IYC warn Simon Ekpa, referring Okuama military incident as within Biafra

IYC warn Simon Ekpa, referring Okuama military incident as within Biafra

Nathan Tamarapreye, Yenagoa

The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) says its attention has been drawn to a strange video by one Simon Ekpa from the eastern part of Nigeria, now masquerading as the leader of Biafra in exile.

In the video posted on Twitter, he tried to establish Ijaw territories as part of his imaginary Biafra state.

The warning was contained in a statement signed and issued to newsmen in Yenagoa, on Friday by Amb. Princewill Binebai, Spokesman of IYC.

According to the statement, in the said video, Ekpa expressed the point that Nigerian soldiers attacked his Biafra people and Biafra republic.

“He was simply referring to the Okuama attack in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State on Thursday 14th of March 2024 wherein 17 Soldiers were killed.

“The fundamental claim the renegade Biafra nationalist is making is that both Okuama community in Delta and Igbomotoro in Bayelsa state are part of his purported Biafran State.

“He thus threatened to unleash mayhem on Nigerian Soldiers on the 29 of March 2024 to avenge the death of civilians who had lost their lives in the military onslaught.

“However, IYC is already dealing with a lot of issues regarding the attack on the soldiers and the subsequent invasion of Ijaw communities by the military,” he said.

The statement reads: The Ijaw people have never at any point in time been part of Biafra and can never be part of Biafra.

“The attack on the soldiers had been condemned and it remained condemned just as the IYC had also charged the military to go after only the criminals and not to go after innocent people.

“For clarity, the Ijaw Youth Council is putting the records straight that the Ijaw struggle for a better living condition in Nigeria is older than the so-called Biafra agitation.

“Our late Ijaw hero and foremost nationalist, Major Jasper Isaac Adaka Boro, who is regarded as a champion of the minority rights movement in Nigeria, declared the “Niger Delta Republic “on February 23, 1966.

“A year after, before late Odumegwu Ojukwu who was the then governor of the Eastern Region declared the Biafra Republic on May 30, 1967.

“As Ijaw people, we are Nigerians, original occupants, and dwellers of the Niger Delta region. We reiterate that no part of the Niger Delta belongs to their so-called imaginary Biafra.

“The struggle of the Ijaw is majorly in resource control and not a secessionist movement. We have our struggles, and the Indigenous People of Biafra also have their separate struggle. The Ijaws are not part of their Biafra struggle and ideology,” the statement reads.

According to the statement, the IYC is not opposed to the Biafra agitation, as Ijaws, “we are law-abiding people in the Nigerian State.

“What we will not tolerate, in the future, is to watch Biafrans lay claims to our territories. We are Ijaw people. We are Nigerians in the Niger Delta. We don’t have any ties with the Biafra people and their agitation.

“The IYC is sounding a note of warning to Simon Ekpa and his group of Biafra disciples to keep clear from the Niger Delta and the Ijaw people as we will not tolerate any other reckless comment about our people and territories belonging to their imaginary Biafra,” the statement reads.

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