A major crack has emerged on the walls of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) over the three-day protest against the Federal Government’s refusal to reconstitute the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The protest commenced on Wednesday after the 30-day ultimatum given to the Federal Government expired with members of the IYC barricading the Mbiama section of the East-West Road, which left hundreds of travellers stranded for several hours.
The placard-carrying Ijaw youths also shut NDDC corporate headquarters in Port Harcourt and state offices in Bayelsa, Delta, Akwa Ibom among other states.
Few hours before the protest started, the IYC President, Peter Igbifa, was reportedly abducted
by some masked men along the Port Harcourt International Airport Road while on his way to catch a flight to Abuja for a meeting.
However, facts emerged on Friday that the IYC leadership had been polarised by the protest following claims and counter-claims by the spokesman for the council, Ebilade Ekerefe and Igbifa over the suspension of three-day action.
While Ekerefe claimed at a press briefing in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, that the protest had been suspended with effect from 5pm on Friday, Igbifa declared in an interview in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, that the action would continue.
Ekerefe explained that the decision to suspend the protest was reached after consultations involving the leadership of the apex Ijaw socio-cultural body, the Ijaw National Congress (INC), and other critical stakeholders.
The IYC spokesman said, “After a thorough examination of the progress made so far and in due consultation with critical stakeholders across the entire Ijaw nation and, especially with the leadership of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), council hereby directs the suspension of the three-day long protest with effect from 5pm today, Friday 28th May, 2021.
“The leadership of council at the zonal chapters and clan levels are hereby informed to act accordingly and await further directives on the way forward.”
But the IYC president insisted that Ijaw youths would continue to occupy the region until the NDDC board was reconstituted by the Federal Government.
He stated that those who masterminded his abduction were disappointed that the protest went on, adding that the agitation of Ijaw youths put pressure on his kidnappers to set him free.
Igbifa said Ijaw youths were not against the ongoing forensic audit at the commission, but wondered why the exercise would be an excuse by the Federal Government not to appoint a board.
The Ijaw youth leader said, “We will occupy the region until the issues are resolved. Until the NDDC board is inaugurated, Mr President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria must understand that a time comes when a people who are pushed to the wall have to come out. The Niger Delta, on the issue of the NDDC board, has been pushed to the wall.
“Nobody is against forensic audit. Forensic audit can go on while the board is inaugurated. It will not take anything. The people to be appointed are conscious of the fact that we are very ready for the development of the region. The people (appointees) are not coming to steal anymore. So nobody that comes to the board will come with the mind of criminality.
“We have decided that we will occupy Niger Delta until the board is inaugurated. Inaugurating the board is not like human beings passing through the eye of a needle. It is not an impossible thing. A time will come, while the protest last, when we will know those responsible for the delay in the reconstitution of the board.”
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