Protest As Osinbajo Visits Benin

The town hall meeting was however marred by protest by members of oil producing communities who insisted that the acting President should abandon the meeting.

Some youths from the Ijaw extraction led by an ex-militant, Henry Binidodogha, also disrupted the meeting after they were not allowed to make speech.

Angered by the protests, the representative of the oil producing communities, Don Ben, grabbed the microphone and advised Osinbajo to leave the oil region alone if the communities were too insecure to be visited.

Ben said they have been at the Benin airport waiting for the arrival of the acting President only for them to be informed that the visit to the communities had been cancelled.

Responding, Osinbajo promised to reschedule another visit to the oil producing communities explaining that the planned closure of the Abuja international airport disrupted his visit to the state.

He however informed the gathering that the new vision for Niger Delta region would define a bright future for the communities and revealed that the Federal government would hold any defaulting contractor handling projects in the Niger Delta as well as prosecute those that abandoned projects.

He declared that the Buhari administration wants to ensure that the people get the real benefit of the country’s wealth.