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Tag: Ijaw youths

  • EPZ: Ijaw youths urge Itsekiri to stop insulting Jonathan

    EPZ: Ijaw youths urge Itsekiri to stop insulting Jonathan

    Ijaw youths, under the aegis of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide, have warned the Itsekiri to stop blackmailing President Goodluck Jonathan because of the stalled inauguration of the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) in Delta State.

    They said they were dismayed by what they called the reckless and irresponsible attacks on the President by the Itsekiri Leaders of Thought (ILOT) and other Itsekiri groups in Delta State.

    They described the tirade against Jonathan as irresponsible.

    In a statement by their spokesperson, Eric Omare, the IYC urged the leaders to stop insulting the President and resolve the dispute.

    The statement said: “The protesting Ijaw people of Gbaramatu and Ogulagha kingdoms are Nigerians and President Jonathan, as the President of Nigeria, has a duty to listen to their complaints, just like any other Nigerians.

    “The fact that President Jonathan is Ijaw does not mean that he should ignore the complaints of Ijaw people in Nigeria.”

    The youth said they were unhappy that the Itsekiri leaders attacked the President whenever a government decision did not favour them.

    They said: “We seriously frowned at the attitude of Itsekiri leaders and groups attacking President Jonathan and other Ijaw leaders at the slightest opportunity once a government decision is not in their favour. This will no longer be tolerated.

    “It would be recall that the Itsekiri carried out a similar campaign of calumny against the Presidential Adviser on the Niger Delta Affairs, Kingsley Kuku, over the amnesty programme, even when it was obvious that they were not eligible to benefit from the programme.

    “We call on President Jonathan and other Nigerians to ignore the careless and irresponsible attacks by the Itsekiri leaders and groups as it is the stock in trade of the Itsekiri to blackmail the government once its decision is against them.

    “The IYC insists that for sustainable peace and successful execution of the EPZ project, the Ijaw of Gbaramatu and Ogulagha must be given their rightful recognition as co-host communities to the EPZ project.”

  • Ijaw youths to Itsekiris: Stop insulting Jonathan

    Youths under the aegis of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Worldwide, on Wednesday warned the Itsekiris to stop blackmailing President Goodluck Jonathan over the stalled inauguration of the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) in Delta State.

    The youths said they had observed with dismay the reckless and irresponsible attacks on President Jonathan by the Itsekiri Leaders of Thought and other Itsekiri groups in Delta State.

    Describing the verbal tirade against the President as irresponsible, the youths in a statement signed by their Spokesperson, Mr. Eric Omare, advised the leaders to stop insulting the President and join hands in resolving the dispute.

    “The protesting Ijaw people of Gbaramatu and Ogulagha Kingdoms are Nigerians and President Jonathan as the President of Nigeria has a duty to listen to their complaints, just like any other Nigerians.

    “The fact that President Jonathan is Ijaw by birth does not mean that he should ignore the complaints of Ijaw people in Nigeria,” the youths said.

    The youths said they were unhappy that the Itsekiri leaders were known for attacking the President whenever government decisions did not favour them.

    They said: “We seriously frowned at the attitude of Itsekiri leaders and group attacking President Jonathan and other Ijaw leaders at the slightest opportunity once government decision is not in their favour and this would no longer be tolerated.

    “It would be recall that the Itsekiri people carried out a similar campaign of calumny against the Presidential Adviser on the Niger-Delta Affairs, Hon. Kingsley Kuku, over the amnesty programme even when it was obvious that they were not legible to benefit from the programme.

    “We call on President Jonathan and Nigerians to ignore the careless and irresponsible attacks by the Itsekiri leaders and groups as it is the stock in trade of the Itsekiri people to blackmail government once any government decision is against them.

    “The IYC insists that for sustainable peace and successful execution of the EPZ project, the Ijaw people of Gbaramatu and Ogulagha must be given their rightful recognition as co-host communities to the EPZ project.”

