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Ijaw Threaten Oil Installations

Vanguard (Lagos)
NEWS
March 31, 2003
Posted to the web March 31, 2003

By Samuel Oyadongha
Yenagoa
IN the wake of the orgy of violence in the Escravos water-ways and the alleged
high handedness of the federal troops on Ijaw communities, the Ijaw of Warri
have warned that they may have no choice but to destroy all oil installations
in the area if the Federal Government fails to halt further destructions of
their communities. The Concerned Gbaramatu Kingdom Indigenes (CGKI) in a
statement lamented that the federal troops being sent to maintain peace and
order in the troubled area are openly using heavy weapons on the Ijaw, adding
that this has led to destruction of 18 Ijaw communities and 80 lives including
children and the aged.
The statement signed by Messio Gerusan, Capt. Clery Ibojoh (rtd), Capt. Dickson
Timiyan (rtd) and Prophet Israel Oluba noted that whereas the 1999 Constitution
states that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose
of the government, but that the Ijaws of Okerenkoko town in particular and
Gbaramatu Kingdom in general in Warri South-West council area are being
subjected to continuous massacre by the federal troops because of their demand
for delineation to enable them participate in the current democratic process.
"The international community should be told without mincing words that the
federal troops deployed to the troubled area have been bought over and now
conniving with the Itsekiri to wipe out the Ijaws, they alleged and accused the
Commanding Officer NNS Umalokun, Navy Captain Titus Awoyemi of taking sides
with the Itsekiri in the ongoing crisis.
The CGKI described as baseless claims by the Itsekiri that the Ijaws who
already control three local government councils in the Delta State and the
whole of Bayelsa State want to destroy the Itsekiri in order to satisfy their
(Ijaw) inordinate ambition to assert their authority and extend their control
over Benin land, Itsekiri Kingdom of Warri, Ilaje land in Ugbo Kingdom and
Lagos, the land of the Yoruba.
According to the CGKI, "the Itsekiri should not see themselves as having
problems with the entire Ijaw nation rather they should focus their attention
on the Ijaws.
"The statement of Ijaw National Congress on the attack of Okerenkoko has
nothing to do with the Itsekiri but the genocide act of the government,
Okerenkoko and the Gbaramatu Ijaws. The Ijaws of Warri are not claiming any
Itsekiri land rather it is the Itsekiri that never wants the Ijaws to exercise
their legitimate rights."
While calling on the Federal Government to halt further destruction of Ijaw
communities, the CGKI warned that "the Ijaws of Warri will have no other option
but to ensure the total withdrawal of our baby from the Federal Government.
That is the destruction of all oil installations in our land and equally call
on our Niger Delta Ijaws to do the same."

   

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