The crises rocking the Ijaw Youth Council have deepened as a faction led by the council’s Deputy President, Saviour Olali, on Sunday, urged Ijaw youths to ignore calls by the President, Peter Igbifa, to sustain the protest against the Federal Government’s refusal to reconstitute the Niger Delta Development Commission board.
The faction, in a statement, titled, ‘IYC warns against the resumption of protest’ and signed by Olali and the council’s spokesman, Ebilade Ekerefe, cautioned Ijaw youths against the planned resumption of protest on Monday.
IYC members commenced the protest on Wednesday and blocked the Mbiama section of the East-West Road, while shutting the NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt and state offices in Bayelsa, Delta, Akwa Ibom, among others.
On Friday, Olali and Ekerefe announced the suspension of the three-day protest with effect from 5 pm, adding that the decision was reached after consultations with critical Ijaw stakeholders and the Ijaw National Congress leadership.
But Igbifa countered the decision and declared that Ijaw youths would continue to occupy the region until the board of the commission was inaugurated.
However, Olali and Ekerefe said in the statement on Sunday that the protest remained suspended and insisted that the resumption of such action “would be against the collective decision of Ijaw nation.”
The two Ijaw youth leaders reiterated that the decision to suspend the three-day protest was as a result of “due consultation with leaders, stakeholders from the region, especially from the parent body of IYC, the INC.”
