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By Amos Odhe, Yenagoa
The Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) Youth Wing worldwide has condemned a statement, allegedly made by the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), against the rumoured appointment of a retired Urhobo military officer as the coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to replace the current Ijaw-born General Barry Ndiomu (rtd.)
This was contained in a statement released to the media in Ughelli, Delta State by the Public Relations Officer of the Urhobo group, Omiregwa Aboyi Lawson, with a call on Ijaw elders to call their youths to order.
The call by the Youth wing of the pan Urhobo socio-cultural organization, according to Lawson, was borne out of the need to sustain the peaceful co-existence in the region,” adding, “The Urhobo speaking people have equal right to the benefits in the Niger Delta region as the Ijaws.”
The statement reads: ‘We the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) Youth Wing shall resist with all our venom any attempt to thwart, to scuttle the appointment of any Urhobo man by the federal appointment by any tribe from the Niger Delta region.
“Also we are calling on the Ijaw elders as a matter of necessity to call on the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC to order and stop parading themselves as the sole owner of the region, who decides what other tribes should take, for the sake of our peaceful coexistence in the state.
“His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, we call on you not to hesitate to appoint any Urhobo man as the next Amnesty Programme coordinator. The Ijaw Nation has enjoyed the appointments of the programme coordinator back-to-back since the creation in 2009 by late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to calm the youth restiveness in the region.
“Mr President sir, the Urhobo Nation as the ethnic nationality that produces the highest crude oil and gas in Delta State has not been given a commensurate appointment due to them on account of the huge mineral resources she contributes to the national development. Urhobo Nation has equal rights and privileges in the Niger Delta region as the Ijaws. Therefore, the PAP is not their birthright to be appointed continually as the coordinator.
“Urhobo and Ijaws are neighbours, who have enjoyed so much mutual relationship that should be sustained, but we want the Ijaw nation to be careful because no group or group of persons have the monopoly of violence,” the group stated.
They pointed out that the people of Urhobo nation have “endured a lot of shenanigans in the past concerning the lopsidedness in the administration of the Amnesty Office and have diligently followed every administrator appointed by the FG with regional solidarity and love, wondering why a group would come up with such repulsive sense of entitlement to national assignment.”
The UPU youths noted that the resentments expressed by the Ijaw group are capable of throwing the entire region into turmoil if not well handled, adding that this is the reason for the peaceful call. It maintained that all ethnic nationalities that make up the Niger Delta region have the right to aspire and be appointed to any level as the government deems good.
The statement called on the security agencies to call the Ijaw group to order lest the war of attrition degenerates.
“They should be made to understand that the office of the coordinator of the Amnesty Programme is not an Ijaw birthright,” they said.
