By Samuel Oyadongha

Yenagoa—The Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, has condemned the reported open threat by some radical elements in the Northern part of the country to pro-Jonathan governors and other supporters of President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election bid in the North, saying that it was an invitation to anarchy.

IYC, in a statement in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, by its spokesman, Mr. Eric Omare, said all Nigerians irrespective of place of origin have a right to contest for the Presidency of Nigeria and also have the right to support any candidate of their choice without molestation.

Buhari and Jonathan

He said: “Our attention has been drawn to the publications in several national newspapers on December 21, 2014, to the effect that some radical elements in the Northern part of the country were sending open threat messages to pro- Jonathan governors and other supporters of President Jonathan’s re-election bid in the North, threatening to ruthlessly deal with them if they continue with their support for President Jonathan against General Buhari, in the 2015 presidential election.

“We condemn the threats and the desperation of supporters of General Buhari in the North to take over the leadership of Nigeria at all cost in 2015. We state that such open threats, especially coming from a ranking member of the National Assembly, are undemocratic and an invitation to anarchy.

“All Nigerians irrespective of their places of origin have the right to contest for the Presidency of Nigeria and Nigerians have the right to support any candidate of their choice without molestation.

“We recall that hundreds of Nigerians especially National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, members were killed and property worth millions of naira destroyed in the aftermath of the 2011 elections as a result of similar undemocratic disposition of some elements in the North.”