Kelechi Amadi
The inability of Prince Charles to visit the Niger Delta during his recent visit to Nigeria is not going down well with many Ijaw people.
According to Ijaw-born activist and Senior Advocate of Niger Delta, Rev. Dr Sokari Soberekon, if not for his timely intervention, a group of youths in Port Harcourt would have burnt a British flag out of anger that Prince Charles did not visit the Niger Delta.
“Some youths wanted to burn the British flag but I stopped them. I told them that Prince Charles did not come to Nigeria to negotiate for oil but must have discussed the restructuring of the country with President Buhari for the interest of all the agitators and that we should be praying and believe in God who can do great things,” he said.
Speaking with the press in his office in Port Harcourt, Dr Sokari said that Prince Charles should have visited Bonny and Kalabari Kingdoms which signed treaties with the British to allow them pass through their sea routes to enter other parts of Nigeria, adding that if he had done that, the people of Niger Delta would not have been angry with him the way they are now.
He however expressed satisfaction that Prince Charles visited the Oba of Benin whose fathers, according to him, signed a treaty with Britain to allow them to plant a tree at Escravos, which he said is a sea route named Gulf of Benin, adding that the tree is the light house which helps in navigation by showing ships the sea track.
“On January 25, 1836 and 1884, similar treaties were signed between the British and Bonny and Kalabari kingdoms which allowed the British to plant a tree in their sea route known as Bay of Odoye Feria.
“On the navigational map of the area, it was called Bight of Biafra. Also in Lagos, a tree was planted and called Takwa Bay and in Akasa, now in Bayelsa, where the white men passed to discover what is now known as Niger River, in front of Twon, now in Brass – as the white men called it because they could not pronounce Brasie which means ‘remove your hand’, a kingdom that now has King Alfred Diete-Spiff as its Amanyanabo, a tree was also planted there,” he said.
Dr Soberekon said Mungo Park passed through Akasa to discover River Niger, up to Lokoja where he was buried. He said the treaties were meant to protect the Delta areas and Niger areas which were later merged together by Lord Lugard to form what is today known as Nigeria.
The Rivers strong man noted that in the Delta areas today, many people are agitating for restructure while some are asking for self government.
He recalled that the agitation started from Major Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro who wanted a Niger Delta Republic, down to Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu who declared Biafra Republic in 1967, leading to civil war, Okah and Tolofari who attempted to divide Nigeria into north and south, and now Nnamdi Kanu whose group IPOB that was declared a terrorist group, is demanding for Biafra while the Boko Haram sect is demanding for an Islamic state.
Dr Sokari, who said he would not like to see a second civil war in Nigeria, maintained that only restructuring of the country will end all these agitations.
He called on President Buhari to restructure Nigeria along the six geo-political zones and remain a life president while the governors should remain as sole administrators of their states till the end of their tenures.
He however called on President Buhari to resign if he does not want to restructure the country.
He said the people had hoped that Prince Charles would discuss all these issues with Buhari but regretted that they only heard him say on TV that Nigeria would not be last, which he said means that Great Britain still has great plans for Nigeria and the Niger Delta, adding: “With these developments, Prince Charles should have visited all the people in the Delta areas who signed treaties with Britain.
“In 1957, Queen Elizabeth II visited Nigeria with her husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and they were in Port Harcourt. Many of the chiefs and traditional rulers in the Delta areas met with her and the treaties were among the issues they discussed. My father, late Chief Benjamin Ngili-Obu Soberekon, was among those chiefs that met with the queen. For Prince Charles not to visit these Delta areans means there is a disconnection. But our hope is in God and God is bigger than the queen, her son and Nigerian leaders,” he said.
