entire country constitute the worst developed states in Nigeria. I was in Edo and Ore (Ondo) over a year ago. I saw no difference between an abandoned village and the major towns in these oil-rich communities. We provide the natural resources, but the Igbo own the businesses in Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, Port Harcourt etc that contribute so much as tax revenue to the government. Our sister regions are on the receiving end of SUPPRESSION, OPPRESSION, ECONOMIC, POLITICAL and ENVIRONMENT UNDERMINING. Should we still bear grudges for each other?
Beloved Niger Deltans, let me make it clear to you all that the malice shown by some of us to the agitation for Biafra Republic is most gratuitous. We must realize that politics in Nigeria is behind the environmental degradation of our regions. Our Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC) and Ijaw National Congress (INC) that were supposed to give voice to our people have become political appendages. What this means is that these supposed tribal associations are not spared by our retrogressive politics. The governors in our states, driven by selfish gains, have become the extended arms of our external oppressors. Yes, our politicians are in cahoots with our economic plunderers – the reason they check the activities of the IYC today. This is the kind of egregious damage selfish politicking has done to our region. Is it not clear that the Igbo are our best partners?
Dear brothers and sisters, we have become the region with the most restive youths. Who should we blame for the brigandage and arson that have become second nature to our region? The politicians, of course! They allow the structure of Nigeria to impoverish our youths by denying us jobs, making us susceptible to potential use for devious purposes. Yes, our youths become veritable tools for political violence during elections, an act that snowballs into cult clashes with their concomitant loss of lives. Crime has become the order of the day in the South-South, with the politicians aiding and abetting same. As a tutor from this region, I can boldly say that the youths in the South-South are hardly inspired to acquire transformative education. I have taught more Igbo than my own people. This is shameful indeed! How many first class products do we have today? What serious plans do our governments have for the education of our people other than awarding contracts for school buildings from which they share in the kickbacks? Is this a problem caused by the Igbo, too? Do we even know whom to hate? Do we?
It is an indubitable fact that politics has bred more criminals in Niger Delta. It means our real problem is politics, for it has made us cower to the dictates of those who contribute nothing to the State. The calibre of persons that tend to our government houses in Niger Delta are inordinately desperate to remain in power. Rivers State, for instance, has always had governors who always run to the Emirates and Sultanate to submerge us more in their bid to remain politically relevant. I was one of those who fought Amaechi with the strokes of my pen, but I can see that the difference between Amaechi and Wike is just a matter of name, not political mien, since Rivers State is now an annex to the Sultanate. Elsewhere in Edo, the incumbent governor said Edo people should marry more Muslims so that killings by Fulani herdsmen will cease. You can see the kind of political administrators we have in Niger Delta. Are the Igbo still our problem? I think working with our Igbo family is the solution, because the politicians are leading us astray. We must take bold decisions today.
My dear Niger Deltans, the time has come to look away from politics. We, the youths that are the real victims, must decide today to say no to bad elders and political administrators. Today that both the politicians and self-acclaimed activists are clutching onto RESTRUCTURING, we must be wise to see beyond the mist. Their fear for BIAFRA is enough to make us embrace our brothers in the East. Take a critical look at those against the agitation and see that they are the ones behind our problems. Yes, the bad elders and corrupt politicians are the ones against Biafra. Some of them have said we should work for the birth of Niger Delta, even though they are aware that Biafra Republic will be a conglomerate of NATIONS BASED ON ETHNICITY. Yes, when I spoke with Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in Afaraukwu, Umuahia, he told me that every ethnic group in Biafra will be POLITICALLY and ECONOMICALLY AUTONOMOUS. Is that not what we all want, my dear compatriots? Why are they lying to us that we can achieve a Niger Delta Republic in even 100 years? And why do we always take the bait? Restructuring will never be total. Take note that all the