  • 2015 elections: We’ll vote out PDP –Ijaw youths

    IGER Delta Youths under the umbrella of Ijaw Global Policy Network (IGPN), said they have resolved not to support the People’s Democratic Party. PDP led administration of President Goodluck Jonathan owing to unfulfilled promises by the government to the People of the region. They cited among others the alleged failure of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, responsible for the implementation of the Amnesty program of the Federal Government to improve or meet up to its mandate of bringing development to the region in spite of it’s huge deposit of Oil and gas.

    The body in a signed statement by its spokesperson, Ayubalayefa Olu Dennis, maintained that the growing rate of poverty, deprivation, unemployment and total infrastructural collapse spells doom for the region saying “voting out President Goodluck led PDP is the only way out of the region’s predicaments” He stated “It is shocking that in spite of promises to bring development to the South /South, the region has continued to retrogress in a manner never witnessed.

    The so called transformation agenda this administration is embarking on has not affected the people of the South region” “The East-West road has been lingering on for donkey years. In spite of the fact that we have our brother at the helms of affair in the ministry of Niger Delta with billions of naira allocated to the East West road, the project is still far from completion and there is nothing to show for it”

  • Ijaw youths, group clash over Jonathan’s reelection

    Ijaw youths, group clash over Jonathan’s reelection

    Ijaw youths on Tuesday attacked a South-South group for advising President Goodluck Jonathan to shelve his reelection ambition in 2015.

    A group under the aegis of the Forum of Past Youth Leaders of Ethnic Nationalities in the South-South (FPYLENS) had reportedly asked Jonathan to abandon his ambition to return to Aso Rock in 2015.

    The forum was said to have given the admonition in a statement signed by Alhaji Mumakai Unagha and Ekpo Okon.

    But the forum’s position has drawn the ire of Jonathan’s kinsmen under the aegis of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC).

    The youths dismissed the forum saying the group and persons who signed “the provocative” statement were fictitious and unknown to major stakeholders of the region.

    The youths in a statement signed by their Spokesman, Mr. Eric Omare, said the report was the handiwork of some inconsequential elements looking for recognition ahead of the 2015 general elections.

    “There is no organisation known as Forum of Past Ethnic Nationalities Youth Leaders in the South-South and the signatories are unknown persons as far as youth leadership in the South-South region is concern”, he said.

    He said after perusing the report, the leadership of the IYC consulted with its past leaders and presidents such as Dr. Felix Tuodolor, Alhaji Asari Dokubo, Mr. Jonjon Oyefia, Dr. Chris Ekiyor, Mr. Abiye, T. K. Ogoriba, and others to determine the veracity of the report.

    He said all the prominent leaders in the region said they were not part of the said meeting and that there was no such gathering.

    He reinstated the commitment of the South-South towards the reelection project of the President in 2015.

    He said: “The IYC is in total support of the Jonathan administration and states that the Jonathan 2015 Presidency is a project of the South-South people and the youths of the South-South are irrevocably committed to this project.

    “South-South youths are already mobilising towards the re-election of Dr. Jonathan in 2015 in synergy with other ethnic nationalities in Nigeria.

    “The IYC call on members of the public to disregard the statement purported to have been made by the inconsequential Past South-South Youth Leaders Forum as they do not have the support to organise any anti-Jonathan campaign in any part of the South-South Region”.

  • Ijaw youths to delegates: return home

    Angry Ijaw youths expressed their dissatisfaction at the performance of the Ijaw and Niger Delta delegates to the National Conference in Abuja.

    The youths, after assessing their delegates yesterday, described them as “running out of steam to resist the arrogance of their northern counterparts”.

    Accusing them of displaying a second-class mentality, the youths advised them to return home.

    The aggrieved youngsters under the aegis of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide, disowned the delegates and said the Niger Delta was not part of resolutions facilitated by them.

