The new President of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Mr. Miabiye Kuromiema, has declared that Dr. Goodluck Jonathan may be the last President of Nigeria, if the clamour by Ijaw people and other ethnic nationalities for restructuring of Nigeria, along the principle of true federalism continue to fall on deaf ears.
The IYC which also condemned zoning of political offices, especially the Presidency, said the Ijaws might be forced to return to the creeks, if Jonathan is denied the opportunity to rule the country as elected President.
Kuromiema stated these yesterday at the inauguration of the fifth administration of the IYC, at Alfred Diete-Spiff Civic Centre, Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
The colourful event had as the special guest of honour, President Jonathan, who was represented by his Special Adviser on Parastatals, Statutory Bodies and Inter-governmental Affairs, Mr. Braeyi Ekiye; the Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, who was represented by his deputy, Tele Ikuru; and Ijaw National Leader and former Minister of Information, Chief Edwin Clark.
Also in attendance were the former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Chibudum Nwuche, the President of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), Dr. Atuboyedia Obianime, the immediate past President of the INC, Prof. Kimse Okoko, a former member of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, royal fathers, representatives of Oodua Liberation Movement, (OLM), Egbe Irapada Oodua, (EIRO) Ohaneze Ndigbo and Arewa Group among many others.
The former President of the IYC, Dr. Chris Ekiyor, who later handed over to his successor, Kuromiema, who is a former Secretary-General of the Ijaw umbrella organisation, urged the new members of the executive to be steadfast and to always speak with one voice.
The new IYC president said: "Dr. Jonathan's Presidency will serve us well, but not with the present structure. Let us insist on the truth that Nigeria must be restructured along the principle of true federalism.
"Ijaw people are committed to put Nigeria together only on the basis of truth and justice. If we are not seen as part of the Nigerian nation, then we will move back to where we came from (the creeks). I hope Dr. Jonathan will not be the last President of Nigeria.
"Let nobody criminalise the Niger Deltans. We are ready to jaw-jaw (dialogue), but if we are not listened to, we will adequately return to where we were (creeks)."
Kuromiema further stated that the All Ijaw Youth Conference of 1998 at Kaiama, Bayelsa State, which produced the famous and Kaiama Declaration, signified the beginning of the struggle of the Ijaw people for self determination and justice, which gave birth to the IYC.
He stated that the Ijaw would not be deceived by appearances in the forms of the "so-called" amnesty or phantom promises of "infrastructural upgrading" or even of the establishment of a "dedicated" Niger Delta Ministry.
IYC president said: "Our call therefore goes most particularly to fellow ethnic nationalities of our common Nigeria. The new calling is to joint struggle. A country that will not give us a competent voters' register, will not give us a competent fiscal balance sheet.
"A country that will not give us press freedom, will not give us ethnic freedom. A country that will not give us free, fair and transparent elections cannot give us any other freedom, any other fairness not any transparent political institution.
"A political system that canvasses zoning as a plot to exclude targeted persons or ethnic groups from contesting elections, rather than as a leeway to help include the weak and especially the disadvantaged, cannot institutionalise any sense of fair competition. We need one another to cast down this common Satan."
Kuromiema siad the Nigerian state had consistently misrepresented the demands of the Ijaw.
He noted: "We wish to know how this country will give us our economic actualisation, when it does not wish to give everyone fiscal federalism; how this country will give us our cultural distinction, when it will not give everyone ethnic self-determination.
The new IYC president added that the best way to ensure the continuous survival of the indigenous people of the Niger-Delta Ijaw within the Nigerian state is to restructure Nigeria to guarantee self-determination.
Source: The Nation Nigeria - 25 July, 2010
Could this be true?