- IYC, through its spokesman Binebai Princewill, disowned Ekpa in a statement released in Warri, Delta State
The Ijaw Youth Council Worldwide has distanced itself from Simon Ekpa, emphasizing that the Ijaw people are Nigerians and original inhabitants of the Niger Delta region.
Ekpa, hailing from the eastern part of Nigeria, claims leadership of Biafra in exile and attempts to include Ijaw territories in the Biafran state. However, the IYC, through its spokesman Binebai Princewill, disowned Ekpa in a statement released in Warri, Delta State.
The IYC asserts that the Ijaw people have never been part of Biafra and reject any association.
The statement also addresses ongoing issues regarding military attacks on soldiers and invasions of Ijaw communities, resulting in loss of lives.
It further stated that “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 the killing of innocent people which we have also condemned in Igbomotoro and Peremabiri.
“For the purpose of 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.”
The IYC continued, “Our late Ijaw hero and foremost nationalist, Major Jasper Isaac Adaka Boro, who is regarded as champion of minority rights movement in Nigeria, declared the ‘Niger Delta Republic’ on February 23, 1966, a year 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 Niger Delta belongs to their so-called imaginary Biafra. The struggle of the Ijaw people is majorly in resource control and not a secessionist movement.
“We have our own struggles, and the Indigenous People of Biafra also have their own separate struggle. The Ijaws are not part of their Biafra struggle and ideology.”
The IYC noted that while it’s not “opposed to the Biafra agitation,” the Ijaws are “law-abiding people in the Nigerian state. What we will not tolerate, going forward, is to watch Biafrans to lay claims to our territories. We are Ijaw people. We are Nigerians in the Niger Delta. We don’t have any ties or whatever with the Biafra people and their agitation.”
The statement added, “The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide 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.
“Finally, the IYC is using this medium to inform the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Nigerian military that all the areas mentioned are not part of Biafra and can never be part of Biafra as IYC will not allow any purported attack on the military in our territories come March 29, 2024.”