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Insecurity: Ijaw Youths Push For Security Outfit In Niger Delta

Published

5 years ago

January 3, 2021

The Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide has vowed to pursue the establishment of a regional security outfit in the New Year to police the Niger Delta region, especially the South-South geopolitical zone.

IYC President, Peter Timothy Igbifa disclosed this in Port Harcourt in his New Year address on Sunday.

The 8th President of the IYC said, like the Amotekun in the West, it has become expedient for the Southsouth to float its security outfit.

Igbifa who listed the security challenges in the zone, especially the Ijaw-speaking communities, said the youths would mount pressure on the governors to undertake all executive and legislative processes required to evolve the outfit.

“We are not alien to the reports of infiltrations of the herdsmen and other groups in our bushes and environment. The recurrent discovery of guns and live ammunitions on the highways is a clear indication that we must be prepared at all times.

“The news of our women being raped and killed in bushes, farmers intimidated and maimed on a regular basis and travellers robbed and killed is becoming unbearable.

“We, therefore, call on all structures of the council, zonal chapters and clans to set up mechanisms to check this unfortunate security threat in our region. I and my team are seriously considering the establishment of our own regional security outfit in line with the proposal made by the governors of our region. We shall push for this outfit and impress it upon the governors to invoke the required legislative process to give it a legal backing,” he said.

Igbifa said the IYC under his leadership would push for the relocation of the headquarters of oil multinationals to the Niger Delta region in obedience to presidential directives; the passage of the Petroleum Industrial Bill (PIB) into law; practice of true federalism, stoppage of military invasion in Ijaw communities and issuance of indigenous licenses for modula refineries.

He said the IYC would hold all political holders from the region accountable and compel them to defend the common course of the Ijaw people.

“As 8th President of IYC, I urge all political office holders both at the national, regional, state and local levels to rise up and defend the cause of the Ijawland and challenge every law that has kept us as tenants even in our own homes.

“We want them to challenge the Land Use Act; the waterways laws; environmental acts, the ecological problems among others. We the IYC will collaborate to defend any of our political office holders willing to tread on the path of Ijaw”, he said.

Igbifa decried the disunity among different stakeholders in Ijawland, lamenting that if the division remained unabated, the Ijaw people would not be able to realise their common aspirations.

(NATION)

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Bumper Harvest: Foundation Distributes 6,000 Fertilizers To Farmers In Bauchi

Published

9 hours ago

August 14, 2025

Editor

A group, Wunti Al-Khair Foundation has donated 6,000 50kg bags of fertilizer to farmers in Bauchi state in order to have a bumper harvest.

Speaking during the flag off ceremony of the distribution of the fertilizers on Thursday, Mr Abubakar Mohammed, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Wunti Al-Khair Foundation, said the distribution was only for the indigent farmers in the state.

He said the fertilizers would be distributed to farmers in underserved communities across the three Senatorial Districts of the state.

“We are gathered here to flag off the free distribution of fertilizers to farmers, especially the indigent farmers that don’t have the means to buy fertilizer for their farms.

“That is the reason why the founder of this foundation bought the fertilizers and distributed them to the low income farmers in the state.

“We have gone round the nooks and crannies of the state to identify the underserved communities and those that deserve this particular gesture.

“We planned to distribute about 6,000 bags of fertilizer and due to the populous nature of the Bauchi LGA, they have the largest share but some other local governments too have hundreds of beneficiaries which we divided into Senatorial zones,” he said.

According to him, today was the flagging off of the Bauchi South Senatorial District, adding that the extension of the gesture would commence in Bauchi North and Bauchi Central Senatorial Districts tomorrow.

Mohammed explained that the only criteria used in selecting the beneficiaries were underserved communities and low income farmers, adding that “we know that a large number of the farmers in Bauchi state are low income farmers.

