PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has approved the reinstatement of Prof. Nenibarini Zabbey as Project Coordinator of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP).
A statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Ajuri Ngelale, on Monday, July 15, said the President reached the decision following a performance review of the HYPREP Project Coordinator.
“The President concluded that the Project Coordinator was fit to discharge his functions in accordance with the regulations guiding the execution of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project.
“By the directive of the President, the reinstatement of the HYPREP Project Coordinator takes immediate effect,” said the statement.
Recall that Tinubu had removed Olufemi Adekanmbi from his position as HYPREP coordinator just 48 hours after his appointment, which was made official on Saturday, July 13, and reinstated Zabbey.
Zabbey was appointed HYPREP Coordinator in May last year by former President Muhammadu Buhari for a four-year tenure. But on Saturday, July 13, Tinubu approved the appointment of Olufemi Adekanmbi, a former commissioner for Special Duties, Culture and Tourism in Ondo State, as his replacement.
The development was vehemently opposed by the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), which in a statement on Sunday, July 14, signed by its President, Olu Andah Wai-Ogosu, threatened to seal the HYPREP office in Port Harcourt if Zabbey was not reinstated by the federal government.
The group described the appointment of Adekanmbi, a non-Ogoni indigene, as an “affront to the Ogoni people, considering that Ogonis have very competent hands to occupy that position and have always occupied that position.”
It demanded the immediate reinstatement of Zabbey to enable him complete his tenure, threatening to block any non-Ogoni indigene from accessing the agency’s office in Port Harcourt.
