The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has cautioned the Niger State Governor, Umaru Bago, over his threat to shut down the hydro dams in the state, supplying water and hydrocarbon exchange to the country if the Federal Government failed to start paying 13percent derivation to the state as being done to oil-producing states in the country.
Governor Bago made the demand when he received the Federal Commissioner of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), Tijani Aliyu, in Minna on Monday, maintaining that Niger State deserved to be paid about N1 trillion in compensation for the hydrocarbon exchange being consumed from the state to the Delta region.
According to him, his people in Niger State are ravaged and displaced year in, year out because of the flow of water from the Niger to the Delta, saying that they had woken up and could never ever tolerate being neglected or abandoned again, just as he vowed that the “only way we can ensure that the Federal Government needs to us is to shut down the hydro dams unless we are paid.”
CUPP in its reaction to the threat observed that Bago was going about the whole issue in a very counterproductive manner, saying that one could only achieve such demands by negotiation, consultation and communication, not by threats.
National Co-Spokesperson of the Coalition, Comrade Mark Adebayo, who spoke with our correspondent, said it amounted to overreaching himself for the governor to have threatened to shut down the hydro through the use of “power that is not constitutionally guaranteed him,” pointing out clearly that the Federal Government won’t take that from any state.
“Number one, the governor is going about the whole issue in a very counterproductive manner. You can only achieve such demands by negotiation, consultation and communication, not by threats.
“For the governor to threaten to shut down the hydro dams is like overreaching himself to use the force of power that is not constitutionally guaranteed to him. The Federal Government won’t take that from any state,” he said.
This was just as he quickly recalled that former President Olusegun Obasanjo as sitting president between 1999 and 2007 never allowed the Niger Delta militants to try shutting down oil production as they were met with devastating national military power, warning that the governor should tread carefully and apply a diplomatic approach in the interest of his people rather than provoke the Federal Government.
“Even when the Niger Delta militants tried shutting down oil production during Obasanjo’s presidency they were met with devastating national military power.
“The Governor should tread carefully and apply a diplomatic approach in the interest of his people rather than provoke the central government. Negotiation, not confrontation will get it done,” he said.
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
