By Samuel Oyadongha

THE Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, worldwide has described the planned remapping by the Akwa Ibom State government as an attempt to forcefully annex Ijaw communities. 

It also condemned the recent demolition of Bayelsa State property in Port Harcourt on the orders of Rivers State governor, describing the action as politics taken “too far.”

IYC’s national spokesman, Ebilade Ekerefe, who briefed newsmen in Yenagoa during the 2023 Major Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro Day celebration, said: “Let it be noted that the Ijaw nation is watching keenly as events unfold in the Eastern Obolo flank where the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr Emmanuel Udom, is attempting to forcefully annex ancestral Ijaw communities in his state in the guise of remapping the area.

“It is on record that a competent court of law has stopped his surreptitious plans but he is bent on remapping these territories forcefully using the military to include communities that are not oil producing because of the three per cent equity share of Hostcom in the PIA. 

“We condemn this anti-democratic approach by the governor of Akwa Ibom State and call on him to desist as this decision has the potential to obliterate his legacies after eight years in office. 

“We commend the Ijaw, especially, the youths of Eastern Obolo, for resisting this move and we assure them that IYC is in solidarity with them.

On the demolition of Bayelsa State property in Rivers State, he said: “The council is also watching keenly the shameful and vindictive action of the outgoing Governor Nyesom Wike, for demolishing the property and assets of Bayelsa State despite the state being in receipt of the processes filed by the Bayelsa State government at the Supreme Court.

“We condemn the ‘unbrotherly’ politics of Wike. He should know that the creation of Rivers and Bayelsa states was as a result of the struggle of the late Ijaw hero, Adaka Boro. 

“Therefore, demolishing the buildings belonging to Bayelsa State in Rivers State is politics taken too far. No reasonable, progressive mind will support such provocative action.”