    The latest outburst came on the heels of the proposal by the Consensus Group of the National Conference to increase the 13 per cent derivation by five per cent and also allocate five per cent to the North as a result of the Boko Haram insurgency.

    But the youths in a statement by their spokesperson, Eric Omare, frowned on the resolution, describing it as provocative, disgusting and an invitation to war.

    According to them, it is an insult to the Niger Delta people for the conference group to recommend only five per cent increase to the derivation percentage from resources produced in the region.

    They said it became more vexatious that such increase was given on the condition that five per cent of the nation’s revenue should be allocated to the North to mitigate Boko Haram activities.

    The youths said the conference was encouraging the activities of the insurgents by such resolution.

    “Where would the Boko Haram five per cent revenue come from? Is it from the oil and gas revenue of the Niger Delta and taxes mainly collected from the South or five per cent of revenue generated from the Boko Haram sponsored states?”

    They added: “It has become obvious that Ijaw and Niger Delta delegates to the National Conference have run out of steam to resist the arrogance of their northern counterparts and the IYC call on them to return home honourably.

    “They have failed to achieve anything for the Niger Delta and have further endangered the people of the region. To increase derivation by five per cent and allocate five per cent to fund Boko Haram to kill more innocent children, women and Nigerians is the worst decision that any person on earth would be party to.”

    The youths reiterated that the Niger-Delta delegates had a mandate to demand 100 per cent derivation and to concede to nothing less than 50 per cent.

  • Ijaw youths looted our shops, say Igbo traders

    Igbo traders in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, alleged yesterday that Ijaw youths, celebrating the reburial of Major Isaac Adaka Boro, looted their shops.

    The traders, who complained to the police, said over 1,000 of them were assaulted by the youths.

    They insisted that their goods and other valuables worth N100million were either looted or damaged by the youths.

    Boro, an Ijaw icon and martyr, was reburied at the Heroes Park amidst fanfare in Yenagoa on June 1.

    His remains were brought to the state on May 31 from Lagos through the Port Harcourt Airport.

    In a procession to receive his body, the Ijaw youths were said to have attacked traders, looting, destroying their goods and injuring them.

    The youths were said to be angry that the traders ignored the stay-at-home order the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) issued to all traders as a mark of honour to their hero.

    The victims also claimed that they were not adequately informed about the directive.

    Some of the victims said they were surprised when the youths swooped on them.

    Some of the victims were reportedly taken to undisclosed hospitals.

    The IYC President, Udengs Eradiri, said a notice was given on radio for all shops to be closed in honour of the Ijaw hero.

    The President of the state chapter of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council, Chinedu Ugwa, said they were making efforts to resolve the matter.

  • Ijaw youths flay North’s delegates over resource control

    Ijaw youths flay North’s delegates over resource control

    A Niger Delta-based group, the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide, has said the position of northern delegates on resource control at the National Conference is provocative and an invitation to anarchy.

    The leadership of the youths expressed anger after perusing a document reportedly prepared for northern delegates by their governors, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation.

    The document, entitled: Key Issues Before the Northern Delegates to the 2014 National Conference, is sub-titled: Northern Nigeria: The Backbone and Strength of Nigeria.

    It rejected the demand for resource control.

    The document also called for the reduction of the 13 per cent derivation to five per cent – for only onshore oil – and the scrapping of the amnesty programme for former Niger Delta militants.

    But in a statement yesterday by its spokesman, Mr Eric Omare, IYC kicked against the North’s position.

    The group described the document as provocative, insulting, inciting and unpatriotic.

    It said the document was deliberately prepared to instigate the people of the Niger Delta to take up arms against the Federal Government under President Goodluck Jonathan.

    IYC alleged that some northern leaders wanted to achieve their “hidden agenda” of making Nigeria ungovernable for Dr Jonathan with the document.

    The group condemned the consistent opposition of some northern delegates to Niger Delta’s demand for resource control.

    It insisted that the people of the region retained the right to the ownership of oil and gas found in their land.

