The Niger Delta-Northern Youth Coalition Worldwide (NDNYCW) has accused the Minister of State for Petroleum Ibe Kachikwu, of dereliction of duties, for waiting for over one year to voice his concerns and working to frustrate the reforms initiated by the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Maikanti Baru.
President of the coalition Prince Michael Ekamon, at a press conference in Abuja further appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the minister.
“If the claim of the Honourable Minister, that for the past one year he has been accommodating the excesses of the GMD on such serious issues affecting the lives of Nigerians and the economy of this great nation, he should be fired for gross incompetence and maladministration,” Ekamon said.
The coalition also blamed the Minister for the leakage of the memo and urged Mr President urgently investigate the leakage of the memo to the press in the interest of his administration.
He said: “The minister’s vituperations against Baru as contained in his letter could not be unconnected to his frustrations since the appointment of the incumbent GMD; otherwise as the chairman of the NNPC board, he would have treated the matter internally rather than doing a memo to Mr. President. Such action smacks of disloyalty to the person of Mr. President.”
The group urged the President to give the GMD the free hand to carry on with the reforms in the NNPC, arguing that as an insider, he has the requisite wealth of experience to engineer the reforms as envisaged by President Buhari.