Vote candidate with restructuring plan, Ijaw leaders tell kinsmen

The leadership of the Ijaw National Congress has called on Ijaw people to actively participate in the February 25 and March 11 general elections.

It urged all Ijaw to use their Permanent Voter Cards wisely to elect leaders with character, courage, cognate experience, and the capacity to rescue Nigeria from imminent disintegration.

The President of INC, Prof Benjamin Okaba, made the call during a press conference to commemorate the 2023 edition of the Ijaw National Day, with the theme: “Ijaw Unity Is Sacrosanct.”

The event was held at  the Ijaw House in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, on Wednesday.

Okaba  said Ijaw people should vote for a presidential candidate who had shown true commitment and willingness to carry out the restructuring of Nigeria.

Okaba said, “The solution of our multifaceted challenges does not rest in our lamentations and the application of violence but squarely in the rational use of our PVCs to vote/elect persons with cognate experience, character, courage, understanding, compassion, and the capacity to rescue, unify, and restore this country from imminent disintegration.

“I wish to, therefore, reiterate our earlier call on all Ijaw to support and vote massively for the party and candidates who, by our objective evaluation, have displayed the clearest understanding of our demands to amend and or abrogate all obnoxious land and resource laws as contained in the 1999 Constitution and are willing to prioritise the policy of restructuring; resource ownership, control, and management; and the devolution of power as key panaceas to our quest for justice, equity, fairness, and prosperity.”

Meanwhile, the INC paid glowing tributes to the icon of the Ijaw struggle, the late Isaac Boro, his lieutenants, and other Ijaw compatriots “who paid the supreme price in the effort to emancipate the Ijaw nation and the entire Niger Delta from oppression and exploitation.”