The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) on Tuesday called for
the creation of two additional states in the Niger Delta to give the Ijaw
people space to achiev their aspirations in the Nigerian federation
The President of the IYC, Eric Omare made the call
at Kaiama, home town of Late Major Adaka Boro in Kolokuma/Opukuma Local Government
Area of Baylesa during the golden anniversary celebration of demise
of the icon.
.
According to
the IYC leader, 50 years after Boro died while fighting for the freedom of his
people, the political fortune of the Ijaw people have not changed drastically.
He noted that Ijaws
are still balkanized into six different states mainly as minorities and
subjected to all sorts of politically suppression and oppression.
Omare also bemoaned
the situation where Nigeria now has thirty six states whereas the Ijaw people
who are the fourth largest ethnic nationality in Nigeria.
He said that the
situation persisted even when the Ijaws were the first to ask for state
creation through their late leader, Harold Dappa-Biriye at the London
constitutional conference still has only one homogenous state, Bayelsa.
“This is oppressive
and totally unacceptable to the Ijaw people especially considering the fact
that majority of the resources being used to fund the thirty six states of the
federation and the federal and local governments of the country are from the
Ijaw territory” Omare said.
.
On the way forward
and as a key demand of the Ijaw people on the quest for the restructuring of
the country, the IYC President called for the creation of two homogenous Ijaw
states.
He said the proposed
states, Toru-Ibe State for the Ijaw people of Ondo, Edo and Delta States on the
western flank. And Oil Rivers State for the Ijaw people of Akwa Ibom and
Rivers.
The states will
empoer Ijaws to freely express their political aspirations.
Omare stated that the
Ijaw areas covered by the proposed Toru-Ibe and Oil Rivers State are
geographical contiguous and linguistically homogenous.
He said the only way
restructuring can make sense to the Ijaw people is for these two states to be
created and this was a key part of the struggle of the Late Isaac Adaka Boro
while he was alive.
“It is sad that fifty
years after the demise of the late Adaka Boro, his dream of political autonomy
for the Ijaw people is yet to be fulfilled.
“It would be recalled
that the agitations of the late Adaka Boro led to the creation of the old
Rivers State in 1976,” Omare said.
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