Ex-Army Provost Marshal Elected Chairman of PANDEF

Former Provost Marshal of the Nigerian Army, Brig-General Idada Ikponmwen (rtd), was at the weekend elected the Edo State Chairman of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF).

Conducting the election, a member of the National Electoral Commission of PANDEF, Dr. Osasu Isibor, said Ikponmwen emerged through a consensus, adding that the three positions zoned to Edo State which include the National Chairman of the Advisory Council, Organising Secretary and the Woman Leader of PANDEF were also elected, and they would be sworn in at the national convention of the PANDEF in Warri, Delta State.

In his acceptance speech, Ikponmwen, while expressing his gratitude to the members for electing him, pointed out that contrary to insinuations in some quarters, PANDEF is not an opposition to the federal government, saying the objective of the forum is nothing political but to protect the interest of the people of the Niger Delta.

According to him, "Our duty is to sincerely identify the real problem of the zone and ensure that we communicate with the federal government.  The real problem of the zone is that of neglect by successive governments and we are happy that the current administration is making some efforts to correct the mistakes of the past.

"Incidentally, many of the governors of the Niger Delta states are not in the ruling party, out of the six states, only Edo is in the ruling party. That is the more reason why we would have expected that if these governors properly identify problems of their people, they would be more vocal in identifying changes.

"The governors are not championing the struggle for a thorough and holistic change that this country needs to move forward. From what we have seen, it is not party allegiance but may be the governors feel so comfortable that they do not want to be instruments of change.

"They do not consider so seriously the plight of their own people. Against that backdrop, organisations like PANDEF which is a non-partisan group, is trying to be more objective to really identify the real problems of the zone and bring them clearly to the attention of those who need to act on them. Not through confrontation, but dialogue.”

Ikponmwen added: "We are talking about all the arms of government. If all the arms of government identify the flaws of the system we are running, then the solution will be as good as solved. Even as we want a federal system, once these are addressed, every other thing is taken care of.

"In American, if you find mineral resources in your land, they are your property. Why do we have a situation in Nigeria where everywhere we have oil or mineral it belongs to the federal government? Our idea is to really identify areas of deficiency in our system for the attention of our leaders so that we could improve the lives of our people within the context of a united Nigeria."