Follow Us on Google
• How controversy over election threatens group’s unity, relevance
From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The Ijaw National Congress (INC), the apex organisation of the Ijaw nation, is currently enmeshed in a leadership crisis. The immediate cause of the crisis is the election that was meant to usher in a new executive council after the exit of Prof Benjamin Okaba.
But the remote cause is the battle for the control of the INC by those who are opposed to the organisation being controlled by any individual, no matter how highly placed.
At the centre of the crisis are the outgoing President, Prof Benjamin Okaba, the Chairman of Bayelsa State Traditional Rulers Council and Ibenanaowei of Ekpetiama Kingdom, HRM, King Bubaraye Dakolo Agada IV, and the Chairman of the National Electoral Committee of the Ijaw National Congress (NELECO), Justice F.F Tabai(rtd).
The crisis was triggered by the sudden volte-face and inconsistency in the activities of NELECO. The electoral committee had initially disqualified two presidential aspirants, namely Timi Kaizer Ogoriba and Macdonald Igbadiwei, because the duo failed to ‘’meet the INC Electoral Guidelines requirements regarding membership.”
To protest his disqualification, one of the aspirants, Igbadiwei, who is heavily linked to ex-leaders of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), had approached a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers, seeking a court order stopping the election. But before the court order, NELECO had reversed itself, reinstating Ogoriba and Igbadiwei on the ballot. And this immediately drew the ire of the Coalition of Ijaw Interest Groups (CIIG), which queried the policy somersault of NELECO.
In a statement signed by representatives of the CIIG, including Ben Okolo, Chief Denzil Kentebe, Elaye Otrofanowei, Pattison Boleigha, Mrs Rosemary John-Oduone, Yimovie Dakue-Collins, Efiye Bribena, Iniruo Wills, Tare Ekpebu, Ms Annkio Briggs, and Ebitimi Egbumukumoh, they wondered what informed the change of mind from NELECO when the Ijaw nation had not been told how the aspirants had met the constitutional requirement to contest.
The statement read in part: “We are concerned by the report of an unconstitutional change made overnight by Justice F. F. Tabai (Rtd), National Electoral Committee (NELECO) of the Ijaw National Congress (INC) of its officially published disqualification of two aspirants in the election for the position of President of INC, two days to the election billed for Saturday, 7th March 2026.
“The change is widely suspected to be due to threats and pressures from interests behind the disqualified aspirants. This sudden reversal corrodes the integrity of the INC election process and threatens the legitimacy of the outcomes of the election if it goes on as scheduled.
“It also likely risks further fracturing of the umbrella body of Ijaws, and portends a substantial reversal of what gains the Ijaw Nationality may have made in recent ages.
“The arbitrary reinstatement of the disqualified aspirants as eligible candidates may also exhume several other deficiencies in the process that stakeholders have either protested previously or have been restraining themselves from flagging.”
To douse the tension, the governor of Bayelsa State, who is regarded as the Governor- General of the Ijaw nation, Senator Douye Diri, had convened a meeting on March 13, which had in attendance key organs of the Ijaw nation and the six candidates. After extensive deliberations, it was resolved that all court cases be withdrawn, and a 30-day window was agreed upon by all in attendance to resolve all grey areas for the election to hold.
Rather than pave the way for the election, the 30-day window has led to constitutional issues that have further thrown the apex organisation into chaos. Investigations revealed that a new date of April 13 for the election was decided without recourse to the key organs of the INC, including CITRE, and disregarding other unresolved grievances from some members, which CITRE was trying to resolve in line with its constitutional role.
King Dakolo, who heads CITRE, had convened a meeting of its members to deliberate on the INC election following several petitions, including one from a former Vice- President of INC, Charles Ambaiowei, which called on CITRE to save INC from “impaired process, constitutional infringement by NEC-INC and NRC-INC and other observed conflict of interest.”
After CITRE’s fruitful deliberations, it resolved that the election scheduled for Monday, April 13, should be temporarily suspended pending when CITRE, which is the appointing authority of NELECO, gives its go-ahead. It also set up a seven-man Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC) to mediate in the crisis. Letters were dispatched to Prof. Okaba and Justice Tabai, intimating them of the suspension of the election and the setting up of the DRC to resolve all lingering issues.
