Despite President Goodluck Jonathan’s assurance that the ground breaking ceremony for the the $16 billion Delta Gas City project at Ogidigben and the Export Procesing Zone (EPZ)  before 29th May, 2015, the Delta Coalition for Change (DCC) has threatened to vote for an opposition party if the EPZ ground-breaking was not performed before February 14.

The group wondered why President Jonathan appears to “be foot-dragging on issues directly affecting Itsekiri and other tribes in the Niger Delta,” insusting that if the EPZ ground-breaking was not performed before February 14, “Itsekiri will vote for Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in the February 14 poll.”
 
The group’s President, Young Piero, lamented that the EPZ ground-breaking had been postponed twice, adding that the President’s new position contradicted the earlier position of the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, whose claims bothered on “communal issues and land ownership.”

He emphasised that the reasons advanced were not tenable considering the successful performance of ground-breaking ceremonies for the NIMASA Dockyard and Shipyard,  and the Nigerian Maritime University (NMU) which have large Ijaw interests.

The group therefore urged President Jonathan to “seize the opportunity of his planned campaign visit to Warri, February 4, to perform the EPZ ground-breaking if there is no obvious Ijaw agenda.”