Ijaw youths suspend planned protests against NDDC

The leadership of the Ijaw Youths Council Worldwide comess out openly to discuss plans to put all planned protests against the appointment of Effiong Akwa as the sole Administrator of the Niger Delta Development Commission on hold.

This is as the body condemned what it described as “on-going violence and gun battle” in Peremabiri, the community of an ex-militant leader, Paul Eris, alias Ogunboss, in Southern Ijaw Local Government area of Bayelsa State.

The IYC President, Peter Igbifa, in a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Monday, said the council has scheduled a stakeholders’ meeting to discuss issues affecting the region including the current management structure of NDDC, and would come up with an action plan.

“The situation in Peremabiri calls for urgent interventions by all stakeholders’. We are in touch with the security formations and hope to return to Peremabiri. Residents of that community have abandoned their homes out of fear and fled to bushes and other neighboring communities.

“The IYC is ready to collaborate with security agencies and stakeholders of the community to bring an end to this repeated uglies in that Community. We are also using this medium to warn our youths to desist from criminality and violence,” Igbifa stated.

He said the gathering would also discuss issues surrounding the proposed formation of a regional security outfit to tackle emerging threats to peace in the Niger Delta, especially in Ijaw communities.

“We call on all Ijaw youths to desist from actions and protest capable of stoking tensions and undermining economic activities in the region. We also call on our respected youths not to lend themselves as a tool of destabilization and disunity at a time when we should rather set Agenda for the year 2021,” he said.