    IYC said: “The insistence of northerners to the ownership of oil found in the Niger Delta, without thinking of any creative means of generating resources to run their states, is a classic demonstration of poor leadership and lack of initiative. There are natural resources which can be exploited to generate revenue in the North.”

    The group also said there was no place in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in Article 76 that stipulated that the resources found in the territorial waters and continental shelves belonged to the central government.

    It added that the United Nations  law did not deal with ownership of hydrocarbon resources between the central government and its federating units.

  • Ijaw youths to FG: Identify Boko Haram sponsors

    Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide on Tuesday asked the Federal Government to identify, arrest and prosecute persons linked to Boko Haram’s sponsorship.

    IYC said the bloody onslaughts by the terrorist group would not stop until the government fished out the financier and brains behind the insurgency.

    While condemning the Monday deadly attack by Boko Haram on Nyanya, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, the group said it was not enough for the government to always brood over such incident.

    The group in a statement signed by its Spokesman, Mr. Eric Omare, said the government should not feign ignorance of Boko Haram sponsors.

    It said: “The problem of terrorism cannot be resolved without tackling the source of their sponsorship. The sponsors of Boko Haram should be arrested and made to face the full wrath of the law.

    “The Federal Government cannot claim ignorance of the sponsors of terrorism in Nigeria with all the security apparatus at its disposal. Government must act decisively irrespective of whose ox is gored and protect the ordinary people of Nigeria.

    “The interest of the generality of Nigerians is over and above the interest of a few power hungry people who are sponsoring terrorism.”

    IYC further reiterated its earlier position that the objective of the sponsors of Boko Haram and terrorism was to make the country ungovernable and forcefully take over the government of Nigeria.

    “Hence, it is an issue that government must treat with utmost seriousness.

    “We commend the effort of security agencies in tackling the challenge of terrorism and once again state our call for the extension of the existing state of emergency in the North East of Nigeria.

    “The Nyanya attack has shown that Boko Haram has an agenda to extend its activities to other parts of the country once they are successful in overrunning the North East.”

     

  • Ijaw youths to Chevron: Employ our graduates or…

    Ijaw youths to Chevron: Employ our graduates or…

    A group, The Niger Delta Indigenous Movement for Radical Change (NDIMRC) at the weekend issued a seven-day ultimatum to Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) to provide employment for Ijaw graduates from Egbema and Gbaramatu Kingdoms in Warri North and Warri South-West Areas of Delta State.

    It threatened to disrupt operations of the oil-giant if it does not change its hard stance towards unemployed Ijaw graduates from the two oil- producing communities in Delta State.

    A statement signed by its President, Nelly Emma, Secretary, John Sailor and Public Relations Officer, Mukoro Stanley, accused Chevron of marginalising Ijaw graduates from Egbema and Gbaramatu communities in its employment policy.

    The youths demanded immediate employment of 39 Egbema-Gbaramatu successful applicants in the Ogere training programme and Project Operating Team (POT) for the Escravos-Gas-To-Liquid (EGTL) Project.

    The statement reads: ”We are very sad about the treatment of unemployed Ijaw graduates from Egbema and Gbaramatu Kingdoms by Chevron Nigeria Limited.

    “We are aware that the company has been employing applicants from the other parts of Nigeria, especially the Yoruba and Igbo extraction and instead of CNL employing successful Egbema and Gbaramatu kingdoms graduates, the company is busy depleting the numbers of those already in her employment by the indiscriminate sack of Niger Delta indigenes for labour related issues, which occurred 7th February, 2011.”

    The group warned the oil-giant against blindfolding the communities with the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMOU) signed with the Egbema/Gbaramatu Communities Development Foundation (EGCDF), alleging the company is conniving with some selfish leaders to undermine the interest of the indigenes.

    It said: “The imposition of certain individuals on the communities by the company through its GMoU must stop.

    “The GMoU is no longer serving the interest of the two kingdoms but that of few selfish leaders and others in Chevron.”