A socio-cultural organisation, Ijaw Solidarity Union (ISU), has criticised the nomination of Heineken Lokpobiri by the All Progressives Congress (APC) as minister representing Bayelsa State, describing him as “a gangster.”

A statement issued today by the General Secretary of ISU Hon. Friday Adolphus Yeri, condemning Lokpobiri’s nomination, said it was an embarrassment to have such a man as minister representing the state on account of what it described as Lokpobiri’s record of “destruction, violence and electoral hooliganism.”

Yeri, who said the appointment was the worst in the history of the state, alleged that the former senator’s claim to fame and fortune was through intimidation and blackmail.

“It is a monumental disgrace to us as proud Ijaw people to have Lokpobiri representing us as a minister of the federal republic. It shows we have completely lost it as a nation. I truly fear for the future of Nigeria with characters like Lokpobiri being made a minister,” he said.

Yeri said that it was one particular nomination which clearly negated the clamour for change as APC campaign slogan during the last election but now thrown overboard. This, he said, stood against the APC as a party without integrity and as such unreliable.

“Now what happened to the change mantra? Is Lokpobiri the change APC promised Bayelsans? These people are jokers,” Yeri stated.

•Photo shows Heineken Lokpobiri.