The umbrella body of Ijaw youths worldwide, Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), has decried the continued political alienation, deprivation and underdevelopment of the Ijaws in Edo State, demanding proactive actions from Governor Godwin Obaseki to correct the anomalies.
The IYC, in a statement signed by its spokesman, Binebia Princewill, said that it’s shocking, shameful and appalling that successive Edo State governors have exhibited high levels of ethnic jingoism and have governed the state as though the Ijaws do not exist.
The statement highlighted that while the Ijaws are equal stakeholders in the state, the people are culturally, politically, socially and economically viable, and, therefore, deserve equal opportunities like other ethnic nationalities in the state.
Among the demands of the IYC is that Obaseki should urgently give staff of office to the five traditional rulers in the state’s Ijaw Kingdoms before the governorship election.
The statement reads: “Let us sound this clear again that the Ijaws in Edo State are not living in a foreign land; they are living in their ancestral land, and no one should try to falsify their history by trying to annex any part of their lands. Our people must be treated fairly in Edo State with dignity and honour going forward.
“Our people have suffered too much political deprivation, suppression, manipulation, oppression, strangulation and alienation in their own land. Since the creation of the state till date, the level of development in Ijaw areas has been nothing to write home about. The IYC will not allow this injustice to fester forever.”
