*Gelegele Seaport: Obaseki insists on project, as Ijaw Elders pledge support*

The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has said there was no going back on the Gelegele Seaport project in the state, assuring that the rule of law, peace and order will be maintained in the state as government pursues its programmes and policies.

Obaseki said this when elders and leaders of thought from the five Ijaw clans in the state under the aegis of the Ijaw National Congress, Edo State, paid a courtesy call to the governor at the Government House, in Benin City.

Obaseki maintained that there is nothing greater than peace in any community, as it is under such condition that developmental goals of any society, state or nation are attained.

Noting that he was committed to the Gelegele Seaport project, he said his administration will ensure peace in the state to attract development to the people, especially the most disadvantaged in the state.

“Without the rule of law, peace and order in the state, none of us will have progress; none of us will realize our vision. We all should embrace peace to move the state forward in terms of development,” he said.

He noted that though disagreements are expected as one makes progress in life, the role of leadership or government is to resolve the issues that cause disagreement or differences in an amicable way and avert chaos.

“If we as a people have built structures to foster development, most of the issues that have led to the agitation of the past few months will not have occurred in the first place. The core issue is that of development, access to good quality life,” he stressed.

Obaseki said the focus of his administration is to create an enabling environment for development that will make life meaningful for the Edo people, adding, “my priority is to move development to every part of Edo State, make life meaningful and worth living for the citizens of the state. I am determined to ensure that I increase the pace of development in the most disadvantaged areas in the state.”

Earlier, the leader of the Ijaw group, Rev. Christopher Dime, whose speech was delivered by Mr. Edmund Doyah-Tiemo, complained of their marginalization and oppression over the years. He stressed that the Ijaws are in three local government council in the state and this has hampered their progress as a people.

He expressed appreciation to Governor Obaseki and lauded his efforts to open up the area inhabited by the Ijaws, especially through the proposed Gelegele seaport and assured of their full support.

A POSITION PAPER PRESENTED TO HIS EXCELLENCY MR. GODWIN N. OBASEKI, GOVERNOR OF EDO STATE BY THE ELDERS AND LEADERS OF THOUGHT FROM THE FIVE IJAW KINGDOMS OF EDO STATE AND THE LEADERSHIP OF THE IJAW NATIONAL CONGRESS, EDO STATE CHAPTER ON FRIDAY, 5 JANUARY, 2018.
We, the elders and leaders from the five IJAW kingdoms of Edo state, namely; Egbema, Olodiama, Furupagha, Okomu, and Gbaran, have come in response to the Governor's gracious invitation for dialogue concerning the crisis generated by the derogatory press statement made by the Edo State Government and the Bini Traditional Council on the coronation of the Pere of Olodiama Kingdom.
Before, we begin, we want to make it bundantly clear that we adopt in their entirety all the publications made by various IJAW groups and the entire IJAW Nation as representing our position on the plight of the Ijaws of Edo State.[/b]
Firstly, we would like to thank your EXCELLENCY for the invitation and wish your EXCELLENCY and your Government Happy, peaceful and prosperous 2018.
Secondly, we "appreciate" your Excellency for the statements on the coronation of the Pere of Olodiama Kingdom, because those statements have brought to the limelight the injustice, marginalization and oppression the Ijaws of Edo State have suffered over the years in the hands of successive Government of Edo State and the Bini Monarch.
As a matter of principle, we desire to live and co-exist with our neighbors peacefully based on love and mutual respect for one another.
However, in Edo State we the Ijaws have been balkanized into three (3) Local Government Areas with the intention of making us politically irrelevant as we find ourselves as insignificant minorities in each of the three (3) Local Government Areas namely; Ovia South West, Ovia North East and Ikpoba Okha Local Government Areas into which we have been balkanized.
Beyond that, we have been derogatorily and variously referred to as migrants, settlers, strangers and tenants in our God given ancestral lands.
Attempts are being made to deny and deprived us of our inalienable right to choose and install our traditional rulers in our ancestral lands.Successive Governments acting on the prompting of the Bini Traditional Council have deliberately denied the Ijaw kingdoms in Edo State their right to development.We are therefore not surprised that Barr. Osarodion Ogie the current Secretary to the Edo State Government became the mouth piece of the Bini Traditional Council on the issue of the Coronation of the Pere of Olodiama Kingdom.
OUR POSITION:
The position of the five IJAW kingdoms of Edo State is as follows-:
1. We have been living in our ancestral lands centuries before the amalgamation of Northern and Southern Nigeria in 1914. We are the aborigines of Edo State; we are no slaves to anyone; we not migrants neither are we settlers nor tenants to anybody. WE LIVE ON OUR ANCESTRAL AND GOD GIVEN LAND.
2. We are linguistically, culturally and geographical distinct from the Binis. We have our own traditional rulers to whom we owe allegiance and loyalty. Our communities and kingdoms had no links whatsoever to the Benin Kingdom until recently.
OUR DEMANDS
[b]1. We demand for the Edo State Government recognition of the traditional institutions of the Five IJAW kingdoms of Edo State such that the traditional rulers be recognized and given staff of office.
2. We demand in the interim for the immediate creation of three (3) Community Development Areas respectively as it is in Lagos and Bayelsa States.
3. We demand that these three community Development Areas once created should be made a house of Assembly Constituency in Edo State.
4. We demand for the creation of a separate Local Government Council Area and amalgamation of all the five IJAW kingdoms to be administered by the Local Government Area instead of the present three Local Government Areas into which they have been balkanized. After all, these kingdoms are all contiguous one to another especially by river transportation.
These demands are in line with the Federal Government Constituent Assembly report of 1988-1989, vol 2 page 492, where it was recommended that the Ijaw people in Ovia Local Government Area deserve a Local Government Area based on the criteria of (I) Riverine location (ii) Inaccessibility (iii) Not truly assimilated by the Bini (iv) Denied development ( inland based government) (v) Very rich in natural resources (vi) High Population.[/b]
The issue of non assimilation which was identified in the Constituent Assembly report of 1988-1989 is still the same reoccurring factor responsible for the friction between the Ijaws of Edo State and the Binis up till now and the only solution still remains the creation of separate administrative units for the Ijaws of Edo State.
We are Ijaw people and we detest and firmly reject any attempt by the Oba of Benin to appoint and / or impose persons with alien or strange tittles such as Odionwere, Enogie and Okao etcetera, as representatives of the Oba of Benin in our communities.
The Oba of Benin cannot appoint any person to represent his interest and the Bini Traditional institutions in any of the Five IJAW Kingdoms in Edo State.
We must put on record that the Ijaw nation has hierarchy in leadership. Therefore, we are surprised that your Excellency decided to invite your political appointees as representing the Ijaws of Edo State in a matter as serious as this.
For the avoidance of doubt, the Ijaw National Congress and IJAW Council of Traditional Rulers, Chiefs and Elders are the highest level of leadership and Youth Council as the youth mouth piece.Be that as it may, we the Ijaws of Edo State are law abiding citizens and will continue to maintain that status.
Long live the Ijaws of Edo State
Long live the Ijaw Nation
Long live Edo State
Signed:
Rev. Prof. C.A. Dime
Mr. Edmund Doyah-Tiemo
Rev. Dr. (Col.Rtd) Joel G. Jibor
Chief Macaulay Ayiwe
Hon. Godwin Wuluku
Chief Sunny Ajele
Hon. A. P. Ebello
Chief Gaius Uruopa
Barr. Chief Robinson Esite
Chief Robinson Ogunkoru
Engr. Pius Donyegha
Hon. Engr. Donben Donyegha
Dcn Ebifagha Kiyah



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