AN OPEN LETTER TO SIR MONDAY ONYEME.

"John" Monday Onyeme ,

The Deputy Governor,

Delta State,

Dear Sir,

Re: Light Up Ndokwa Nation Protest

We appreciate your interest in the ongoing Light Up Ndokwa Nation protest. However, we wish to clarify and correct your negative narrative that seems to be emerging from your deliberate act to label Ndokwa Nation as bad debtors to BEDC. Reconnecting us to BEDC is not the solution Ndokwa Nation is seeking with the proposed June 16 (tomorrow's) peaceful protest.

The crux of tomorrow's peaceful protest is centered on being connected to the Okpai Independent Power Plant (IPP), which is located in our backyard. It's ironic that the Okpai IPP, which has increased electric power production in Nigeria by 15 percent, has not benefited its host nation, Ndokwa Nation. The plant, which was commissioned on April 1, 2005, and began commercial operation seven months later, consists of an integrated combined cycle electric power generation plant producing 480 MW of electricity. Yet, we are still wallowing in abject darkness.

The Okpai project includes an overhead 130kv transmission line that crosses the River Niger to connect the plant to the national grid at Obosi/Onitsha in Anambra State and subsequently serving other parts of the Nation. Meanwhile, Ndokwa Nation, the host nation, is denied access to this electricity. As the saying goes, "when the roof is leaking, you don't start by patching the wall." We need to address the fundamental issue of electricity generation in our community before first serving others.

We find it perplexing that you are trying to divert attention by saying you are working to reconnect some parts of Ndokwa Nation to BEDC, whereas our main call is for Ndokwa Nation to be connected to the Okpai IPP. The fish does not ask for water from the river that is its own home. We are not asking for charity, but for what is rightfully ours.

It's quite shameful that as a supposed Ndokwa man, you're calling fellow indigenes seeking the betterment of Ndokwa Nation, outcast, but in true reflection, you are the one whom Ndokwa Nation has rejected for standing against them now that it matters the most. The same way you have called us outcast, make sure you don't come back to the same outcasts to beg for support when it's time for vote cast.

We urge you to focus on the real issue at hand and work with us to ensure that Ndokwa Nation is connected to the Okpai IPP, as we remain confident that our demand is legitimate and just.

We hope you will understand our concerns better now and work with us to address this pressing issue rather than playing to the gallery with political undertones just to please your paymaster. 

We do not want our community to continue suffering while you engage in endless search of your cheap political points scoring to retain your lost mandate. We look forward to your swift and apologetic response to the Ndokwa Nation based on your unguided utterances towards us.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Comrade Imalah Ugoachanum

@highlight #LightUpNdokwaNation #