IYC Accuses Tinubu of Alleged Political Alienation of Ijaws in His Govt

Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa

The umbrella body of Ijaw youths, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), has accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of suffocating and alienating the Ijaw people in his government.

IYC also reiterated their earlier call to the president not to make the mistake of appointing non-Ijaw as the Amnesty Programme Coordinator.

A statement signed by its spokesman, Benabia Princewill, said while the body would not banter words with our sister tribes that are also suffering same issues of deprivation, the Niger Delta Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) is not like any other ministry or commission like the NDDC or Niger Delta Ministry.

The statement stated that the Ijaws solely paid the price for the establishment of the PAP and have been magnanimous in accommodating other tribes in the  programme so far, “hence we are confident that President Tinubu will not make the mistake of appointing a non-Ijaw as its coordinator.

“The Ijaw Youth Council have been keenly following political developments of the Tinubu-led federal government, and so far we are beginning to see that the government is exhibiting high level of hatred against the Ijaw people, and we will not continue to keep quiet forever. 

We cannot continue to talk about peace when the necessary ingredients of peace such as fairness, equity and justice are not there.

It said: “Before us, Adokiye Tombomieye was removed from the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) and was replaced with someone from another tribe in the Niger Delta, also, similar thing happened in the Local Content Development Board.

“Few months ago, the Tinubu government surreptitiously sold Agip Oil Company to its crony (Oando) without following the normal processes. Our people are not holding any key offices in any of the MDAs.

“Again, they are trying to collaborate with the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited to sell the company to a consortium owned by cronies of the Federal Government of Nigeria without cleaning our environment, an evil the IYC has spoken against and will follow up to the later until the Ijaws and Niger Deltans are given the rights of first refusal. Our people must be included otherwise this purported sale will not work.”

The council said it believed and hoped that the critical message from the  Ijaw  people would get to the president  and other critical stakeholders in the polity.