The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Udens Eradiri

  • Troops search for Niger Delta militants with fighter jets

    … Residents panic

    There was panic in the creeks of Bayelsa State on Monday following sudden presence of fighter jets and surveillance aircrafts which hovered in some coastal communities in search of hideouts of members of a militant group, Niger Delta Avengers (NDA).

    The Nation gathered that the military planes were sighted in some communities in Southern Ijaw local government area of the state, where attacks on pipelines and killing of soldiers occurred recently.

    A resident from Ondewari, a community in the council, said the sight and sounds of the jets caused tension in the area.

    He said some residents were already getting ready to seek refuge in the mangrove following fears of possible bombardments when the jets disappeared.

    “We noticed the jets in the morning. They were military jets. We were afraid and most people were thinking of taking cover when suddenly they flew away. We are still afraid that they may come back. We can’t forget the Odi experience,” he said.

    But the umbrella body of Ijaw youths, the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC), immediately condemned the presence of the fighter jets in the creeks.

    The IYC President, Mr. Udens Eradiri, after an emergency meeting of the council, in Yenagoa, said the jets were also sighted in some parts of the state capital and Gbaramatu in Delta State.

    He urged the military to apply caution in their operations and warned against the intimidation of Niger Delta residents.

    Eradiri said the crisis would not be resolved by deploying fighter jets, adding that intelligence was a better strategy of dealing with activities of the militants.

     

  • Pipeline attackers are enemies of Niger Delta – Ijaw youths

    Ijaw youths on Wednesday warned against further attacks of oil installations and pipelines in the Niger Delta region.

    The youths described persons behind recent attacks on pipelines in Delta and Bayelsa States as enemies of the region, saying they should be arrested and treated like common criminals.

    But the youths under the aegis of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Worldwide, appealed to the Federal Government and security agencies to extend their investigations on pipeline attacks to some scrupulous contractors working for oil companies in the region.

    Addressing a press conference in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, the IYC President, Mr. Udens Eradiri, said the recent attacks on pipelines had nothing to do with the Niger Delta agitation.

    “We condemn these attacks and we will continue to condemn them. It is not a means of attracting attention any more. We have moved beyond that. Those destroying these pipelines are destroying our livelihood, our community and the future of our environment.

    “And so you destroy a pipeline to send a message to a contractor for instance, and then on the long run you destroyed your entire family lineage for decades to come.

    “Nigerians must not misconstrue the destruction of pipelines with the agitation in the Niger Delta. So far as we are concerned all the incidence that had happened in recent time had nothing to do with the agitation of the Niger Delta,” Eradiri said.

    Eradiri warned youths in the area to stay clear of oil installations, insisting that acts of sabotage were not only dangerous to the economy but also capable of ruining the environment for posterity.

     

     

  • Ijaw youths oppose December deadline for amnesty

    Ijaw youths on Tuesday opposed the December terminal date for the Presidential Amnesty granted ex-militants from the Niger Delta region.

    The youths rose from their meeting at the Izonware headquarters of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, and declared that the deadline was not feasible.

    Flanked by executive members of the council, the President of IYC, Mr. Udens Eradiri, insisted that stopping the amnesty programme in December will not work.

    He said there were many issues surrounding the programme that had not been addressed such as the training of some set of ex-militants, rising wave of insecurity in the region and issues of post-amnesty.

    He said:  “The December deadline to terminate the amnesty programme is not feasible. The IYC is looking at it and we have already forwarded a document to the Amnesty Coordinator,  asking him to look at those who have been trained, those who have not been trained, how do we also capture those boys in the creeks and the insecurity that is going on in the Niger Delta.

    “The coordinator, having come out with a holistic view of the process, should be able to advise President Muhammadu Buhari that the deadline is not feasible.

    “It is worthy of note that the amnesty programme itself is a security programme. It is as important as the Northeast.  And so you cannot begin to set time lines when the process, the entire programme needs to go through, has not been completed.

    “In our own view as the IYC, we do not see December as a feasible termination date for the programme.”

    Eradiri said the council will soon engage the authorities and make them realise the dangers of terminating the amnesty in December.

    He added: “It was not Buhari that fixed December deadline. The date was fixed by the past administration.  Between the time they fixed December as termination date, there were approvals that were made in between when agitations started coming from other ethnic nationalities including other youths in the Niger Delta that were not captured.

    “The President at that time approved on one occasion 6,000 persons and another occasion 3,000 to benefit from the programme. So, it is not possible to change the rule of a game in the middle of the game. So, all those adjustments will certainly affect the terminal date.”

  • Court stops Ijaw elders from cancelling IYC election

    The State High Court sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, has issued an order stopping the Ijaw National Congress (INC), the umbrella body of Ijaw elders, from cancelling the elections of its youth body, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC).

    The court presided over by Justice Rapheal Ajuwa said INC should stay action on its intention to cancel the election in which Mr. Udens Eradiri, was declared the President of IYC.

    Eradiri, the claimant, had approached the court seeking an exparte order restraining INC from cancelling the poll in which he had been inaugurated as the president.

    The order specifically restrained principal officials of INC including its President, Chief T.J Sekibo, from setting aside the results of the election.

    The Vice-President and National Secretary INC, Charles Ambaiowei and Theodore Ezonfade, were joined as defendants.

    The court ordered that the election “should not be cancelled by the defendants or their agents, cronies, pending the determination of the motion for interlocutory injunction.”