Tinubu behind Wike’s verbal attack on Ijaw nation, lawyers alleged

Human rights lawyers and activists on Monday accused President Bola Tinubu of being behind the recent verbal attack on the Ijaw Nation by Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Recall that during a TV interview a few weeks ago, Wike referred to the Ijaw Nation as “a minority in minorities” and claimed they were not a major ethnic group in Nigeria, stating they were “minorities in Rivers and other South-South states except Bayelsa.”

Wike’s comments have, however, led to outrage and protests across the Niger Delta, where the Ijaw people are predominantly located.

Human rights attorneys, including Barristers Deji Adeyanju, Maxwell Okpara, Marshal Abubakar, and Comrade Chinonso Obasi, criticised Wike for his remark and accused President Tinubu of being complicit in the attack during a press conference on Monday in Abuja.

The lawyers issued Wike a three-day ultimatum to apologise, claiming that no public official would make such a derogatory comment and deride a whole ethnic nationality like the Ijaw Nation without the approval of their employer.

Adeyanju described Wike’s comment as a “very unpleasant remark” and “very shameful,” wondering, “When did Wike become an intellectual to start talking about issues of history or issues around ethnic nationality?”

He pointed out that “the Ijaw Nation is the fourth largest ethnic group in Nigeria,” adding, “For anyone to say anything to the contrary means that the person is deluded. The person is ignorant or intentionally mischievous.”

Adeyanju added that Wike’s statement that “the Ijaw Nation is a minority” is truly laughable, noting that, if not for the Ijaw Nation, even the so-called 13% derivation that the Niger Delta is enjoying today would have been a mirage.

“Are we talking about the sacrifices of Isaac Adaka Boro? Are we talking about the sacrifices of Ken Saro-Wiwa? Are we talking about environmental activists who fought against Shell, Mobil, and all the oil pollution in the Niger Delta?”

Adeyanju urged the president to act immediately for political consideration, except if he wants to choose Wike ahead of the Ijaw Nation.

“The President should choose between the Ijaw Nation and Wike. If Wike has more electoral value, then he can go with Wike, but if the Ijaw Nation has more political value than Wike, then he should apologise to the Ijaw Nation,” he added.

Barr. Okpara commended the Ijaw Nation for not taking the law into their hands, urging the president to act immediately as the “remark against them can lead to something else.”

He said, “The president should not be keeping quiet because if anything happens to a section of this country, especially the Niger Delta, Nigeria will feel it. So we are calling Mr. President to come in.

“I expected that by now, the FCT minister would have issued a statement and apologised. We are talking about people that have seen it all. You can’t look at their faces and call them names. How dare you?

“Mr. President, please, we are calling on you to come in, first of all, asking Wike to apologise. You cannot tell an old man that an old man is wrong where a young man is right. You cannot say it so.”

Barr. Okpara further described Wike’s comment as amounting to a “violation of rights, because the constitution says that you don’t discriminate against anybody, and if your right has been or is likely to be violated, you can seek redress in court.”

He emphasised that Wike should know that, as a lawyer, “There is a difference between when a member of the National Union of Road Transport Workers who has never seen a secondary school is talking, and when somebody who has been a Minister for Education, a Governor for eight years, a Minister for FCT, where the diplomats are living, speaks.

“So we are saying that if you are going to do your politics, you can do your politics without necessarily attacking the nation.

“You can even make your points without necessarily insulting people.

“I want to apologise to the people of the Ijaw Nation not to take the law into their hands.”

Also, Barr. Marshall said, “No matter the disagreement that Wike might have against the governor (Sim Fubara of Rivers), it is out of place for the minister to now go for the very tribe that has given him so much as a minister and as a former governor.

“Don’t forget that the Ikwerre ethnic nationality, to which Wike belongs, is what you refer to as a stranger in Rivers State, Nigeria. The original inhabitants, because the Ikwerre Nation is a sub-Igbo nation.

“This same tribe has sacrificed so much by giving people from that particular place so much space to occupy positions of government for such a long time.”

He warned, “I think that upon the failure of Wike to apologise to these people, we are demanding immediately; we are giving Wike three days to apologise; otherwise, the Ijaw Nation would make a petition against Wike to the United Nations.

“Because this is a clear threat against a people in their own land, in their own ancestral home. And such matters must not be swept under the carpet.

“The matter must be looked into by the United Nations because there’s a threat against a particular ethnic nationality by persons who believe they are the owners of the state, a threat to annihilate them and to drive them from their ancestral home, and such matters should not be condoned,” he stated.

He added that “Wike, as a matter of urgency, has to apologise to the Ijaw Nation, has to apologise to the good people of the Ijaw Nation, and to promise, going further, that there will be no repeat of such a verbal attack or any other form of attack against the people who own or who have given him so much, by ensuring that he became a minister and the governor in their own state.”

One of the activists, who is a former President of the National Association of Nigerian Students, Chinonso Obasi, blamed the president for Wike’s utterances.

He said, “President Bola Tinubu was the one who sent Wike to make such statements, and for him, the President, to deny this fact is to give Wike an ultimatum to apologise to the Ijaw Nation.

“The failure of Wike to apologise to the Ijaw Nation is an acceptance that our president does not care how any nationality or any ethnic group is being treated.

“For me, I’m a believer that an injury to one is an injury to all. If the Ijaw Nation is being considered today by Wike as people who are minority minorities, I believe tomorrow my own ethnicity, my nationality, can also be put as being a minority.

“I am putting it straight to President Bola Tinubu to call Wike to order for him to apologise,” he urged.