BREAKING NEWS, Politics
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THE Ijaw National Congress, INC, has urged the federal government and it’s agents to leave former President Goodluck Jonathan alone. In a statement entitled: “Ijaw National Congress and the Current State of Nation”, the group stated that “since he left office in May 2015, having traded his ambition to buy Nigeria respite from acrimony, violence and bloodshed, INC, Ijaw people, all Nigerians and indeed the World has viewed with unspeakable shock, the various attempts by officials of the succeeding government under President Muhammadu Buhari, to tarnish the image of former President Goodluck
“There is a constant and well-programmed diatribe and instigation of animosity against the civilised personage of former President Jonathan and his comparatively successful tenure under a barrage of attacks and vilifications. We view with consternation the government’s unethical refusal to afford him any credit or plaudits for his honest, patriotic and pan-Nigerian approach to governance.
“Regardless of that however Dr. Jonathan remains a core democrat and an International Statesman who currently enjoys a sterling image on the world stage.
Ijaw National Congress, frowns at the cheap, disingenuous and petulant attempt by officials to finger him as a sponsor of any armed group anywhere in the world.
“We hereby warn the Minister of Information Mr Lai Mohammed, who has issued a mish-mash of pointless conjecture and innuendo such as: “belief in certain quarters that the former President is a sponsor of the Avengers has refused to go away”. How crass can one get in Goebellsian double-speak! The studied silence of former President Jonathan and the equanimity of Nigerians in the face of such irresponsible provocation cannot be allowed to continue.
“Let the word go forth from now: the continued vilification of Dr Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR, former President of Nigeria is unacceptable to us and must stop. Nigeria has a far greater weight of grim and crucial issues to deal with, rather this petty fixation with rubbishing the image of a former President who saved the Nation from certain calamity. This time enough is simply enough!'” the statement said.
The statement was issued after the Ijaw National Congress due consultations on burning national issues. As the umbrella body of all Ijaw people at Home and the Diaspora, the Congress said it has a duty to speak on national issues, based on the potential of such issues to help Nigeria to hold together or to completely unravel. “We are quick to say that we are for holding Nigeria together but only according to the tenets of fairness, justice and equity,” it said.
According to the statement, the “Congress receives with cautions optimism the recent bold offer of ceasefire made to the Federal Government of Nigeria by the Niger Delta Avengers; a move geared to afford all sides a direly needed chance to dialogue. It should be noted that Ijaw National Congress had hitherto made several calls for dialogue after a ceasefire has been agreed. This call by the Avengers is commended. Congress strongly calls on the Federal Government to buy into another chance for dialogue. We also call on the Military and the Agitators to show good faith at this point.
In taking this position, Congress affirms that the recent renewed upsurge of attacks on the oil facilities in Niger Delta cannot be resolved by force of arms. Our long traumatized people should not be subjected to more destruction of innocent lives, further destruction of the already devastated environment and desolate ecology; not to talk of the perennial tensions hanging over Nigeria.”
“Government and the armed groups must adopt that ceasefire now! There is too much at stake in terms of lives and fortunes hanging in the balance for this chance to be frittered away,” it said.
The Congress also reacted to the verbal attack on Senator Edwin Clarke by the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta MEND in which he was berated in unflattering terms, for the meeting of Niger Delta Leaders he called in Warri which according to MEND did not meet the expectations of the group.
“While MEND cannot be denied any right to be heard, we in Congress and the generality of our people take a dim view of such open and needless attack on the person of Chief Clarke. By the venerable age and accomplishments of Chief Clarke, he is deserving of respect,” it said.
On militarisation and heightened militant activities in the region, the INC said while it has constantly spoken in favour of dialogue and the cessation of the destruction of oil facilities in the Niger Delta, we view with trepidation, the militarisation of the zone and heightened movements of combat troops, Apache attack helicopters and other military hardware in the creeks of the Niger Delta. This cannot be good for the enhancement of a conducive atmosphere for dialogue.
“INC therefore urges President Muhammadu Buhari to withdraw the troops, ease the tension and let dialogue be the only item on the table.
As a responsible Congress, we have, in a Press Conference held in Port Harcourt on Wednesday August 17th 2016, asked for 30 day MORATORIUM ON ALL MILITARY ACTIONS IN THE NIGER DELTA.
Let the Federal Government give a 30-day Moratorium on their action and we will certainly get a ceasefire from the creeks. No government should use attrition, especially violent attrition, as the first way of resolving a problem within its own borders. The time to act is now!” the statement signed by
Alatubo Charles Harry, national president, INC and Victor Burubo, its national publicity secretary.
— Aug 24, 2016 @ 17:10 GMT
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