Ijaw youths threatens to secede, ask military to withdraw from Ijaw communities.

• Condemns killing of military officer

• Bringing communities under Military Siege is not the Solution

The leadership of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) in Central zone on Monday, has threatened to secede out of Nigeria if the Nigerian state fails to heed calls to restructuring and the practice of true federalism.

The newly-elected Chairman of IYC, Central Zone, Mr Tare Porri, made the statements to journalist while raising alarm over an alleged invasion of communities in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State by soldiers attached to the Joint Task Force (JTF), which has crippled the economic activities of the people.

Bodmasnewsblog gathered, that innocent members of Ijaw communities between Delta and Bayelsa states boundary, along the Forcados River are being harassed by the Nigerian military. Communities such as Bomadi, Tuomo, Tamigbe, Bilabiri, Toru-Ndoro, Bulu-Ndoro, Ogbugbagebne, Ojobo, Torugbene, Letugbene and other communities along the Forcados River have been under heavy military siege, as movement of residents of these communities have been highly restricted and economic activities paralyzed.

One Mr. Suka Andy, a community Chairman, Yerekeme H. Afamukoro, communities Vice Chairman, and Ebikadumene Afesuku, Youth President, all of Toru-Ndoro community of Bayelsa State are now under military custody, also a similar action was taken by the military in Bulu-Ndoro community of Delta State where the community Chairman, Miebibo Agumu was also arrested.

There are also reports of sporadic shooting, maiming and invasion to Letugbene community in faraway Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, by the Mikitary in a suspected search of the killers of the Soldier and carting away of a General Purpose Machine Gun belonging to the army, at Ogbogbagene community in Delta state, a neighbouring community to Ekeremor LGA in Bayelsa state.

We also learnt that residents have deserted their ancestral homes to take refuge in the bush, angry military men invaded Letugbene shooting sporadically threatening to burn down the house of a traditional Chief of the community.

One Mr. Philip Kase, a former officer of IYC was attacked on the Ogbugbagbene to Bomadi road and his car badly damaged.

The newly-elected Chairman of IYC, Central Zone, Mr Tare Porri, told journalists in Yenagoa that many of the women and children affected by the action of the military are now residing in the bushes.

Describing the attack on the military as unacceptable, Porri, a lawyer, stressed that molesting the women and children in the communities was equally condemnable, as there was no basis for invading an entire community and arresting people indiscriminately in the guise of looking for suspected criminals, adding that the military only applies this tactics in the Niger Delta region especially Ijaw communities.

“We condemn the act (soldier’s murder) in its entirety, but the military should not also take the laws into their hands by invading the communities. As we are talking, the five communities have been invaded. This will call for serious crisis, if they continue like this, we know our boys and we would no longer be able to guarantee peace in the region.

“While we condemn the action of those who perpetrated this evil, we are also against the action or inaction of the Nigerian military molesting women and children.

“As I speak with you, most of the communities have been sacked by soldiers, some of them are in the bush and some of them have moved out of the communities,” he said.

The Chairman who was flanked by other executive members of the IYC, called for the intervention of the Chief of Army Staff before the crisis would escalate.

“The idea of continued invasion is unacceptable to the Ijaw nation and we appeal to the Chief of Army Staff to intervene because the moment it gets beyond this level, we cannot guarantee the needed peace in this country.
“The Ijaw people are not weak, we are law-abiding. We will support the military to fish out those bad eggs, but this is not the best approach. Investigate and bring the perpetrators to book, not going from community to community to intimidate our people.

“It is not those women who carried out the attack. Businesses have been shut down. The entire routes have been shut down. OPDS commander should call his men to order. We are under military siege,” Porri said.

Efforts to get the reaction of the military were not immediately fruitful as the JTF spokesman in the region, Major Abubakar Abdullahi, could not be reached.

Mr. Porri while thanking leaders of the Ijaw Nation and immediate chairman of the zone, Comr. Bobo OWOUPELE, for ensuring a free, fair and peaceful polls, also sent stern warning to those adding Ijaws to the Biafran territory, noting that the Niger Delta struggle predates that of Biafra.

" Ijaws are not part of Biafra, biafra is within the territory of Niger Delta and not the other way around.

Our agitations predates that of biafra, Ijaw people are not in anyway in the biafran map, Isaac Boro began his revolution before biafra was conceived, Ijaw nation is on their own, and we are calling for our own nation which we will not deviate if the Nigerian state fails to heed calls to restructuring and the practice of true federalism", he said.

Meanwhile, the National Secretary of IYC, Comr. Alfred Kemepado, has called on the Nigeria Military to withdraw their soldiers and adopt other measures that would not be considered as an affront to the people.