Group rains knocks on Buhari over the sack of Ibe Kachikwu

A group under the aegis of Niger Delta
Indigenous Movement for Radical Change
(NDIMRC) has rained knocks on President
Muhammadu Buhari over the removal of Ibe
Kachikwu as Group Managing Director of the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC).

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday, July 4, yielded to pressures from Northern oligarchies to drop Kachikwu, an
oil expert from Delta in Southern Nigeria and replace him
with Maikanti Baru, a former Group Executive Director of
Exploration and Production of the NNPC from Bauchi
State in North East zone of the country.
President of the group, Nelly Emma, who kicked against the
sudden removal of Kachikwu, faulted the move of Buhari,
saying the action of Buhari was unfair as it is not only a
bad treatment to Kachikwu but to the people of the Niger
Delta who own the oil that feeds the nation.
The group raised the alarm early in April that Baru was
desperate and was working round the clock to become
GMD of the corporation, though its alarm was not heeded
by Nigerians.
The group which expressed sadness over the development
said Kachikwu was committed to transforming the oil sector
but his sack has shown that Buhari is not committed to the
ideals of Kachikwu in revamping the industry for better
productivity.
The group accused the president of treating the South very
unfairly, maintaining that his decision to sack Kachikwu was
a blunder and an unfortunate one for the Niger Delta
people. It said Buhari was more interested in his Northern
agenda than the development of the various sectors of the
nation. It condemned Buhari for preferring his Northern
agenda to the good changes Kachikwu had brought to the
corporation.
It described Baru as a person who does not mean well for
the corporation, insisting that he is a spoiler who never liked
reforms in NNPC but only interested in becoming GMD
and promote Northern interest in the corporation.
File Photo: Dr Ibe Kachikwu
The Niger Delta group raised questions over the ability of
Baru to lead negotiations to calm frayed nerves of militants
who have been bombing and destroying oil installations in
the oil rich but impoverished Niger Delta.