Jimitota Onoyume
13 June 2008
Lagos — IJAW Youth Council has passed a vote of no confidence on Professor Ibrahim Gambari, as chairman of the proposed summit on the Niger Delta to be organized by the Federal Government, saying he would be biased.
Vowing not to participate with the UN under-secretary as chairman, president of the body, Dr Chris Ekiyor, who spoke in Port Harcourt, said they consulted very widely before reaching this conclusion.
He continued that regular attack of Ijaw communities by the JTF would not help to achieve the desired peace in the region. Describing it as a threat to the quest for peace in the region, he said, as a body, the IYC had prevailed on militant groups in the region to cease hostilities.
So, the Federal Government should also honour earlier agreements reached that all parties should refrain from further attack.
"Nigeria appears to be the only country where the army's responsibility is to attack and destroy its people which it is constitutionally mandated to protect. If not, why should the JTF carry out unprovoked attack on civil population?"
He added that Shell should recall those it reportedly sacked, as findings showed they were more of the region's origin.
"We are demanding, as a matter of urgency, that all Niger Delta indigenes sacked by Shell should be reinstated immediately or we will crumble their (Shell) activities in the region. Shell is warned to review its vindictive sack of workers".
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