2019 Presidency: We’ll back candidates who support restructuring –Ijaw leaders

 

Ijaw leaders on Tuesday after a meeting at Kiagbodo, country home of its leader, Chief Edwin Clark, vowed to only support a presidential candidates who genuinely believes and supports a restructured Nigeria.

The meeting of the Ijaw leaders came on the heels of a recent meeting of Ijaw monarchs in Yenagoa presided over by first military governor of old Rivers State and Amanayanbo of Twon Brass, King Alfred Papapreye Diete-Spiff where the monarchs threw their weight behind restructuring and its components of resource control and fiscal federalism.

The leaders, while deliberating on restructuring, said candidates in other elections that believe in restructuring would get the votes of the Ijaw people.

The Ijaw leaders commended the work of the All Progressives Congress Committee (APC) on restructuring, led by Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State, which made far-reaching recommendations on restructuring the country.

According to them, President Muhammadu Buhari needs to show political will and ensure Nigeria is restructured before the 2019 elections.

They insisted that all they want is a restructured country within the context of a corporate, united and peaceful Nigeria that guarantees equal right for all citizens which is a precondition for peaceful co-existence in the country.

Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, who also attended the meeting while shedding light on the decisions taken by the Ijaw leaders, said the 2019 elections will be a referendum on restructuring with the concomitant derivatives of resource control, devolution of power, state police and, indeed, fiscal federalism.

“Restructuring is about our existence as a people. It is not about APC or Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). We, as Ijaws, want a Nigeria that is fair, just and equitable and this is what restructuring represents,” he said.

A statement signed by Felix Tuodolo, Special Adviser on Ijaw Affairs, indicated that a committee has been set up to present a coherent position on the restructuring from the Ijaw point of view.

The committee, which has five representatives each from the three zones to which the Ijaw nation is divided – the West, the Central and the East -has three weeks to submit its reports.

Prominent Ijaw leaders that also attended the meeting included, Deputy Governor of Delta State, Kingsley Otuaro, Alabo Tonye–Graham Douglas, Chief Brodericks Bozimo, Ambassador Godknows Boladei Igali, Prof Dagogo Fubara, Profs Nimi Briggs, Joe Ajienka, Chris Dime, Steve Azaiki, Dr. Pius Sinebe, Chief Wellington Okrika and Dressy Dressman.