A socio-cultural organization, Ijaw Solidarity Union, has criticised the
nomination of Heineken Lokpobiri by the All Progressives Congress (APC) as
minister representing Bayelsa State, describing him as “a gangster.”
A statement issued on Wednesday by the General Secretary of ISU Hon.
Friday Adolphus Yeri, condemning Lokpobiri’s nomination, said it was an
embarrassment to have such a man as minister representing the state on
account of what it described as Lokpobiri’s record of “destruction,
violence and electoral hooliganism”.
Yeri, who said the appointment was the worst in the history of the state,
further stressed that the former senator’s claim to fame and fortune was
through intimidation and blackmail.
“It is a monumental disgrace to us as proud Ijaw people to have Lokpobiri
representing us as a minister of the federal republic. It shows we have
completely lost it as a nation. I truly fear for the future of Nigeria
with characters like Lokpobiri being made a minister”, he asked.
He said that it was one particular nomination which clearly negated the
clamour for change as APC campaign slogan during the last election but now
thrown overboard. This, he said, stood against the APC as a party without
integrity and as such unreliable.
“Now what happened to the change mantra? Is Lokpobiri the change APC
promised Bayelsans? These people are jokers”, Yeri stated.