Business Activities Shut Down in Bayelsa Over 54th Remembrance of Ijaw Heroes

By Amos Odhe, Yenagoa

Business activities in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital were Tuesday shut down in remembrance of the 54th Remembrance Day of our hero, Jasper Isaac Adaka Boro.

Hundreds of Ijaw youths, under the aegis of the Ijaw Youths Council and Movement for the Survival of Izon Ethnic Nationality in the Niger Delta (MOSIEND), in the early hours of the day also ensured that businesses were shut down in honour of the Ijaw heroes.

While the IYC, through its national spokesman, Comrade Ebilade Ekerefe, noted that the remembrance celebration of our hero, Major Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro, fondly called ‘Boro,’ have impressed on the minds of youths from the Niger Delta region “that Major Isaac Adaka Boro, is not just another folk hero, but a university students’ leader, a teacher, policeman and Nigerian army officer.”

MOSIEND, through its national secretary, Amb Winston Cotterel Amain, described the celebration as “another avenue to observed, commend, instruct and where necessary criticised especially in an event of outright contravention of the fundamentals and vision of the actualization of the reorientation, repositioning and recovery of our lost grounds in the Emancipation of the Ijaw Nation.”

The IYC national spokesman, Ebilade Ekerefe, used the celebration to remind the Federal Government that “despite their colored and window dressing of the issues in response to years of agitation, and the ego creation of interventionist agencies, which they acceded to and now controlled political and financially, the Nigerian Government should not forget that despite any self-made delays, the Ijaw agitations have never been lost.”

He stated that aside from the Ijaw nation’s demand for “proper restructuring, equitable development in the region, the IYC wants to call on the people of the region to be vigilante and adhere to the security architecture being put in place in each states by the South-South Governors.

“It must be pointed out that instead of President Muhammadu Buhari to listen to the calls and cry of Nigerians to review the security architecture in the trouble region of North-East, North-West, and other places being raided by armed bandits, he is focusing and handing order for the security architecture of the South-South to be reviewed and properly policed. Though we thank him but he should do well to listen and save the lives of millions in the North-East, and now, the FCT, Abuja.

“In the last one year, we have pushed and have been pushed in our quest to ensure that the Federal Government under President Buhari become accountable and ensure that true restructuring, true federalism and quick establishment of a substantive board for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). We have been pushed more by the deliberate deaf ears paid to agitations by the President Buhari-led Government.”

“We will not be cowed and will not stop reminding President Muhammadu Buhari, his anti-Niger Delta collaborators, that the region remained unshaken by our resolved for restructuring, true federalism, immediate establishment of the NDDC board.

“And to quickly remind the rising numbers of presidential aspirants and would-be candidates of the various political parties, we will not support any aspirants who will not priorities the issues of Niger Delta region nor vote for those aspirants from South South in the current administration who have colluded with the government to under-develop our region.”

The national secretary of MOSIEND, Amb Winston Cotterel Amain, in his message, pointed out that the Ijaw Nation is “disturbed to watch with disdain the disunity that has eaten so deep into our blood and marrow. Which I say is worse than Ebola disease, urging Ijaw youths to clean themselves from this Ebola of disunity that has turned us against one another.

“Let us use today to unlock the potentials for our liberation through setting up Ijaws Nation Framework vis-a-vis Ijaws People Republic; let’s us together set up the Ijaw development plan, that will cut across Arogbo in Ondo State to Ebeano in Cross River State; let’s set up our neighbourhood watch to check mate the helmsmen and any external invaders.

“Adaka Boro, which is the spiritual consciousness of Ijaw liberation, which is in the blood of every Ijaw man, awakens us today to speak in unity of purpose for emergence of a South South president that will restructure Nigeria and return the ownership of resources back to the communities. The South South Zone has only governed this country for 4 years during the military era and now. But we have helped in the growth and stability of this country more than any other region.”

“Hence we should be given the opportunity to govern this country for another four year, for the interest of peace, oneness, equality and justice. 

“We believe that for Nigeria to remain one, President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR and all political party leaders should as a matter of urgency resolve and zone the position of the president to the South South.”

He also called on political parties to ensure they work towards zoning of the president to the South South, “to avert the impending danger that will engulf the entire country if the South South is not given the opportunity to do it one term of four years. 

“We must also come together to demand the release of all freedom fighters being held in various correctional centers. We should not allow our leader, brother and friend Comrade Henry Okah, die in South Africa prison. Henry Okah has not committed any crime against the Nigerian State nor the South African Government, but has placed his life for the enhancement of the struggle for the emancipation of the Ijaw Nation.”

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