•Ex-CDS Gen. Ogomudia’s, Otobo’s homes too
THE houses of Chief Porbeni, grandfather of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Deziani Alison-Madueke and father of former Transport Minister Admiral Festus Porbeni, the late Chief James Otobo, a former deputy Premier of the defunct Western Region, are among thousands of houses submerged by flood in Delta State.
Our reporter who visited communities in Burutu, Patani, Isoko North and South and Ndokwa East local government areas on Sunday, reports that no fewer than 200 buildings are submerged in Abari and Uzere communities in the two council areas.
The minister’s 38-year-old one-storey family mansion in Abari, on the fringe of River Niger, has been converted to a ‘refugee centre’ by nearly 100 beleaguered residents of the community and others around the Niger and Asse rivers.
Displaced persons fear imminent hunger and starvation.
Eighty-two-year old Elder Frank Akpeti, whose bungalow was submerged to the roof, lamented: “This is the worst flooding in the history of our people. In my 82 years of existence, I have never seen anything close to this kind of flood; houses are being washed away, all our lifetimes of labours and savings have been swept away in a twinkle of an eye.”
Speaking in the same vein, his son, Lawrence Apeti, who braced the rampaging flood to embark on a rescue mission to the village, said the case of his people was more pathetic as they had in the past contended with devastating erosion that had gradually eroded the community’s shoreline over the years.
He said: “Look over there (pointing at a storey building painted in yellow colour), that is the home of the maternal grandfather of the Minister of Petroleum Resource (Mrs. Madueke), it was built in 1984. We have so many prominent men and woman from here, yet our people are suffering this untold hardship.
“Government is not doing enough to make impact. Asking the people to evacuate is not enough, the various tiers of government should have assisted them. Fishermen who could barely feed their families are now using their hard earned money to evacuate themselves and at the end of the day huge sums of money would be allocated to this.”
The member representing Delta State in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mr. Solomon Ogba, was just rounding off his tour of the flooded area at the Uzere-Abari road, which had become a running stream when our reporter visited the community.
At Uzere, the country homes of Gen Alexander Ogomudia, a former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and those of Chief Otobo, were also submerged.
