Ijaw Youths from the Nine States of the Niger Delta region, yesterday, described as condemnable” and sad the attack on the home of the leader of the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu in Umuohia, Abia State by suspected military officers which led to the loss of lives last Sunday.
The Ijaw youths, under the aegis of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) worldwide, said the deployment of the military troops to the Niger Delta and South East regions under the security operation known as Crocodile Smile or Python Dance will not solve the rising agitations.
The IYC, in the Statement issued yesterday via email and signed by the President, Barr Eric Omare, stated that “It is condemnable the attack on the home of the leader of the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu in Umuohia, Abia State by suspected military officers which led to the loss of lives and many injured in the last hours of Sunday, September 10, 2017.
“The picture of those killed and injured tells a very sad story about the engagement of the military with IPOB members. It amounts to gross violation of human rights for Nigerians to be indiscriminately shot and killed because of legitimate agitation for justice.
“The deployment troops whether as operation crocodile smile or python dance is not the solution to the Niger Delta and Igbo agitations. The agitations are about quest for equity and fairness in the affairs of Nigerian and cannot be silence through the barrel of gun. In the first place, it was totally unnecessary and insensitive for the military to launch operation python dance in the south east considering the prevailing atmosphere in the region.”
“ The activities of the members of IPOB have been civil and orderly hence can be controlled by the regular mobile police rather than the military. The IYC is not surprised with the turn of events in the south east because from our experience in the Niger Delta, the deployment of the military always carries tales of sorry and pains as experienced in Igbo nation now”.
“We call on President Buhari to bring to justice the perpetrators of the killings in the south east, withdraw the military officers and bring to a halt the operation python dance in the south east. The IPOB demand for self-determination, just like that of the Niger Delta and other parts of the country cannot be stopped with the dance of a python but only through justice and equity through a restructured Nigeria that guarantees the different parts of the country the right to develop at their pace. Therefore neither the dance of a python nor the smile of a crocodile would quell the agitations”.
