The Ijaw ethnic nationality on Tuesday urged President Bola Tinubu to suspend the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, for denigrating the entire Ijaw nation as well as insulting the late Pa Edwin Clark.

Ijaw leaders and youths gathered at Bomadi, Delta State, for a one-day Ijaw national sensitisation rally tagged “Stand Up for Ijaw Nation and Pa E.K. Clark.”

The conveners, Congress for Niger Delta Ethnic Nationalities (CONDEN) and Ijaws of the Western Zone, said the gathering was to proclaim their commitment to the struggle for the rights and dignity of the Ijaw people.

Speaking at the rally, the president of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), Prof. Benjamin Okaba, said that the Ijaw nation had remained silent for too long, stressing that the denigration and insult on the entire Ijaw nation and the late Clark by the FCT Minister were unacceptable.

He said, “We have remained silent for too long. It’s time for Ijaw to act, and the time is now. It’s time to redeem our image as Ijaw people. When you tell an Ijaw man that he is lazy, a reasonable Ijaw man will not fight you at that instance.

“Wike, who sent thunder against the entire Ijaw people, is being inflicted by his own thunder that backfired on him, and we’re going to replicate this rally in Bayelsa and Rivers States. After that, the real action will be taken, and we’ll not go into any battle with anybody because we know the processes to achieve our goal.”

The pioneer president of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Dr. Felix Tuodolo, one of the initiators of the Kaiama Declaration of 1998, who also spoke at the event, criticised Wike for categorising the fourth-largest ethnic group in Nigeria as a “minority of the minorities in the Niger Delta.”

“Wike is very poor in mathematics and history for calling Ijaw a minority of the minorities in the Niger Delta, as against figures from the last population censuses.
“This rally is a clarion call on Ijaw to take back our position in the scheme of things. It’s time for us to produce one Ijaw agenda because we’re politically marginalized. After that, the INC can also mobilize for the whole of the Niger Delta to have an agenda.
“This is not a fight between Ijaw and another ethnic group because we live peacefully with the Ikwerres—except for one man,” Tuodolo said.
In the paper presented by CONDEN, signed by Hendrick Opukeme, the Ijaw ethnic nationality called on President Tinubu to suspend the FCT Minister for denigrating the Ijaw ethnic group and being the brain behind the crisis in Rivers State.
The statement read: “We converge on this sacred land to proclaim our unwavering commitment to the struggle for the rights and dignity of our people. For too long, we have been silent, exploited, and neglected. Our resources have been plundered, our environment desecrated, and our future mortgaged—but we say, enough is enough.

“Nyesom Wike’s comments about Ijaw people being a minor minority in the Niger Delta are not only inaccurate but also deeply offensive. The Ijaw nation is documented as the fourth-largest ethnic nationality in Nigeria. In Rivers State, Ijaw are the majority with ten local governments compared to Wike’s Ikwerre with only two local governments.

“We call on Mr. President to suspend Wike as Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; otherwise, what Mr. President has done is selective justice.”

Other leaders and groups who spoke at the rally included Yilda Dokubo, the Ijaw Youth Council (Western and Eastern Zones), Meibutus, and youth bodies of other ethnic nationalities—Urhobo Progressive Union (UPU), Isoko ethnic nationality, and Ndokwa ethnic nationality.