By Gift Chapi- Odekina
The Ijaw legislature forum in the House of Representatives have alleged remapping of local government areas in Akwa Ibom State by the immediate past governor Udom Emmanuel.
The forum also called on the security agencies to give protection to the lives and properties of the Ijaws living, residing and doing business in Akwa Ibom State.
According to the leader of the delegation Awaji Abiante, the former governor’s action was allegedly conducted within a few days to his exit against all regulations and all requirements attempting to take the land belonging to the Ijaw Nation.
He said that with the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act, persons who do not have any bearing with the oil exploration within the state wants to seize part of the land so that it would qualify them as host communities.
“We are not bothered, we are not worried. The fact that the bulk of the resources accruing to Akwa Ibom State is derivable from the oil within the local government areas of the Ijaw Nation. Eastern Obolo, Ibeno and Mbo local government areas are the local government areas that we know are oil producing.
“We have come with the aspirations, the desires, the pains and the cries of our people to say no, this should not be, given the Ijaws in Akwa Ibom State could be in the minority in the state, but the deserve the protection of the state, they deserve the protection of the Federal Government .
“They deserve the protection of the strong. In democracy, the strong are obligated to protect and defend the weak. We have come crying and saying please, this should not happen to our people.
“It is against morality, it is against justice. It is also against the laws of our land. And if anyone takes the law into his hands, then definitely, that person should be told in clear terms that whatever he or she has done or is attempting to do remains illegal. We would not want to go into the details of litigations or no litigations.
“Those are issues that would be brought up at the point when the petition would be determined by the committee. What we have come here to do now is to sensitize the world that there is a threat to the livelihood of our people.
“As we speak, they are invading several communities that belong to the Ijaws in Akwa Ibom State. The land, the properties of the Ijaws have been shared among several local government areas in Akwa Ibom State.
“Any Ijaw man anywhere is an Ijaw man. You cannot force me to lose my identity. It is the injustice inherent in the system that has divided our people, that has refused to bring us all together in the name of states. So every Ijaw man anywhere remains an Ijaw man.
” Ijaws are principally fishermen. We live along the coasts. You may have heard of Ibeno beach which is about the longest natural beach we have in this country. It is a resource. You must have heard about several oil wells from where Akwa Ibom derives her 13 percent. They are all within the Ijaw territory. Is that not going to be too attractive?”, he added.
