₦airaland Forum

Kobojunkie:
I am just being frank!

Jakumo:
You would join tha army too, if those 70 virgins were assured in the event you stopped a martyrdom bullet.

The Systematic Destruction Of The Ijaw
Written by Sabella Ogbobode Abidde
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
STATEMENT ISSUED BY IJAW ELDERS AND LEADERS AT THE AFTERMATH OF THE UNPROVOKED MILITARY ATTACK ON IJAW COMMUNITIES IN WARRI SOUTH WEST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF DELTA STATE

At the aftermath of the unprovoked attack on Ijaw communities in Gbaramatu kingdom of Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State the Ijaw nation wishes to state with emphatic unequivocation the following:

a) That the deployment of highly supplicated military weaponry and arsenal to engage hapless villages and towns in aerial and amphibious bombardment in a scale never ever witnessed in even the Nigerian civil war is callous, inhuman, dastardly, barbaric and insensitive. We condemn this unprovoked attack in the strongest term possible.

b) The burning, destruction, complete razing of Okerenkoko, Oporoza, Kunukunuma, Peretorukorigbene, Kurutie and many other communities and the killing and maiming of innocent people including women and children amount to systemic annihilation of an ethnic race and this is simply genocide. It therefore deserves international condemnation.

c) Nigeria, in the comity of nations, is a highly respected country in International Peace Keeping operations where its proficiency even in the most challenging circumstances restrained it from the deployment of such supplicated weaponry in the weight and scale as was deployed to attack the Ijaw communities. It is therefore a travesty of justice and totally incomprehensible that the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) which primary task is to restore hope and bring peace to the troubled Niger Delta region decided to employ such highly sophisticated weaponry to kill and maim innocent fellow citizens. This, in our estimation is a clearly premeditated attack, conceived, planned and executed with the light of speed not even enforced in normal war situation.

d) The Ijaw ethnic nation contributes more than 70% of Nigeria’s wealth. We appear to be a people who have become victims of our own wealth by the use of sophisticated military hardware bought with our own petro-naira to kill our people.

e) It is indeed criminal, unjustified, inconsiderate and callous to declare full military operations on communities in the guise of undertaking a search and rescue mission for hostages and missing personnel whereas it is common knowledge that hostages and hijacked vessels are secured within the precinct of militant camps and not villages inhabited by innocent people. This is nothing but a deeply contemplated systemic killing of the Ijaw people in furtherance of the age-long crave by sections of this country to either forcefully relocate us or make the Ijaw identity extinct in the Nigerian map with a view to taking over full possession of our natural resources.

f) The Ijaw ethnic nation appeals to the United Nations Organisation to set up a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the circumstances surrounding this latest assault and killing of hapless and innocent people since we do not foresee the possibility of justice from a Nigerian government commissioned inquiry.

g) The Ijaw ethnic nation demands that those found responsible by the Inquiry should be tried at the International Court of Justice for acts of genocide.

h) The Ijaw ethnic nation in tandem with our earlier stand wish to call for the immediate withdrawal of the Joint Military Task Force and its personnel from the Ijaw land. The JTF has become more of an occupation force in our land and not advancing the course of peace.

i) The Ijaw ethnic nation calls on the Federal Government to take full responsibility for the rebuilding of all destroyed towns and communities and the immediate resettlement of all displaced people.

j) The Ijaw ethnic nation calls on the Federal Government to immediately order its troops to stop chasing and harassing innocent Ijaw sons and daughters in their own land for no reason.

k) Whereas as an ethnic nationality we have suffered decades of deprivation and neglect in the hands of Nigeria’s ruling tripod, the Ijaw elders have continually maintained that no arms combat can earn the Ijaw struggle its desired outcome. It is futile and counter-productive to continue the arms struggle as a strategy to emancipate the Ijaw nation from the present economic strangulation and neglect. We therefore call on our youth to take advantage of the amnesty pledged by Mr. President to surrender their arms.

l) The Ijaw ethnic nation appeals to all youths to sheath their sword and avoid further escalation of military combat since there is no better alternative to dialogue in conflict resolution. We want peace to seek the course of international arbitration and justice as the most plausible way to resolving the intractable crises in Ijaw land. Therefore we call on our combating children to exercise maximum restraint and cease further hostilities forthwith.

m) The Ijaw people are peace loving, law abiding and loyal citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who, like people from other parts of this country, abhor criminality. The generalisation and characterization of the youths’ militant actions as inherent characteristic peculiar to the Ijaws is therefore unkind, unfair, discriminating, and unacceptable. As a people we condemn the nefarious criminal activities like hostage taking and hijacking indulged in by some of the youth which has negatively impacted on the development strides of the various governments on our land and demand that those involved should be arrested and prosecuted in accordance with the laws of the country.

