Ogbakor Ikwerre, a socio-cultural organisation of Iwhuruohna indigenes of the Niger Delta have condemned the renaming of Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA) after late Chief Obafemi Awolowo by the Federal Government.
The group in a statement said that the south-south region where the airport is situated, had numerous indigenes that it could be renamed after.
The group in a statement by Mr. Patrick Anyawoke, its President, said that the former government led by President Muhammadu Buhari goofed with the renaming of the airport, saying it should be changed.
The group, which claimed to be based in North America, said that members of the organisation and other diasporic organisations had made appeals in the past for the naming of the airport after late Sen. (Dr.) Obi Wali, a prominent citizen of the area where the airport is located.
The statement read in part: “We fault the re-naming of Port Harcourt International Airport after a non-indigene of the Niger Delta. The Muhammadu Buhari administration, on its last day, re-named the airport Obafemi Awolowo International Airport.”
Anyawoke, stated that as far back as September 6, 2021, the North America-based Niger Delta indigenes forwarded a proposal and a letter to the Federal Government through the Federal Executive Council, urging it to name the airport after Wali, adding that it made the same appeal to the government in 2004.
Anyawoke said that naming the airport after Wali was the proper thing to do in view of the late Senator’s extensive and remarkable contributions in the creation of Rivers State, as well as his immense and enormous self-sacrifices, even at the expensive of his life for the unity of the country during the Nigerian civil war.
Wali, the group said was among the prominent indigenes of Rivers State who vehemently opposed the secession that led to the Nigerian Civil War, 1967-1970.
He added that naming the airport after Wali was more appropriate in view of the late federal lawmaker’s contributions in the Federal Government’s rehabilitation, reconstruction and reconciliation initiatives in Rivers State, which was affected by the civil war.