CIROMA, YAKASSAI THREAT TO NIGERIA, SAYS SEN OKPOZO

A former senator, Francis Spanner Okpozo, has accused Alhaji Adamu Ciroma and Tanko Yakassai of treason, saying their utterances and threats on President Goodluck Jonathan's 2011 presidential ambition were a threat to the corporate existence and unity of the country.

Speaking in Benin yesterday, Senator Okpozo, who once represented the Delta South Senatorial District on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) at the upper chamber of the National Assembly, recalled that the duo of Ciroma and Yakassai waged a relentless war to stop the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola from running for the country's presidency.

He observed that the antics of Alhaji Ciroma and Yakassai were unbecoming of statesmen and warned that the leaders of the South-south were prepared to match them in their game on the Goodluck Jonathan presidential ambition.

He listed Goodluck Jonathan's humility, his untiring effort to overhaul the power sector, elimination of fuel scarcity and his resolve to tackle infrastructural decay in the country as qualities that stood him out among those jostling for the country's Presidency in 2011.

Okpozo, however advised President Goodluck Jonathan to steer clear of unpopular governors who failed to perform in their states but who wanted to have a second term of office through supporting him (the President).

According to him, it was erroneous for the president to believe that the governors were the people to deliver him in their states, warning that unless the president heeded the advice and allowed the people to choose their governors democratically, the unpopular governors could become liabilities to him rather than assets in the coming election.

Okpozo also commented on the proposal by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to sell off its assets in its onshore operational areas to enable it concentrate on deep water operation, saying the onshore host communities were prepared to tackle the Anglo-Dutch Oil giant wherever it went.

Apparently angered by Shell's ploy, Okpozo pointed out that besides lease agreements Shell enter into with host onshore communities, it was criminal for the company to abandon the communities after destroying their means of livelihood through oil spillages over the years.