IYC Warns Against Smear Campaign, Ethnic Crisis

Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa 

The umbrella body of Ijaw youths worldwide, Ijaw Youths Council (IYC), has warned against plot by some individuals to embark on smear campaigns and devious acts capable of throwing the fold of the National Association of Professional Divers (NAPD) and its associates into crisis.

The Chairman, IYC Central Zone, Comrade Perekosufa Ineife, alleged at a news conference in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, that some identified members of the NADP and their associates who are of Urhobo origin from Delta State were victimising, maligning and intimidating the legitimate leaders of Ijaw extraction in the NAPD.

Ineife warned them and their willing actors including diving companies and institutions, to desist from all further harassment, defamation and intimidation directed towards an Ijaw son, Mr Yamboizibe Dickson, the legitimate and rightful President of the NAPD and his associates.

Ineife warned: “It has come to our attention that some persons from Urhobo in Delta State and their cronies have been engaged in a continuous pattern of behaviour designed to attack, blackmail and victimize our sons. This behaviour is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

“These patterns of malicious behaviour towards our sons include but are not limited to intimidation. Some persons hiding behind the instrument of Delta State chapter have continuously attacked, written secret letters to companies and government agencies to disregard and not to recognise Yamboizibe Dickson as the President of the National Association of Professional Divers.”

He further cautioned against alleged harassment and attempt to arrest Dickson for participating in the 2021 election in Delta State. 

He said they had colluded with companies and institutions to victimize and frustrate their career, run them out of jobs, make defamatory statements and publications in national dailies and targeting them with petitions and smear campaigns.

He also alleged that the ongoing intimidation included the initiation of multiple lawsuits in different states against Dickson and threat to life of one of his close associates from Bayelsa.

Perekosufo claimed: “It is well known fact that one of the instigators threatened to kill a Bayelsa man in 2021 and the matter was reported to the DSS, Commissioner of Police Bayelsa State, JTF headquarters in Bayelsa as well as to the then Minister of State for Labour, Festus Keyamo (SAN), who called for an investigation, after which he begged and called for a peace meeting in Delta State.”