A coalition of Ijaw concerned groups in collaboration with the Ijaw Elders Forum (IEF), Lagos State chapter, has condemned the recent military attack on the Bilabiri community in the Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, describing the destruction of lives and property of innocent citizens as barbaric and unnecessary.
In a statement jointly signed by its Chairman, Chief Bukazi Etete, Vice Chairman, Atamuno Atamuno, Secretary, Pastor Efiye Bribena, Mr Charles Ambaiowei, former Acting President, Ijaw National Congress, Ben Amaebi Okoro, Moderator, Ijaw Nation Forum, High Chief Denzil Amagbe Kentebe, a Former Executive Secretary (NCDMB), Prof. Dauphin D. Moro, Convener, Niger Delta Environmental Vanguard, the group noted with dismay how Ijaw communities had suffered several unjustifiable attacks under successive governments despite the challenge of environmental degradations they had been grappling since the discovery of oil in the Niger Delta region.
It reads in part: “We strongly condemn these acts of violence and brutality perpetuated against our people and communities. We cannot continue to endure this oppressive state of affairs and the continued destruction of our people and communities.
“The experience of the Ijaw people under the Nigerian state in the past 59 years has been most unpalatable and dehumanizing to say the least.”
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