Ijaw leaders call for end to the ‘evil’ against the Ijaw nation in the Niger Delta region

Tayo AFOLABI

The Ijaw National Congress (INC) has called on President Buhari to end the ‘evil’ against the Ijaw nation in the Niger Delta region.

The group also raised the alarm over an alleged plot to employ the services of ex-agitators to cause mayhem in the region.

The President of INC, Prof. Benjamin Okaba, in a statement in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, said the timely intervention of President Muhammadu Buhari would douse the growing tension in the region.

According to the body, the Federal Government must take urgent steps to address the brewing agitations in the Niger Delta over issues bordering on the development of the region and the concerns of the people.

He stated that the INC should not be blamed for any breach of security if the boiling anger in the Niger Delta results in the breakdown of law and order. He said the people were fed up with the lacklustre approach of the President to the outlined issues.

Okaba who outlined the issues said policies of the government were deliberately implemented to exclude the Ijaw nation. He listed the issues to include the continued existence of the grossly illegal vehicle of Interim Administration at the NDDC.

He also pointed out “the monumental deception of the Presidency and the Niger Delta Region by the Interim contraption and its promoters.”

Other issue raised include “the rape, emasculation and waste of the commonwealth of the region by those charged with its efficient use and the abuse of propriety, and self enrichment of a select few to the detriment of regional development.

Okaba also noted the “futility of the exercise of a forensic audit that is rumoured to be cloaked in so much shame and ineptitude that it might never see the light of day.

He therefore advised that should the government should not blame Ijaw and Niger Delta leaders if the boiling anger in the region snowballed into crisis.