“Those are the people that we identified, verified and they are our beneficiaries and we have warned the general public about the activities of some unscrupulous elements that go round to impersonate our foundation.

“Wunti Al-Khair Foundation is not charging a kobo for every part of its activities, be it education, healthcare, economic empowerment and community development”.

Responding, one of the beneficiaries, Emmanuel Samson, described the support as a timely intervention that would greatly enhance his farming activities and appreciated the foundation for the intervention.

Another beneficiary, Salisu Maidawa, who was short of words for the gesture, said the gesture came at a time when he was in dire need of it.

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IYC Urges Tinubu To Sack NCDMB Boss

Published

10 hours ago

August 14, 2025

Editor

Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Western Zone, has urged President Bola Tinubu to immediately sack Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, the Executive Secretary of Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) for allegedly not “keeping up to the fundamental mandate,” upon which the agency was established.

This was contained in a statement jointly signed by Comrade Nicholas Igarama, Comrade Ebi Joshua Olowolayemo, and Comrade Tare Magbei, Western Zone
Chairman, Secretary, and Information Officer respectively, and made available to newsmen in Warri on Thursday, August 14, 2015.

According to the IYC, the call for Ogbe’s sack becomes necessary following his incompetence and ethnic bias, adding that Ogbe has turned the agency meant for the whole Niger Delta to his Itsekiri ethnic group alone.

The IYC, while noting that efforts to meet the NCDMB Executive Secretary to discuss critical issues as they affect the region and its people have proved abortive, said it can no longer fold it arms and watch while things go from bad to worse.

“As Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Ogbe has consistently failed to input his supposed industry track record in the advancement of the mandate upon which the agency was founded.

“He has continually had a sectional engagement with his fellow Itsekiri Kits and Kin, thereby shutting all other ethnic nationalites in the Niger Delta region out.

“Repeatedly, he avoided critical youth engagement in the region while sponsoring that of his Itsekiri ethnicity through different human capacity development initiatives, while other ethnic nationalites are left unattended.

“As Ijaw, mostly from the western flank where Engr. Ogbe also hails from, we will not sit and watch others benefit from the resources that we produce without our practical involvement to better the lives of our people as well.

“It is on record that the leadership of Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Western Zone has tried to establish communication with Engr. Ogbe, for the last ten months, but every medium of communication to get his attention has fundamentally proven to be abortive.

“As youths, we can no longer have leaders in office who have now equated themselves to demi-god and have refused to attend to most significantly youthful issues in the Niger Delta Region.

“To this end, we therefore call on President Bola Ahmed Tinibu to immediately sack Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, who has consistently displayed disregard for critical actors in the Niger Delta and has also exhibited the highest level of gross inefficiency by not keeping up to the fundamental mandate upon which NCDMB was founded,” the statement reads.

The IYC also called for the probe Ogbe as Executive Secretary after his sack.

Efforts to reach Dr. Obinna Ezeobi, the General Manager, Corporate Communications, NCDMB, for reaction proved abortive.

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I’m Being Impersonated – Goodluck Jonathan Disowns Social Media Account

Published

12 hours ago

August 14, 2025

Editor

Former President Goodluck Jonathan, on Thursday said he is being impersonated by fraudsters.

Jonathan alleged that a fraudulent Instagram handle has been impersonating him.

In a statement by his Media Aide,
Ikechukwu Eze, the former President insisted that he does not operate any Instagram handle.

The statement is titled ‘Beware of fake Instagram account impersonating H.E. Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’.

“Our attention has been drawn to a fraudulent Instagram account operating under the handle goodluck_ebelejonathan, which is falsely impersonating former President Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

“This impostor account has been deceitfully posting content, some copied from Dr. Jonathan’s Facebook page, while pretending to represent the former President.

“We wish to emphasise that Dr. Jonathan does not operate any Instagram account.

“The media and members of the public are strongly advised to disregard, avoid sharing, or promoting any content originating from this fake profile,” the statement read.