dismayed by the unseemly resort to the abusive denigration of his personal integrity and the whipping up of divisive ethnic sentiments by parties to the totally needless communal disagreement that resulted in the decision to reschedule the ground-breaking event.
“It should be apparent to all Nigerians by now that while President Jonathan may be affiliated to the Ijaw ethnic group by birth, he knows fully well that he was elected President of all Nigerians and has always shown by word and deed that he will always uphold the oath he swore on assumption of office to protect and promote the interests of all citizens with justice, equity and fairness to all as his guiding principles.
“The elders, community leaders and parties to the dispute over the location and ground-breaking event for the Gas Industrial Revolution Park who have resorted to threats and accusations of partisanship against the President in press conferences and paid adverts in newspapers are therefore being most unfair to him and doing a great disservice to continuing efforts to forge greater national unity and peaceful coexistence of all Nigerians”.
Abati assured all concerned persons that as the leader of the nation, the president cannot be on the side of any party to the avoidable dispute over the location and ownership of the site of the park.
He said the project itself was conceived for the benefit of all Nigerians and not just Itsekiris, Ijaws, Urhobos or other ethnic groups where the park is sited.