Signed for and On behalf of the Ijaw Nation:

Dr. A. W. Obianime

President, Ijaw National Congress (INC)

Chief (Dr.) Edwin K. Clark, OFR, CON

Ijaw National Leader


http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/sabella-o-abidde/the-systematic-destruction-of-the.html

romeo:
Obughi m!!! onwere ka Romeo siri were di ka Toshmann? Mba!!

romeo:
Where are the Tigers?

You are welcome!! We have done it before and we are going to do it again for you my sister. You're in the right place.

phantom:
This man is into serious people oriented projects.I grew up in ph and trust me i have not seen it like this before, I swear!Its unprecedented and scary.I cant believe this man is a nigerian governor.Diete spiff was the last gov. with such a vision, Dont criticise without seeing for yourself.Before rotimi became gov,i said rivers was doomed because i saw him as a continuation of his boss, I am eating my words now!I am a born critique as dirty as they get but to God, This one pass me.Maybe only p-towners will appreciate what hes doing just like only lagosians will appreciate the new oshodi!

blacksta:
|@poster


what is your beef with yoruba people. I am yoruba can you state your demands.

Kobojunkie:
lol . . . @Asha, I have it from reliable sources that the reason why Oshiomole has yet to fix the road is because the state bugdet was passed only last week _{( nevermind that the money left over from the last governor for that road is probably still out there to be investigated)}

ddonobi:
@ asha 80
haba, how much is the monthly allocation. you can only judge a state by what it gets. about N2 billion monthly? and u want them to pay salaries of over 40,000 staff strength and still develop all the cities? na wa o! na magic? nwayo nwayo,biko!

honeric01:
no one is saying he didnt steal the money, but then, federal road is federal road, so they can always use that as an excuse. by the way, Igbinedion is not different from Nnamani and co,

ddonobi:
the thing is that u might not really appreciate owerri if u dnt know how it was. Owerri was dirty, I mean very, very, very dirty!!!! But today, its so neat that it won the cleanest city in Nigeria last year. Thats the spirit. You are welcome anytime!

honeric01:
Yea, sure, i can never be igbo because i am a Bini dude, that said, was the asaba benin road done by the igbos

the ondo-benin road (note it, it's called lagos-ore road) has been like that going to like 10 years now, so if truly any part of the country wanted it fixed, it would have been fixed.

as it is now, if it was possible for these 2 states to fix, it would have been fixed, so since it cant be fixed by just 2 of them, why cant the whole states making use of it come together and find a solution

honeric01:
Man, you need help, i knew you were going to bring in tribalistic comments into this, wait a minute? do you even know if i am ibo? uhm, pity

biina:
So the train will only stop in Lagos and Kano? It would not pass through the same middle belt regions? BTW do the cattle also come from the middle belt too?
Its thinking like this that bar the nation from moving forward. You fail to see anything positive in a project the moment you cannot relate it to a direct benefit for your own ethnicity.
If you were from Kano, you would likely be singing a different tune.

ChinenyeN:
No, I don't know the history of those two, but does that have an effect on the idea itself?

ddonobi:
tell me who the fool is, the man who encourages a hard worker to work well or the critic who just sees no good in hardwork. Ohakim is doing fine and good. Why hasnt the PDP cacus impeached him or even fought him, yet he's a PPA man; party wise. I only pray u get into power 2moro, Mr. Iyke mann. Imo is a confirmation of a working governor. I dnt work for ohakim, neither do i have any relationship with him. Imo State is a testimony today! I'm sure if u ask this same iykeman, he would criticise all the governor including my Mr. President. I just feel for dis no good for nothing Nigerian. All u do is pull down and castigate your brothers, tell me one thing u have ever supported. U should be hanged!

ChinenyeN:
What exactly is so bad about this idea?

Kobojunkie:
So there are really people out there who do not mind an [b]empty / under-used 400 million dollar airport/[/b] port/ 10-lane highway etc?

JJYOU:
i give up on you. you wont answer a simple question. keep deluding your self that you have half naija economy in your onitsha. i know onitsha from way back 80's you cant convince me trade or no trade it has a bigger economy than ibadan. even if ibadan was trading on only pure water and and ogi.

if you have access to any one in the know they will tell you that cbn has a sectoral breakdown of the economy state by state monthly. i know you will tell me there is volume cash trading outside the banking sector in onitsha. would that law apply in ibadan? stop saying things you dont know. i dont understand why some of you think you know everything. that is how you all ruined that blessed land.

if you have 300 x 300 in your village they can drop a little aerodrome there cos you all need it you know.

have a good day