2019: Ijaw Leaders Threaten To Reject Anti-restructuring Candidates

After hours of deliberation, Ijaw leaders rose from a meeting at the Kiagbodo country home of Chief Edwin Clark with a definite position on the raging call to restructure the country – to support pro-restructuring candidate in next year’s presidential election.

They resolved that any candidate without sincere belief and genuine commitment to restructuring should perish the idea of seeking their ballot in the election.

The meeting was attended by Clark; Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson; Delta State Deputy Governor Kingsley Otuaro; former Aviation Minister Alabo Graham Douglas and former Police Affairs Minister Broderick Bozimo

Others include: Ambassador Godknows Igali; Prof. Dagogo Fubara; Prof Nimi Briggs; Prof Joe Ajienka; Prof C. Dime; Prof Steve Azaiki; Dr. Pius Sinebe; Chief Wellington Okrika and Bayelsa State Commissioner for Culture & Ijaw Affairs, Dressy Dressman.

They include: Dan Ekpebide; Chief PY Baipara; Joel Bisina; Chief David Pere; Chief Robinson Ogunkoru; Pastor Imeleye Emmanuel; Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) President Rowland Pereotubo; Bishop Godwin Soroaye; Chief Francis Doupkolagha; Chief TK Okorotie; Justice Francis Tabai; government functionaries, National Assembly members, royal fathers and other leaders of thought. Governor Dickson, who briefed reporters after the meeting which lasted four hours, Dickson said that the leaders took a critical look at restructuring and took further steps to reaffirm their position that the issue remained a matter of survival to the Ijaw people.

A statement signed by the governor’s Special Adviser on Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, said the leaders vowed to reject anti-restructuring presidential candidates.

It said the decision was unanimously taken at the meeting in Kiagbodo, Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State.

Dickson was among the leaders, who attended the meeting.

The leaders urged President Muhammadu Buhari to demonstrate the political will and ensure the restructuring of the country before the 2019 elections.

They insisted on a “restructured country within the context of a corporate, united and peaceful Nigeria that guarantees equal right for all.”

According to them, only restructuring could guarantee peace in the country.

The statement quoted Dickson as saying that the 2019 election would be a referendum on restructuring with its derivatives of resource control, devolution of power, state police and fiscal federalism.

He said: “Restructuring is about our existence as a people, it is not about APC or PDP. We as Ijaws, want a Nigeria that is fair, just and equitable and this is what restructuring represents.”

According to Dickson, the leaders commended the Governor Nasir El Rufai-led All Progressives Congress (APC) Committee on Restructuring for making far-reaching recommendations on the burning issue.

He said the leaders, called on the APC and President Buhari to show the requisite courage to ensure the implementation of the committee’s report before the 2019 elections to proof their sincerity.

The governor said that the leaders urged Buhari to show statesmanship and the courage to commence a process of legislation to implement the party’s position on restructuring.

The leaders also set up a committee to present a coherent position on the restructuring from the Ijaw point of view.

The committee which has five representatives each from the three Ijaw zones of the west, the central and the east was given three weeks to submit its reports.

The statement said: “Leaders of Thought of the Ijaw Nation held an emergency meeting at the country home of Ijaw National Leader, Chief Edwin Clark, Kiagbodo.

“We have discussed a lot of issues ranging from the need for peace and stability in the Ijaw communities, the Niger Delta and the Nigerian Federation.

“We have also examined the subject matter of restructuring. People shouldn’t play politics with the issue of restructuring. It is about the survival and well-being of our people, it is about the stability of Nigeria. It is far more beyond politics. The Ijaws are passionate about it.

“We commend all Nigerians from wherever they come from who are in support of his issue of restructuring.

“Concerning the recommendations of the APC committee; we call for sincere commitment; we call on the President to lead the charge to restructure the country which will lead to an equitable just and fair Nigeria.

“A high powered committee had been set up on this issue of restructuring, the APC report and other matters.”

Clark said the issue of restructuring was beyond politicking, insisting that any presidential candidate opposed to restructuring would face rejection in Ijaw land during the election.