■ Raise alarm over plot to recruit ex-agitators to cause mayhem
The Ijaw National Congress (INC), the umbrella body of Ijaws in the Niger Delta region, has raised alarm that President Buhari should not blame Ijaw and Niger Delta leaders if the boiling anger in the region snowballs into crisis.
Lamenting over an alleged plot to employ the services of ex-militant agitators to cause mayhem in the region, the group demanded an end to what it called the ‘evil’ against the Ijaw nation in the Niger Delta region.
The INC, the Federal Government stated, must take urgent steps to address the brewing agitations in the Niger Delta over the development of the region and the concerns of the people.
President of INC, Professor Benjamin Okaba, in a statement in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, said the timely intervention of President Muhammadu Buhari would douse the growing tension in the region, stating that the umbrella body should not be blamed for any breach of security if the boiling anger in the Niger Delta results in the breakdown of law and order.
He said the people were fed up with the lacklustre approach of the President to the outlined issues.
Okaba said the policies of the government were deliberately implemented to exclude the Ijaw nation, listing the issues to include the continued existence of the grossly illegal vehicle of Interim Administration at the NDDC.
He also pointed out “the monumental deception of the Presidency and the Niger Delta Region by the Interim contraption and its promoters.”
Other issue raised include “the rape, emasculation and waste of the commonwealth of the region by those charged with its efficient use and the abuse of propriety, and self enrichment of a select few to the detriment of regional development.
He also noted the “futility of the exercise of a forensic audit that is rumoured to be cloaked in so much shame and ineptitude that it might never see the light of day.”