Traditional rulers in Bayelsa State have begged President Muhammadu Buhari to speak to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to help improve their impoverished communities.

The Bayelsa chiefs’ appeal to NDDC over dead fishes was contained in a letter dated April 27, 2020, signed by 29 royal fathers and addressed to the President through the office of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godwsill Akpabio.

According to them, they had to involve the president because of the ongoing massive ecological disaster in their fishing environment for over one month due to the activities of multinational oil corporations.

They added that it gets worse as the communities also battle the harsh impacts of COVID-19 lockdown order by the government.

The letter read, “Our purpose of bringing this problem to your Excellency was informed by the ongoing massive ecological disaster in our fishing environment for more than one month now by the activities of multinational oil corporations.

“It is seriously and negatively impacting us as riverine people that earn a living by fishing.

“We are at the same time suffering the harsh impacts of COVID-19 lockdown order by the government.

“Your Excellency should help us intervene and direct the NDDC to come to the rescue of oil host communities who are going through hardship.”

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Muhammadu Buhari GCFR (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician currently serving as the President of Nigeria, in office since 2015. He is a retired major general in the Nigerian Army and previously served as the nation’s head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 August 1985, after taking power in a military coup d’état. The term Buharism is ascribed to the Buhari military government.

He unsuccessfully ran for the office of president of Nigeria in the 2003, 2007, and 2011 general elections. In December 2014, he emerged as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the March 2015 general elections. Buhari won the election, defeating the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan. This marked the first time in the history of Nigeria that an incumbent president lost to an opposition candidate in a general election. He was sworn in on 29 May 2015. In February 2019, Buhari was re-elected President, defeating his closest rival Atiku Abubakar by over 3 million votes.

Buhari has stated that he takes responsibility for anything over which he presided during his military rule, and that he cannot change the past. He has described himself as a “converted democrat”.

Muhammadu Buhari was born to a Fulani family on 17 December 1942, in Daura, Katsina State, to his father Hardo Adamu, a Fulani chief, and mother Zulaihat. He is the twenty-third child of his father. Buhari was raised by his mother, after his father died when he was about four years old.