Niger Delta: Ethnic Battle Imminent, Sack Wike Now, IYC Tells Tinubu
By Ndu Jasmine Eli
The Ijaw Youth Council IYC Worldwide has asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sack the Minister, Federal Capital Territory, Barr. Nyesom Wike for becoming a threat to peace in Niger Delta and a danger to democracy in Nigeria.
The Council made its position known earlier today in Warri, Delta State via a press briefing by the Spokesman of Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide, Amb. Binebai Yerin Princewill, a copy of which was made available to The Liberator Newspapers Worldwide.
The Spokesman’s of Ijaw Youth Council had particularly called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the military, Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies to remove their hands on the matter, stressing that the IYC will deal with Wike, adding that the issue has already taken an ethnic dimension.
Binebai maintained that the Ijaw people cannot forgive Wike for not only fighting against Fubara, insulting their late father, Pa Edwin Clark, the Governor general of Ijaw Nation, Sen. Douye Diri, Governor of Bayelsa State and the first Governor of Rivers State, King Alfred Diete Spiff and other Ijaw leaders.
However, the IYC had particularly called on Governor Fubara to completely take charge of Rivers State as the Governor that he is, stressing that the Ijaw people are solidly behind him.
Meanwhile, the Ijaw people have further called on the Ijaw lawmakers in Rivers State not to append their signatures for any impeachment move against Governor Fubara, adding that the only language the Ijaw people want to hear in Rivers State is for Fubara to complete his 8 years tenure as Governor.
IYC insisted that the Ijaw being majority in Niger Delta and the fourth largest ethnic group in Nigeria is undisputed and not a fact that can be challenged by Wike and his crew.
The statement reads in full below:
A Critical Extraordinary Press Briefing Held In Warri By The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide On Sunday 16th Of March 2025 To Address The Open Display Of Impunity In Rivers State And Niger Delta By Minister Wike Against The Ijaw Ethnic Nationality
Today, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide has been compelled, following the free reign of impunity in Rivers State, to once again address the press to put the issues in proper perspective before the Nigerian State and the world at large. It is imperative that whatever happens in Rivers State, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Barr. Nyesom Wike should be held responsible.
The IYC has condemned in its entirety the indiscriminate shooting and injuring of peaceful Ijaw youths by trigger-happy officers deployed by Wike and his gangs to Abalama on Saturday, March 15, 2025. Even Ijaw women were not spared, as gunshots and bullets rocked the sky and streets of Abalama in Rivers State, all with the intent of clearly killing Ijaw people in his desperate political moves to be hosted by Ijaws loyal to him.
While the IYC and the Ijaw people have clearly seen Wike’s motives of using the carrot-and-stick approach by using the event to pitch the Ijaws against themselves, the IYC and the Ijaw people are wiser. Hence, he flew in and flew out with a private helicopter, knowing fully well that he had been rejected by Asawana and the entire Ijaw nation. What happened at Abalama is just a mere political charade and does not in any way prove anything for Wike and his people.
Permit me to use the words of Albert Einstein, who said, “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” It is no longer news that in less than a year since Fubara, an illustrious son of the Ijaw nation, assumed office as Governor of Rivers State after 24 years of staying out of power, peace has eluded the state. The battle to topple his government festers, visibly hatched and spearheaded by the Minister, Federal Capital Territory, Barr. Nyesom Wike.
The Ijaw Youth Council is taking time to address the press because some elements in the Nigerian State are always in haste to misjudge the Ijaw people whenever they fight back when pushed to the wall. We are reiterating it again and again that Governor Fubara’s tenure must not be truncated, as the Ijaw people will not sit and watch idly. This is not a warning but a daring statement.
The free reign of impunity perpetuated by Wike in Rivers State, his careless rantings, and outright disregard for the elderly and the insults rained on the entire Ijaw nation and our highly revered leaders, like the late Pa Clark, the Governor-General of the Ijaw Nation, His Excellency, Sen. Douye Diri, the Governor of Bayelsa State, King Diete Spiff, and others, is a fight we will fight to the end. Wike is too infinitesimal to dare the Ijaw nation, the fourth-largest ethnic group in Nigeria, the largest in the Niger Delta, and in Rivers State as well.
However, it is essential to let the Nigerian State and the world at large know that Wike’s continued insults on the Ijaw nation, his political gimmicks to impeach Governor Fubara by all means, the shooting and injuring of Ijaw youths at Abalama, is an open declaration of war against the Ijaw nation. In the coming days, we advise the military, the police, and all security agencies to keep clear, as the Ijaw people will be taking it up with Wike.
Whatever happens in the Niger Delta, Rivers State, and Nigeria at large on account of this, Wike should be held responsible. Asawana, Wike cannot stop Asawana, as Asawana is spiritual.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the military, police, and all security agencies, must stop aiding Wike, as the Ijaw people will fight for their dignity, which has assumed an ethnic dimension. Tinubu and the military must remove their hands in this ethnic battle, as their interference will mean that they are the ones sending Wike to dare the Ijaw nation.
The Ijaw people are not afraid of anybody nor any ethnic group in Nigeria. We are peace-loving people and not weak people. Ijaw, as one of the oldest tribes in Nigeria and the fourth-largest ethnic group in Nigeria, is not something that can be challenged by anyone in Nigeria, not even Wike, whose ethnic group is only found in few local government areas in Rivers State, where the Ijaws are the majority.
Ikwerre is a minority in Rivers State, the only state they are in Nigeria. From Akwa-Ibom, Abia, Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, Edo, and Ondo States, the Ijaws are visible, with local government areas and kingdoms with large voting strength.
The impunity in Rivers State orchestrated by Wike must stop. First, in 2023, police shot and even fired teargas at Governor Fubara, yet the Presidency did not do or say anything. The Governor was locked outside by lawmakers in his bid to implement the Supreme Court judgment recently in Portharcourt; they constantly humiliated the Governor, yet the President has remained mute. Even with the intimidation and shooting of innocent Ijaw sons and daughters at Abalama by the military, the Presidency has continued to remain quiet.
The IYC is not seeing this as a mere political battle against Governor Fubara but a surreptitious move to steal and hijack the Ijaw tenure as Governor in Rivers State. We don’t want to understand any other language than Fubara being the Governor of Rivers State to complete his tenure(s) as he and the Rivers State people so please.
However, this is a message to our Ijaw lawmakers who are with Wike: we are not opposed to you having your political interests, but that does not mean you are not Ijaw people. You are free to do anything, but you must not be used as willing tools to append your signatures for the impeachment of Fubara, who is your brother, no matter the political differences. If this happens, it will go down as one of the evil records of Ijaws killing their own. Wike cannot do anything without you people; just as others have always beheld their own, Ijaws must always learn to behold their own.
Politics will not be allowed to divide us as a people, as the position of the Governor is far more important to the Ijaw people than anything in Rivers State. You have a duty to protect your brother, the Governor, no matter what.
Meanwhile, the Ijaw Youth Council is calling on Governor Fubara to completely take charge of the state as Governor by using his powers to the fullest. The Ijaw nation is solidly behind him.
Finally, it is our resolve that, while the IYC has its plan on this matter, it is now time for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sack Wike as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory for clearly painting the current government in bad light, for becoming a threat to peace, and a danger to our democracy as a country. This time, he has chosen the wrong battle. We have tolerated the excesses of Wike enough, the voices of the Ijaw people already across the Niger Delta region is a testament of what Wike has stepped on as the coming days will be even more tough for him.
Signed,
Amb. Binebai Yerin Princewill
Spokesman
Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide
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