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Omoniyi Salaudeen
The Ijaw Foundation has vowed to mobilise concerned stakeholders in the oil-producing communities to rescue Ijaw nation from decades of ruthless oppression from the Nigerian state.
The group, which expressed this commitment in a statement signed by its secretary, Solomon Disekpobagha, said it had become imperative to seek a collective action against environmental pollution as well as wanton destruction of lives and property which Ijaw nation had suffered under the past administrations.
“Ijaw self-determination is the only way we can rescue or save ourselves from the ruthless oppression, ecocide, plague of insecurity and episodic genocide we suffer in Nigeria,” it declared.
Also worried by the escalating security situation in the country, the forum further called on the concerned authorities within the Ijaw nation to evolve a responsive security framework to protect the people against the threats of rampaging Fulani herdsmen, armed banditry, kidnapping and other forms of criminalities, adding that the Federal Government had failed to deal with the challenges.
The statement read: “We, therefore, propose the establishment of an Ijaw National Security Framework to protect all Ijaws and Ijawland against the prevailing, very serious and worsening plague of insecurity in Nigeria, particularly the invasion of Fulani herdsmen who now abide in our bushes and forests all across Nigeria in preparatory ambush.
“Of necessity and as a matter of utmost urgency, we, the Ijaws, must take responsibility and effective actions for the preservation and remediation of our Ijaw/Niger Delta habitat upon which we depend totally for our sustenance and survival.”
This is even as the group threw its weight behind the South West security outfit code-named Amotekun, saying, “We express our wholehearted support for the security framework named “Operation Amotekun” recently launched by the Yoruba nation to protect her people against the plague of insecurity in Nigeria.”
The forum also charged the incoming administration of David Lyon of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State to make transparency and accountability its watchwords. “Very importantly, the incoming David Lyon’s administration of Bayelsa State must refrain from giving direct or indirect access to the treasury of Bayelsa State to local and national political godfathers, influence peddlers or surrogates to loot or steal the resources and revenues of Bayelsa State meant for improving the welfare of the impoverished Bayelsans,” it stated.
