The national leadership of the Movement for Survival of Izon Ethnic Nationality in the Niger Delta, MOSIEND, has said that agitations for self-rule by the people of the Niger Delta will continue; as long as the imbalance in the National Assembly is yet to be corrected.
The group came out with this during the 54th Boro Day anniversary held in Rivers State with the theme, ‘Unlocking Potentials for Liberation.’
Speaking to newsmen in Abuloma in Rivers State, after the processions, National President of MOSIEND, Kennedy Tonjo West, lamented that many years after the death of the late freedom fighter, Isaac Boro, the federal government was yet to address the issues that made him to take up arms against the state.
Kennedy said one of such issues is the 1999 constitution and the numerical imbalances in the National Assembly, which give the north advantage over the south.
He said the only option available for minority groups in the region is to key behind the Niger Delta Republic, and that this will be pursued to its finality.
He maintained that the nation was being controlled by a cabal and that the people of the Niger Delta cannot continue in this manner.
According to him, “We are going to hold talks with leaders and other ethnic nationalities in the Niger Delta. As we speak, the election is just a few months away and nobody is talking about restructuring anymore. And it cannot go anywhere because it takes the numerical strength of the national assembly to achieve that, and in an assembly where you don’t have a numerical balance, any bill (in the interest of the Niger Delta) is as good as dead on arrival.”
“Whether we want to stay or leave this country as ethnic nationality or as a region, it is our right to say so and to make every effort within the ambit of international law to ensure that we leave. As the days go by, it is beginning to dawn on us that this whole estate called Nigeria is a charade. If the agitation of the Niger Delta for self-rule is anything to go by, then just watch and see. It will be the Niger Delta Republic, and it has come to stay.”
Also speaking, the President of the National Youth Council of Ogoni, Comrade Matthew Dighi, the Speaker of the Rivers State Youth Leaders Assembly, Tonye Jeminimiema, and the Secretary of the Clan Chairmen Forum of MOSIEND, Central Zone, Weky Zikena, all described the late Boro as one who fought selflessly to give his people a sense of belonging.
They said that the late Boro’s agitation was in the interest of other ethnic nationalities in the Niger Delta as it also paved the way for the creation of Bayelsa and Rivers States.
They added that despite continued efforts by the Federal Government to divide and rule the people, they always come together during the Isaac Boro memorial to reflect on the sacrifices made by the late Ijaw icon and chart the way forward.
The late Isaac Boro was born in 1938 and died in 1968, and his memorial is on May 16 every year.
