By DAYO JOHNSON

AKURE — THE Ijaw in the nine Niger Delta States rose from a meeting in Ondo State and asked President Goodluck Jonathan to exercise his constitutional right of seeking re-election in 2015 and should not be intimidated.

They also lambasted the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, for its unpatriotic stance on the declaration of emergency rule in three Northern states.

In a communique issued after their meeting in Ondo State, they blamed the activities of insurgents in Northern Nigeria on the politics of 2015 by Northern leaders, describing the crisis in that part of the country as political.

National President of the group, Chief Pere Ganfo, said some Northern elders are hiding under the cover of Boko Haram to seek political relevance and seek power through the back door.

He said: “We are aware that some misguided persons have warped the theory of amnesty for Boko Haram as they often draw comparison with the Niger Delta situation. May we state unequivocally that both are not comparable.”

The Ijaw leaders said that President Jonathan should not be intimidated by the activities of Northern leaders by seeking re-election in 2015.

They said: “Like other Nigerian leaders before him, therefore, we call on President Goodluck Jonathan to exercise his constitutional right by seeking re-election.

“They vilify President Jonathan, not because they love South-East Igbo, to whom they have continuously shown disdain and mistrust in the power equation. It cannot be said that they love the South-West Yoruba, from whom they snatched a pan-Nigeria mandate in 1993.

“The hatred for Jonathan by the Northern power mongers is, of course, not out of love for their next door Idoma, Tiv or Ebira man who they see as inferior northerners. The ultimate desire in them is to continue to cling to political power by playing one ethnic group against other.”