ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE , Yenagoa
Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has lambasted the Arewa Consultative Youth Movement (ACYM) on their comment that he was over politicising the Nembe oil spill.
The governor described the Arewa youths as the most ignorant of the happenings in the Niger Delta.
Diri stated this in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, on Saturday as the Guest of Honour at the All Ijaw Summit, organised by the Ijaw National Congress (INC).
He boasted that he would never play politics with the health and development of the people but would continue to defend the territory and people who elected him as governor no matter whose ox is gored.
Diri, who stressed that he was particularly vexed with the proportion of the Nembe oil spill, said he did not need to be a petroleum engineer to comment on the spill.
He challenged environmental activists to come to Nembe to see the level of pollution and environmental damage done to the flora and fauna of the Ijaw people.
He warned that no one should take the hospitality of the Ijaw nation for granted or doubt the determination of the state government to protect the sanctity of communities and the livelihood of the people.
He added that the people and the state would not swallow the flame in the name of decorum.
Diri stated: “I laughed this morning when my attention was drawn that Arewa youths are opposing my statements and my views, I laughed at it. But for me, they are not only opposing me, they are opposing Bayelsa State and the Ijaw Nation.
“I have never played politics with the health of our people, I have never played politics with the development of our people and if Arewa Youths think that what I said is to over politicize the situation in Nembe, then I want to believe that Nigeria and indeed Arewa youths are the most ignorant people of what is happening in the Niger Delta.
“Merely presupposing that the Governor is not a Petroleum Engineer, I don’t need to be a petroleum engineer to defend my people. If they have forgotten that our own President of the country is not also a petroleum engineer he is the President of Nigeria. That I am only a political scientist, yes I accept, a political scientist and an educationist and I have been elected to defend the territory and people of Bayelsa State.
“On the heels of very recent conference of political parties, what has been tagged as ‘COP 26’, I was in Scotland, United Kingdom to represent Bayelsa State, and in that event, there is already a global action to curb pollution. And recently in the UK as I said, I was and we will remain particularly vexed with what is happening in Nembe and that is why I will not stop to call on all environmental activists to come on to Nembe to see the level of pollution and environmental damage done to the flora and fauna of the Ijaw people.
“No one should take our hospitality for granted or doubt our determination to protect the sanctity of our communities and indeed the livelihoods of our people. We will not swallow this flame in the name of decorum.”
He commended the INC for providing a torch to illuminate the path of the Ijaw people under the present circumstances in country, noting that all is not well in country.
He further said: “For too long we have only operated a pseudo-federalism. In reality what we have in our country today is a unitary system of governance and dressed in the borrowed robes of federalism.
“We cannot procrastinate in returning the terms of engagement where the regions or state expropriate their own resources and pay taxes to the centre. More and more, we are creating a cast where the categorization of subordinate and superordinate is entrenched. Not surprising, states and ethnic nationalities are increasingly clamouring for self determination or even in outright cases secession that is in very extreme cases.
“I am proposing without insisting that the idea and ideal situation would be the devolution of powers from the centre to the state such that the federal government would be responsible with the issue of currency, foreign policy, national security, commands in the military, appointment of ambassadors and any other matter that have common bearing on all states. But I am willing to abdicate my views if there is a superior collective counsel arising from this summit.”
In his welcome address, the President of INC, Prof Benjamin Okaba, said the crossroads Ijaws found themselves in the Nigerian federation was the most compelling reason for the convocation of the All Ijaw Summit, with the theme: ‘The Nigerian State and the Ijaw Question.’
He said the Ijaws needed to agree on a common direction, adding that “we need to evoke common understanding of our peculiarities and determine common panacea.”
The summit, which was chaired by HRM Justice F. Tabai (retd), was attended by prominent Ijaw sons and daughters across the country.