Ijaw youth groups warn Ipob and Massob not to include Niger Delta in their maps of Biafra

SEVERAL Ijaw youth groups have warned pro-Biafran agitators like the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (Massob) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) to desist from including their territories in the planned breakaway republic.

Over the last two years, the agitation for the recreation of Biafra has increased dramatically and several maps have been produced showing that the breakaway republic will encompass the whole of the former Eastern Region. This includes Ijaw areas in modern day Rivers An Bayelsa States but the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide, has reacted to this pointing out that there was no time the Ijaw ethnic nationality consented to being part of the Biafra Republic.

IYC spokesman, Daniel Dasimaka, dismissed the claim credited to the pro-Biafran organisations that the Ijaw nation was part of Biafra. He stressed that the Ijaw people had never been Biafrans, saying that the old Eastern Region was a political contraption that enslaved the Ijaw people.

According to Mr Dasimaka, the old Eastern Region was created by those who also orchestrated this miscarriage of a state called Nigeria. He noted that the Ijaws had never, in any way, been against the genuine aspirations of all peoples, including Massob and Ipob, to attain self-determination or secession but they should not drag their Ijaw ethnic nationality into their geographical expression.

Mr Dasimaka said: “The Ijaw are a distinct ethnic nation, even before the 1914 amalgamation, that has its own dreams, wishes and aspirations that should not be submerged as footnotes in any other peoples’ struggles. We, the Ijaw people, are not Biafrans, therefore, if or when any Ijaw person or group feels a sense of allegiance to Biafra and speak in its favour, let it be known that such statements are the personal opinions of such persons.

"They do not reflect the thoughts, views and wishes of the entire Ijaw nation and the Niger Delta people. We would also like to warn overzealous members of Ipob to stop further insults of respected Ijaw elders and leaders, particularly critical stakeholders like Annkio Briggs who has committed so much to the Niger Delta.”

Pointing out that such insults would no longer be tolerated, Mr Dasimaka said that the Ijaw struggle for self-determination predated the Biafran agitation. He added, however, that the Ijaws express solidarity with all the peoples, organisations and ethnic nationalities in Nigeria and elsewhere who are struggling for self-determination and justice.

“It is a known historical fact that a year before the world got to hear of the term Biafra Republic, the Ijaw led by the late Major Isaac Boro of blessed memory had declared a Niger Delta Republic in pursuit of the emancipation of the Niger Delta people which the progenitor of Biafra, late Col Odumegwu Ojukwu, of blessed memory, fought against as the then governor of the old Eastern Region when the going was good with him in the Nigerian state. It is also on record that a year before Massob was founded, the IYC, through the Kaiama Declaration, had affirmed our commitment to joint struggle with the other ethnic nationalities in the region for self-determination," Mr Dasimaka added.