Francis Sadhere
THE principle of Resource control which the Niger Delta people have continued to agitate for would have yielded more positive results if the former Delta State Governor, Chief James Onanefe Ibori were around, says Chief Ayiri Emami.
Emami, a protégé of the former Delta State Governor expressed this view at the 56th birthday anniversary of Governor Ibori, hosted in Warri.
He said that the former Delta state governor, Chief James Onanefe Ibori, was a victim of circumstance in his ongoing travails in Britain.
Emami, who had earlier in the day led a peaceful protest to call for the immediate release of Ibori in Warri, noted that Delta state politics was totally transformed when Ibori arrived as governor in 1999.
According to him; “That’s why some of us stick out our head and time to say we will always celebrate him every day. James is not corrupt, but a victim of circumstance and when you are a victim of circumstance, a lot of things go on under the drain. The British government needs to show something, somebody must be used as the sacrificial lamb.
“We celebrate Ibori because of what he has done for Delta state from 1999 to 2003. He brought the vision of young men being in politics today.”
The Itsekiri Chief added; “James is not off the political scene, him being confined somewhere does not mean he’s off the scene, he gets in touch every day, we, members of his political family are here and that means he is around.”
“Niger Delta has not been able achieve more on the resource control front just because its main proponent, Chief James Onanefe Ibori, is not here now. If he had been around, we would have been able to record more success in that regard, especially at the ongoing confab”, he said.
