By FrontLine Akwa Ibom Movement (FAIME)
PRESS STATEMENT
Our attention has been drawn to a news item on Vanguard Newspaper of
August 21, 2014 by a group claiming to be Ijaw Youth Council, (IYC)
Worldwide.
The report which is based on a statement signed by one Eric Omare, who claims to be the spokesperson of IYC, attempted to cast
aspersion on the former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Victor
Attah, former Minister of Lands and Housing, Chief Nduese Essien and
indeed Akwa Ibom Caucus to the 2014 National Conference.
Mr. Omare
insulting statement against Akwa Ibom Caucus to the 2014 National
Conference reads in part, “The petitioners are not part of the proposed
state; hence they lack the locus to oppose the creation of Oil Rivers
State. Therefore, we call on the relevant authorities to disregard the
protest as the proposed Oil Rivers State deserves to be created on
merit.
“We wish to make it abundantly clear that anybody or
group of people opposing the creation of homogenous Ijaw states for the
Ijaw people of Akwa Ibom and Rivers State on the one hand, and the Ijaw
people of Delta, Edo and Ondo states on the other, are threats to the
existence of Ijaw people.
“And we are ready to take any step to
protect our existence. The IYC would not sit back and allow Ijaw people
to be politically and economically oppressed and suffocated in Akwa
Ibom, Rivers, Delta, Edo and Ondo states.”
While we do not
intend to join issues with the IYC over its spurious claims or be
bothered by its empty threats against perceived opponents to the
creation of an Oil Rivers State for Ijaw people, we, however, wish to
use this medium to put the records straight.
Nigerians and the
world have not forgotten the role played by some criminal elements in
the killing of thousands of innocent people of the Niger Delta region
under the guise of militancy and Niger Delta struggle.
Nobody
is in any doubt about the genesis of the touted militancy in the once
peaceful oil-rich region where the people hitherto engaged both the
government and oil majors in constructive dialogue as well as the
ignoble roles prominent politicians in the Ijaw areas and IYC members
played in the carnage that later engulfed the region.
We have
not also forgotten that those who led in the killings and who supervised
the devastation of hundreds of communities and engaged in oil theft,
vandalism of oil pipelines, kidnapping and hostage taking, armed
robbery, piracy, pickpocketting and sundry crimes were not only former
leaders but are still members of the IYC.
Under normal
circumstances, people who killed and maimed women and children and who
raped young and old women and plunder communities at peace time are
supposed to face the full weight of national and international law.
It is indeed unfortunate that the leaders and members of identified
criminal gangs, who would have been sent to the International Criminal
Court (ICC) to face charges for crimes against humanity, are now
enjoying Presidential Amnesty and running amok in search of new
frontiers for plunder.
Today, Akwa Ibom which is currently the
largest oil producing state in the country has not benefitted from the
Amnesty programme of the Federal Government because our youth refused to
be recruited into the notorious gangs and ragtag militia groups that
unleashed terror on Niger Delta people and communities and would not
also allow them use even an inch of Akwa Ibom soil for their dirty
campaigns.
Today, Akwa Ibom people and communities who employed
the techniques of constructive engagement and who abhorred violence in
resolving the long years of environmental pollution by multinational oil
companies and neglect by succeeding governments in Nigeria have been
excluded from a multi-billion dollar Amnesty Project while criminals who
kill people and plunder the region are sent to some of the best schools
and institutions all over the world, for training. To the chagrin of
respectable people, Illiterate criminals and their cohorts now implement
multi-billion contracts and live large because they come from a
particular ethnic group in the Niger Delta region.
While we
will continue to pursue peace in the Niger Delta region and support the
cause of a united Nigeria, we wish to warn IYC and any other group for
that matter, not to take the peaceful disposition of Akwa Ibom people
for granted.
The elders and people of Akwa Ibom State are not
opposed to the creation of Oil Rivers or any other state for Ijaw
people. But we will not allow an inch of Akwa Ibom land to be excised
for the purpose of creating a state for Ijaw people and we will employ
every legal means to resist any attempt by groups such as IYC to
blackmail our leaders.
The world watched with stark disbelief
as IYC leaders and members displayed sheer savagery by beating up
traditional rulers, insulting elders and executing their families during
attacks and counter attacks between 2004-2010. Akwa Ibom youth are
law-abiding people who have tremendous respect for elders and
constituted authority.
Even when they have been provoked by the
IYC’s diatribe against their leaders, our youth are proud to identify
with foremost Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, who in a letter dated
August 12, disowned the purported attempt by some Ijaw fifth columnists
to annex parts of Akwa Ibom State to form a new state for themselves.
Part of the letter titled, “OIL RIVERS STATE,” which was addressed to
the Chairman of the Conference, Justice Idris Kutigi, reads, “Our
attention has been drawn to documents circulating in the Conference
concerning the composition of the proposed ‘Oil Rivers State’ with some
parts of Akwa Ibom State as constituting the proposed state.
“This is at variance with the Conference decision of the Committee on
Restructuring and Forms of Government. The Conference decision as
correctly reflected on page 281 (b) of the draft report was that ‘the
third state to be created in the South-South zone will be named later
along with its state capital.’ At no time was a decision taken to
include any part of Akwa Ibom State in the proposed ‘Oil Rivers State.’
“Kindly expunge every reference to Akwa Ibom State in the proposed ‘Oil
Rivers State’ from your final Report and Draft Constitution as this may
have been done in error and does not reflect the position of the
South-South zone on the issue.”
We also wish to bring to the
attention of IYC and the promoters of the proposed Oil Rivers State, the
advertorial published by the leaders and representatives of Ibeno Local
Government Area of Akwa Ibom State on the Nation Newspaper of August
21, titled, OPEN LETTER TO THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE LEADERSHIP AND
MEMBERS: PROPOSED OIL RIVERS STATE, PLEASE COUNT IBENO OUT.
In
the advertorial, the leaders of Ibeno disassociated themselves totally
from the move to balkanize Akwa Ibom State and advanced strong reasons
for their action. They clearly speak the minds of the people of Ibeno
and reject the attempted annexation of Akwa Ibom land for the purpose of
serving the gratuitous and annexationist tendencies of IYC and their
promoters.
It is, therefore, curious to think that the
proponents of an Oil Rivers State did not consult with the people they
intended to bring into the new state but rather indulged in blackmail
and endless cries of marginalization.
It is also on record that
at no time did Ijaw leaders within and outside the chamber of the
National Conference engaged the leaders and people of Akwa Ibom in a
discuss over the creation of an Oil Rivers State or any state for that
matter.
We, therefore, use this medium to warn the IYC and Ijaw
third columnists to stop misappropriating the goodwill of the Niger
Delta people towards President Goodluck Jonathan and other respected
leaders of Ijaw extraction.
The Niger Delta region is made up
of homogenous people with deep cultural and ancestral ties and nobody or
group should attempt to live in a false fantasy that the region belongs
to them.
We are prepared to defend the lands, the resources
and the people of Akwa Ibom State against annexationist groups and
interest and nobody should test our will.
IYC should concern itself
with the multi-billion Amnesty Funds that it has cornered as an Ijaw
patrimony and leave Akwa Ibom and its people alone.
Those, whose kernels were cracked for them by benevolent spirits, should not forget to be humble. A word to the wise is enough.
Ibanga Isine
Anietie Akpan
President Secretary General
August 24, 2014
FRONTLINE AKWA IBOM MOVEMENT is a Pan Akwa Ibom group totally dedicated
to the protection and preservation of the rich heritage of Akwa Ibom
people and the promotion of democracy and good governance in Nigeria.
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