Former President of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Dr. Chris Ekiyor, has warned the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory(FCT), Nyesom Wike, to guard his tongue and be cautious of his utterances against the Ijaw nation.
Reacting to the recent comment that Wike made against the Ijaw nation and people, Ekiyor said: “The Ijaw nation is bigger than Wike. He has bitten more than he can chew to drag the Ijaw nation into simple political greed. When privileged people in this country find themselves in a place of power they suddenly forget who they are and they tend to throw caution to the wind.
“They talk anyhow as if they are going to remain in power perpetually. He is a lucky man. He has been in the corridors of power since 1999. He has been council chairman, Chief of Staff, Minister and governor.
“If Goodluck Jonathan, who is an Ijaw man, did not make him Minister of State for Education he may never have been able to become Governor of Rivers State. He rode on the goodwill of an Ijaw man, President Goodluck Jonathan to reach the zenith of his career. If for any reason he has supported Fubara to be governor it’s expected that when a governor is leaving office he finds a successor and sponsor the successor.
“Those resources are not his(Wike’s) resources they’re the resources of Rivers State people to support a successor in an election. It’s tax payers money of Rivers State. It’s federal allocation of Rivers State that was used to champion the campaign to make Fubara the governor.”
He cautioned Wike not to push his luck too far, “when I hear Wike running his mouth because of the euphoria of his status in Nigeria today about Ijaw people I think he has gone too far. He needs to apologize to the Ijaw nation. Otherwise, what is coming to him he will not even understand because Ijaw people are very spiritual. We’re the reason Nigeria is together.
“We created a barrier between the Biafra and the rest of Nigeria. The reason Nigeria economy is surviving, everywhere there’s an Ijaw man there’s oil. We’re sitting on oil and gas. The Rivers State that has made him who he is. He has properties everywhere in Rivers State and Abuja because he was governor for eight years is oil money from majorly Ijaw communities.”
Making an analysis of the geographic spread of the ethnic groups in Rivers State, Ekiyor asserted: “Ijaw people have nine local government areas that are entirely Ijaw out of the 23 local government areas. They share Port Harcourt Local Government Area(PHALGA) with Ikwerre people. They share part of Ahoada West with Ahoada people. If you add it up that’s ten local government areas out of 23 for the Ijaws.
“How many local government areas does the Ikwerres have three – Ikwerre local government, Obio Akpor, Emohua – even the Emohua people are claiming that they are not Ikwerre. You move away from that every other person is Etche or other language they’re not Ikwerre. Ikwerres are a minority in Rivers. They’re lucky to have produced four governors. Peter Odili come from Ogba/Egbema. He is not Ikwerre. If anything he is even nearer Ijaw than Ikwerre.”
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