President Bola Tinubu has approved the renaming of Osubi airport in Okpe local government area of Delta State after the first Military Governor of Rivers State, Alfred Diete Spiff.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports President Tinubu approved the renaming of Osubi airport along with 14 others in a memo dated 19 June 2023 released on Monday.
Recall that Muhammadu Buhari had in his dying minutes in office as Nigeria’s president renamed Osubi airport to Alfred Diete Spiff International Airport, which was rejected by Urhobo youths in Delta State.
The youths contended that the dying minute action taken by Buhari was a deliberate act to cause disharmony in Delta State in particular and the Niger Delta in general.
The youths under the aegis of the youth wing of Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) worldwide, contended that the government should have renamed the airport after the Late Major General David Ejoor or some other notable Urhobo person instead.
“Alfred Papapreye Diete-Spiff is from Bayelsa State, not Delta state and he is the Amayanabo (King) of Twon-Brass in Bayelsa State.
“He was the first Military Governor of Rivers State after it was created from part of the old Eastern Region which Delta state is never part of.
“Late Major General David Ejoor was the first military governor of the Midwestern Region, made up of the present Edo and Delta States,” a statement by the youths reads.
Similarly, some Okpe leaders took a swipe at former president Buhari, describing the renaming of Osubi International Airport after Alfred Diete-Spiff as a monumental error and big slap on the Okpe people.
In a statement signed by Okpe Union President General, Professor Igho Natufe; General Secretary, Barrister Kingsley Ehensiri Akpederin and National Publicity Secretary, Mrs. Rose Atarhe-Abuh, the Okpe leaders urged Tinubu to consider renaming the airport after a prominent Okpe person.
‘’The Osubi International Airport is located in Osubi, a major town in Okpe Local Government and was commissioned for commercial use 1st April 1999.
“Towards the twilight of the last administration, the Okpe Union was both shocked and dismayed to hear that the outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the re-naming of the Airport after Alfred Diete-Spiff, a former Military Governor of old Rivers State under the General Yakubu Gowon era.
“We appreciate the need to name certain national assets after eminent citizens, dead or living. Alfred Diete-Spiff had nothing to do with either the old Midwest region or Bendel or Delta States.
“He was not in any way connected to Osubi nor was he indigenous to Okpe land or the Okpe people of Delta State. With all due respect to him, he never served Nigeria at “Federal” level such as to suggest that any national asset “anywhere” could be named after him.
“Therefore, the Okpe Union is of the view that the re-naming of the Osubi International Airport after Alfred Diete-Spiff is not only a monumental error but a big slap on the Okpe people for which an immediate redress is required.
“The Okpe people have several eminent citizens such as Senator David Dafinone, a prominent Senate Leader in the Second Republic, General Patrick Aziza, a leading light of the military era, HRM Ezezi II and HRM Orhoro I, both eminent traditional rulers and statesmen after whom the Osubi International Airport may be renamed,” reads the statement issued in Lagos State by the Okpe leaders.
ALSO READ || Urhobo youths reject dying minutes renaming of Osubi airport by Buhari
However, damning the appeal by the youth group and other similar appeals, President Tinubu approved the renaming of the Osubi airport after Alfred Diete Spiff by Buhari.
In a statement by the Director of Airport Operations, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mrs Joke Olatunji, renaming the airport was “part of reforms of the Aviation sector”