Crisis brews in Delta over plans to dissolve DESOPADEC board

Crisis is currently brewing in Delta State over alleged plans by the state House of Assemble to dissolve the board of the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commissions.
A group, Delta Oil and Gas Stakeholders Group, disclosed this in an exclusive chat with The Point in Warri, Delta State.
According to the President of the group, Dr. Tagbiretse John, barely two months after it exposed the ‘systematic killing’ of DESOPADEC by the powers-that-be in the state, it had once again been forced to raise the alarm over alleged plot by the Delta State House of Assembly’s Committee on DESOPADEC, led by Hon. Dennis Omovie, to plunge the state into an avoidable crisis through the dissolution of the extant board of the commission.
The group, therefore, called on President Muhammadu Buhari, the National Assembly and Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to be on the alert about the alleged plans to plunge the state into yet another avoidable crisis allegedly being orchestrated by the Assembly’s Committee on DESOPADEC. John said, “As respected stakeholders and leaders of oil-bearing communities in Delta State, who feel the pulse of our people, we know that this is a very wrong move that would be very costly. We are, therefore, using this medium to warn against any act capable of jeopardising the fragile peace in the areas.
“This warning is necessary because of the tension that this plan is generating in the oil-bearing communities. This is the first time that the DESOPADEC Board has comprised of reputable and known stakeholders in the oil and gas bearing communities in the state and it will be counterproductive for politicians to upset the apple cart because of their greed and selfish interests.”
The group further said that amidst the growing calls for the review of the allegedly dubious 2016 DESOPADEC budget, it was also aware that there was the need for re-evaluation of the distribution of the ‘so-called’ Centralised Projects along production quantum line.
It said, “We are reliably informed that these sets of persons have infiltrated the oil-bearing communities and groups, including the Host Communities of Oil and Gas. Some persons have been induced to carry out protests to demand for the dissolution of the DESOPADEC board in order to pave the way for the appointment of surrogates and stooges, who would then facilitate the passage of their alien projects in the budget. This move by these elements is not only selfish and condemnable; it is dangerous and capable of unleashing an ill wind that would blow no one any good in the state.