…as Okaba-led INC inauguration beckons
ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, Yenagoa
Chairman, Conference of Ijaw Traditional Rulers and Elders, King Alfred Diete-Spiff, has said the Ijaw nation has backed the newly-elected executives of the Ijaw National Congress (INC).
Prof. Benjamin Okaba, a Professor of Sociology at the Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa State, was declared the President of the umbrella body of Ijaw elders in the election that held last in Ijaw House, Yenagoa.
Diete-Spiff, the Amanayabo of Twon-Brass and former Military Governor of old Rivers State, indicated the preparedness of the Ijaw ethnic nationality to stand by the INC to succeed in the task of presenting issues affecting the Ijaw people.
The first-class traditional ruler, who spoke in Yenagoa on Thursday ahead of Friday’s (tomorrow’s) inauguration of the INC executives, said the Ijaw nation would no longer take the back seat on issues of security, restructuring and other pressing issues affecting the fourth largest ethnic group in Nigeria.
He expressed gratitude to the Ijaw people for the peaceful nature of the elections, noting that the outcome of the INC election was widely accepted by all and is without any form of litigations.
He invited all other ethnic groups to join the Ijaw nation in the epoch-making event to hold in Bayelsa State, the ‘capital’ of the Ijaw nation.
He believed that the 8th National Executive Council of the INC would put to rest the leadership tussle among its members that had almost torn the the umbrella body apart.
During the election, the INC introduced the use of electronic voting system, a process that ensured seamless elections devoid of rancour and acrimony that characterised polls in the past.
The group was also lauded for being pioneers of electronic voting among other ethnic groups in Nigeria, thereby making a statement of possibilities for future elections in the country.