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Ijaw youths vow to gatecrash NASS over proposed amendment of NDDC Act

Yenagoa—Ijaw Youths from the Nine States of the Niger Delta region have vowed to occupy the National Assembly and in solidarity with lawmakers from the region to reject the Bill demanding to amend the NDDC Act to accommodate three more states viz: Lagos, Ogun and Bauchi.

The youths under the aegis of Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) also appealed to prominent ex-militant leaders, including Tompolo, Boyloaf, His Royal Majesty and the Amanyanabo of Okochiri Kingdom, King Ateke to speak up against what they called an injustice being done to the region.

In a statement issued by its national spokesman, Comrade Ebilade Ekerefe in Yenagoa, IYC commended the Deputy Senate President, Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege for leading the opposition to the bill sponsored by Senator Olamilekan Adeola, senator representing, Lagos West.

Ekerefe said the rejection of the bill on the floor of the senate by Lawmakers representing the Niger Delta region was a bold step, adding that the region has become a plaything for politicians in the current administration.

Ekerefe also appealed to ex-militant leaders to speak up on the issues facing the region and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), saying their silence is no longer golden.

Ekerefe said there is a deliberate provocation of the people of the Niger Delta by the Nigerian state, warning that if it is not stopped, the region may go back to the old days of unrest which will portend danger for the country.

The statement reads in part:

“Their total rejection showed that the National Assembly members from the region have further shown that there are still men of honor from the Niger Delta region, unlike others who have continued to treat their region with disdain despite the transient positions they are holding at the moment.

“Niger Delta will now become empty and begging for the carcass. The IYC will be calling on our various structures in Northern Nigeria to occupy the National Assembly to resist this obnoxious bill anytime it is brought back to the floor of the Senate for further debate by these myopic interlopers from the South-West region.”

”We want to also put on notice the Nigerian Security apparatus and the political leaders that the peace, existing on paper to the present administration, may have become compromised due to the continued insult on the leaders and people from the region.

“But we must let these politicians, and their anti-Niger Delta elements, know that the toy is a dangerous one that will explode in their hands if they don’t stop the deliberate provocation of its people.

“The NDDC is a regional development commission. It must be made clear to the sponsor of the Bill that there is a difference between the NDDC and the oil and mineral producing commission.

“Even at that, is it not wise for the sponsor of the Bill to call for a South-West Development Commission to cater for the purported degradation noticed in the “baby” oil-producing states from the discovery of crude oil in Alkaleri LGA, Bauchi; Badagry, Lagos, and Ipokia, Ogun State.

“The IYC will be calling on our various structures in Northern Nigeria to occupy the National Assembly to resist this obnoxious bill anytime it is brought back to the floor of the Senate for further debate by these myopic interlopers from the South-West region.”

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