Human rights lawyers and activists have claimed President Bola Tinubu is behind Nyesom Wike, the FCT Minister’s verbal attack and disregard for the Ijaw Nation.
THE WHISTLER reports that Wike had said the Ijaw Nation is not a major ethnic nationality in Nigeria but “were a minority in minorities in Rivers and other South-South States except Bayelsa” during a TV interview a few weeks ago setting a political firestorm and condemnation across the country.
It has led to protests across the states in Niger Delta where the Ijaw people predominantly occupy.
Speaking during a media conference on Monday in Abuja, human rights lawyers including Barristers Deji Adeyanju, Maxwell Okpara, Marshal Abubakar and Comrade Chinonso Obasi slammed Wike over the comment and accused the president of being culpable.
While giving the Wike a three-day ultimatum to apologize, they argue that no employee can make such a derogatory comment and deride a whole ethnic nationality like the Ijaw Nation without the express approval of the employer.
Adeyanju who condemned the statement described Wike’s comment as a “very unpleasant remark” and “very shameful” wondering “when did Wike become an intellectual to start talking about issues of history, or issues around ethnic nationality.”
He pointed out that “the Ijaw Nation is the fourth largest ethnic group in Nigeria. For anyone to say anything to the contrary means that the person is deluded. The person is ignorant or intentionally mischievous,” he stated.
He added that Wike’s statement that “the Ijaw Nation is a minority is truly laughable. If not for the Ijaw Nation, even the so-called 13% derivation that the Niger Delta is enjoying today would have been in mirage.
“Are we talking about the sacrifices of Isaac Adaka Boro? Are we talking about the sacrifices of Ken Saro Wiwa? Are we talking about environmental activists who fought against Shell, Mobile and all the oil pollution in the Niger Delta?”
Adeyanju urged the president to act immediately for political consideration except he wants to choose Wike ahead of the Ijaw Nation.
“The President should choose between the Ijaw Nation and Wike. If Wike has more electoral value then he can go with Wike but if the Ijaw Nation has more political value than Wike then he should apologize to the Ijaw Nation,” he added.
Barr Okpara commended the Ijaw Nation for not taking the law into their hands, urging the president to act immediately as the “remark against them can lead to something else.”
He said “the president should not be keeping quiet, because if anything happens to a section of this country, especially the Niger Delta, Nigeria, will feel it so we are calling Mr president to come in.
“I expected that by now the FCT minister would have issued a statement and apologised. We are talking about people that have seen it all. You can’t look at their faces and you call them names. How dare you?
“Mr President, please, we are calling on you to come in, first of all, asking Wike to apologize. You cannot tell an old man that an old man is wrong where a young young man is right. You cannot say it so.”
Barr Okpara further described Wike’s comment as amounting to “violation of rights, because the constitution said that you don’t discriminate against anybody, and if your right has been or is likely to be violated, you can seek redress in court.”
He emphasised that Wike should know that as a lawyer, “there is a difference between when a member of national Union of road transport workers who never seen a secondary is talking, and when somebody who has been a minister for education, a for governor for eight years, a minister for FCT, where the diplomas are living, speak.
“So we are saying that if you are going to do your politics, you can do your politics without necessarily attacking the nation.
“You can even make your points without necessarily insulting people.
“I want to apologize to the people of Ijaw Nation not to take laws into their hands.”
Also, Barr Marshall says “no matter the disagreement that Wike might have against the governor (Sim Fubara of Rivers), it is out of place for the mister to now go for the very tribe that has given him so much as a minister and as a former governor.
“Don’t forget that the Ikwerre ethnic nationality from which Wike belongs, is what you refer to as a stranger in the River State of Nigeria. The original inhabitant, because the Ikwerre nation is a sub Igbo nation.
“This same tribe has sacrificed so much by giving people, from that particular place, so much space to occupy positions of government for such a long time.”
He warned, “I think that upon the failure of Wike to apologize to these people; we are demanding immediately, we are giving Wike three days to apologize otherwise, the Ijaw Nation would make a petition against Wike to the United Nations.
“Because this is a clear threat against a people in their own land, in their own ancestral home. And such matters must not be swept under the carpets.
“The matters must be looked into by the United Nations because there’s a threat against a particular ethnic nationality by persons who believe they are the owners of the states, a threat to annihilate them and to drive them from the ancestral home, and such matters should not be condoned,” he stated.
He added that “Wike as a matter of urgency, has to apologize to the Ijaw Nation, has to apologize to the good people of the Ijaw Nation, and to promise, going further, that there will be no such repeat of such a verbal attack or any other form of attack against the people who own or who have given him so much, by ensuring that he became a minister and the governor in their own state.”
One of the activists, who’s a former President of the National Association of Nigerian Students, Chinonso Obasi blamed the president for Wike’s utterances.
He said, “President Bola Tinubu was the one who sent Wike to make such statements, and for him, the President, to deny this fact is to give Wike an ultimatum to apologize to the Ijaw Nation.
“Failure of Wike in apologizing to the Ijaw Nation is an acceptance that our president does not care on how any nationality or any ethnic group is being treated.
“For me, I’m a believer that the injury to one is an injury to all. If the Ijaw Nation is being considered today by Wike as people who are minority in minorities, I believe tomorrow my own ethnic my nationality, can also be put as being a minority.
“I am putting it straight to President Bola Tinubu to call Wike to order for him to apologize,” he urged.
Activists Claim Tinubu Behind Wike’s Ijaw Attack, Issue 3-Day Ultimatum is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
Source: The Whistler
