Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) worldwide has raised an alarm over strange movements of suspected herdsmen in some riverine communities in the Niger Delta.
The group called on security agencies to investigate the movements, warning indigenes of the Ijaw communities to be on alert to avoid any case of violence.
IYC in a statement, through its national spokesperson, Ebilade Ekerefe, on Monday in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, said that an intelligence report revealed the movement of strange men under the guise of herdsmen and non-indigenes was making inhabitants of the communities uncomfortable.
According to him, “We want to call on Ijaw youths to be on red alert and not allow a repeat of the gory killing in Owo, Ondo State. We have observed some strange movements and we are not comfortable.
“We are also calling on security agencies to be on red alert and protect the lives of the people. We also call on non-indigenes residing in Ijaw communities to be vigilant and not allow unlawful individuals to infiltrate their midst to perpetuate evil in Ijaw Land.”
IYC also called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the service chiefs to rejig the security architecture of the country so as to avert violence such as the Ondo Church massacre.
Ekerefe said it is shameful and pathetic that despite a series of meetings held by the President with the security chiefs, killings and insecurity are still high in the country.
On the 2023 presidential election, IYC called on the presidential standard-bearers of the various political parties to take note that the Ijaw nation, which it said forms the fourth largest ethnic nationality in the country.
He said the Ijaw nation would only support a political party and its candidate with a sincere focus on true federalism, restructuring, and review of the revenue sharing formula, among others.
“While the search for the choice of running mates is ongoing, we urge the existing political parties and their standard flag bearers to embrace a running mate between the ages of 50 and below, a running mate that has the acceptance of millions of youths in the country. A detribalised youthful running mate that is competent irrespective of religious beliefs.
“The Ijaw have held the existing peace in the region of Niger Delta, not because the current administration performed, but because we are disappointed with the President Buhari’s administration and could not wait for the abysmal tenure to end.
“He played a deaf ear to issues of development in the Niger Delta and for over seven years, he has never considered it important to set up a substantive board for Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC,” the statement added.
