It was a big mistake to side with the North against Biafra in 1967– Ijaw Youths declare

It was a big mistake to side with the North against Biafra in 1967

In recent times, the polity is filled with demonstrations/protests from the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) in the South East and Some South – South States due to the arrest and detention of their leader Nnamdi Kanu by the F.G. Some supposedly “proud Nigerians” have capped it as an opposition sponsored protests cos of the lost elections of the PDP, which is nothing but ridiculous and preposterous. It is a fact there has always been a pro-biafra movement from the regime of OBJ to GEJ.



Now my main aim of putting the piece together is to call on the Ijaw Nation to stand up and take the side of truth. The side of truth against injustice. The side of truth for equity and fairness. The side of truth that there are many voices against the present structure/system in the country.

While the Ijaw Nation as arguably the fourth largest tribe in the country have contributed immensely to the Nigerian state, we are been bedeviled with youth restiveness, marginalization, under development and continuous suffering of our people for God knows how long.

Can we continue to tell ourselves that all is well when it is not? For how long shall we continue to live like this? For how long shall we endure the pains and sufferings of our people due to the silent treatment the Federal government has given to the supposedly “minorities”? Why do we fake our unity? Of what gain is one Nigeria? So that the born to rule over-populated North will continue to marginalize, oppress and feed fat on the God given resources of the supposedly ” minorities “?

Why has the Buhari government dumbed the Confab 2014 report? Does it not favor the North? Implementing it is a step closer in addressing the yearnings and agitations in the country. I think it’s time we the South should occupy Nigeria and protest for the implementation of that report. It is paramount for Peace, Unity and Development of the country.

The Ijaw Nation and other Nationalities in the Niger Delta have asked for resource control, fiscal federalism, or regionalism by ethnicity for ages now, but what have we got? A mere 13% derivation. The Ijaw Nation have asked for the de-balkanization and creation of 3 Ijaw states but we only got 1 in 1996, thereby making many Ijaws as minorities in those states they find themselves.

Taking the side of truth and standing with our Igbo brothers will send a message to the FG that there are discontented views and opinions in the creeks that more and more Niger Deltans are beginning to buy the idea of self rule/determination. The Ijaw Nation should stand with our Igbo brothers through thick and thin. We should not do the same mistake our fathers did in 1967 by siding with the FG. It was a big mistake. If we stood with them then, only God knows how far we would have come now.

The Ijaw National Congress (INC), Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), or the Ijaw Republican Assembly (IRA) should issue a a statement condemning the act of violence and intimidation meted on the protesters by the authorities, and Nnamdi Kanu should be released unconditionally.

There is a saying that ” the oppressed will continue to be oppressed only to the extent the oppressed allow the oppressor”. If you keep quiet when you see oppression, you have taken the side of the oppressor. Evil thrives only when good men decide to keep quiet.

I am an Ijaw from Odi town in Kolokuma/Opokuma L.G.A of Bayelsa State.