The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) on Monday
urged the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, to urgently stop the
incessant killings, unlawful eviction and continuous displacement of Ijaw
communities in Eastern Obolo local government area of the state.
IYC
factional President, Mr. Eric Omare, described the alleged attacks on the Ijaw
people of Amazaba as “an attack on all Ijaw people of Nigeria from Apoi in Ondo
State to Ibeno in Akwa Ibom State.”
Omare,
in a statement made available to The Nation, said the IYC would not sit back
and allow Ijaw people and communities go into extinction, adding “Governor
Emmanuel must act fast before the situation degenerate into a full blown Ijaw
and Ibibio inter-ethnic crisis.”
He
said at least eight Ijaw communities under the Amazaba federated Communities
namely – Ama-Uka, Amangbauji, Ozugbo, Okorobilom, Bethlehen, Ayama,
Ama-Nglass and Okoromobolo – have been displaced by communal and
inter-ethnic disputes with the Ikot Akpan Udo people who are of Ibibio origin
in Ikot Abasi local government area of Akwa Ibom.
“The
Ikot Akpan Udo people, who are of the majority Ibibio tribe, murdered several
Ijaw people including a traditional ruler/village head of Ama-Uka village,
Chief (Uboon) Sunday Oron Eli, in 2008,” Omare said.
While
saying that several Ijaw people now live as exiles, the IYC president
appealed to the state government to exercise its mandate by protecting all its
citizens whether minority or majority from violent attacks.
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