On the eve of the April 13 fixed election by NELECO and approved by Okaba, King Dakolo expressed concern that plans were being set in motion to disobey CITRE and go ahead with the election. According to him, there had been several constitutional breaches, including compromising the independence of the Electoral Committee by the Okabe-led NEC, leading to the election impasse, which does not paint the Ijaw nation in a good light. King Dakolo, while noting that all parties to the election had been briefed, disclosed that any gathering at the Ijaw House on Monday, April 13, would be illegal.
Findings indicated that Okaba decided to call the bluff of CITRE and declared that the attention would go on as planned. Okaba, in a telephone interview while admitting a role for CITRE in the INC Constitution, dismissed such roles as only “advisory.”
Other News
“Election is taking place. Any other voice should not be listened to. I don’t know when one King, the publicity secretary of the INC… CITRE has a role in INC, but it is only advisory. Their place is purely advisory, and we have to filter a lot of advice, and we came out with the best. The process is headed by a former Supreme Court Justice, Justice Tabai. Do you expect such a man to carry what is illegal? The answer is no. The people should discountenance what is being said. I am the head of INC, and whatever other person is doing is null and void and should be treated as such. Delegates and candidates are ready. King Dakolo is not a delegate,’’ Okaba said on the eve of the election.
Tabai had doubled up on Okaba’s claims when, in a letter to King Dakolo, he stated that the “N-Eleco does not require clearance from CITRE to carry out its Electoral mandate.
“The Eleco’s authority is clearly defined within the INC Constitution, and any attempt to impose additional requirements is unwarranted,” the former jurist said.
An independent check in the INC Constitution, however, punctured Okaba’s claims that CITRE’s role is limited to advisory.
For instance, under the functions of CITRE, section (d) stated that it shall appoint members of the Electoral Committee on the recommendations of the National Executive Council (NEC). Section (e) empowered CITRE to settle disputes arising from elections, while section (f) authorised it to ‘’settle disputes between members, officers and organs of congress.’’ It added that “the decision of CITRE shall be final in such disputes.’’
It is on the strength of the constitutional provisions that King Dakolo has declared that, in the eyes of CITRE, there was no election on April 13. According to him, when INC ran into election hitches in 2021, it was CITRE that conducted the election that brought in Prof Okaba.
The monarch, who frowned at the flagrant flouting of the directive that suspended the election, maintained that CITRE would not be part of any illegality and would ensure strict adherence to constitutional provisions in the interest of the Ijaw nation.
“As far as CITRE is concerned, there was no election on April 13 because the appointor had already instructed that everything be frozen, and that is the position. And if someone parades himself as President of INC, that is his cup of coffee. CITRE has already made its point clear that if anyone goes ahead to conduct the elections, it will be an effort in futility. Ijaw Nation and INC owe CITRE that due respect.
“CITRE is not about me. I am a King, and there are other Kings and eminent citizens of the Ijaw nation that are part of CITRE. And so CITRE has spoken,” he said.
For those resisting what they have described as the attempt to “capture”’ the INC, what played out at the Ijaw House on April 13 would make them more proactive in the quest to ensure the INC does not become an extension of former MEND leaders.
Based on the letter from CITRE, the Bayelsa State Commissioner of Police had deployed Policemen to Ijaw House, the venue of the election, to stop it from holding. However, a counter order from top security officials in Abuja forced the Bayelsa State Commissioner of Police to withdraw the policemen earlier deployed to the venue.
Further investigations revealed that delegates were given $500 and $1000 to vote, thereby giving credence to allegations that a huge war chest had been deployed to sway delegates.
The Ijaw Women’s Rights group, headed by former Federal Permanent Secretary, Dr. Timiebi Koripamo-Agary, has pleaded with all parties to exercise caution and resolve all disputes.
“All stakeholders – political leaders, traditional rulers, business leaders, youth constituencies, women leaders, and community voices, bear a collective responsibility to safeguard the integrity and credibility of the INC as the umbrella socio-cultural body of the Ijaw people.
“While efforts and appeals were made in good faith to encourage dialogue and adherence to due process, the discredited executive leadership of the INC has gone ahead with elections regardless. This development is deeply regrettable, unacceptable, and profoundly insulting to the collective sensibilities of the Ijaw people.”
As it stands, the election that produced Igbadiwei as President is now controversial; it is safe to conclude there is a stalemate in INC leadership. The concern now is how all the parties would agree to return to the dialogue table. The onus is now on Diri as the Governor-General of the Ijaw nation to salvage the INC before it breaks into factions and undermines the struggle of the Ijaw Nation.
