Itsekiri — ITSEKIRI leaders yesterday said Deacon Gamaliel Onosode, "is not a fit and proper person to lead the newly created Niger Delta Ministry," saying that he failed the region as Chairman of the Niger Delta Environmental Survey (NDES), established by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in 1995 to gather data for the development of the region.

They further stated that "all the years spent in the NDES were wasted on confabs, seminars, talk-fest and the payment of fees to Euro-consult and ERML," adding that his abysmal failure in their judgement contributed largely to the growth of militancy in the region today.

In a statement by the Warri Study Group (WSG), the Itsekiri also rejected Deacon Onosode's speculated nomination to the coveted position on the grounds that he hails from the same Ughelli Local Council Area of Delta State with the current Minister for Science and Technology, even as they maintained that at 76 years of age, the deacon has become too old and decrepit to carry out the vigorous task of the proposed assignment.

The statement signed by Mr. Edward Ekpoko, Chairman, Mr. A. S. Mene and Mr. Vincent Jemide, respectively, said Deacon Onosode "is very eminently disqualified on the bases of these weighty evidences," saying that they rejected him in totality.