United Ijaw States

Ijaw Delta Affairs Re. Leadership as service to our people, by Andy Uba Democracy is a divine right by man to choose his destiny, divine right by man to choose who governs him, divine right by man to forge a better society for himself and posterity. But what happens when this divine right is taken away from man by force? When this divine right to forge a better society is trampled upon? When instead of a better society, what obtains is a society ravaged by hunger, unemployment, hopelessness, uncertain future, massive corruption, HIV ravaged, ethnic militants terrorised, infrastructure dilapidated. The question for Andy Uba is, where is that service to the people? What has PDP done for Nigeria? What has Andy done for Anambra State?… Chidi Anyaeche

Atiku Demands Probe of N1.34 trillion By Lemmy Ughegbe, Guardian 31/1/07 The Atiku camp, claimed that the President was yet to investigate the N83 billion fraud at the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the N30 billion alleged kick-back from the debt-buy back initiative with the Paris Club of Creditors and the alleged use of the presidential jet by former aide of Obasanjo to smuggle $170,000 into the United States (U.S.). The campaign group said $55,000 of the smuggled money was used to import equipment for the President’s farm.

"Everybody knows that the place where the lifeblood of the country lies now is the Niger Delta and we must be ready to defend the lifeblood with all the resources of the country," … Obasanjo in PH (Saturday, 03 February 2007 )

"Obasanjo is an hypocrite, you say, don’t worry I’ve got a masterplan to develop the area, you convene a stakeholders meeting, putting some people in air-conditioned hotel rooms and giving them money in Abuja while the real people concerned are left at home suffering because there is no light, no water, no good roads, no schools. And all the while you are secretly buying weapons to go and destroy them!" "Obasanjo is not playing straight with Atiku, he is not playing straight with Nigeria and with the Niger Delta. The country is in for trouble." ….Prof. David-West

Mujahid Dokubo-Asari: Where is Justice and Fairness? The Ijaw nationalist and Nigerian patriot Asari Dokubo was arrested and detained under the trumped up charge of “endangering state security.” For well over a year now, he has been held mostly incommunicado, maltreated in detention, frequently moved around from one detention center to another, subjected to injurious elements, refused quality visitation by his wives and children and other members of his family, and in some occasions, refused basic human needs. What the government of Nigeria, under President Olusegun Obasanjo is doing to Mr. Dokubo-Asari, is reminiscence of what takes place in places like Syria, Libya, Laos, Eritrea, Myanmar, and Augusto Pinochet’s Chile…Mr. Sabella Ogbobode Abidde

SELF-GOVERNMENT FOR THE IJAWS IS THESOLUTION TO THE NIGER DELTA CONFLICT

The Right of the Ijaws to Freedom and Self-government is given absolute support and legitimacy by The Conscience of Humanity as expressed in Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ratified and accented to on the16th of December 1966 by Resolution 2200A (XXI) of the General Assembly of the United Nations:

1. All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

Ijaw Self- Determination Now

Citizens of the world, without ambiguity or double talk, we want to make it crystal clear, and as forcefully as possible, to the Nigerian regime and to the world that the Ijaw People demand the right of self-determination now. Time, history and culture have given the Ijaw and Niger Delta People a unique identity. International law, universal principles, the UN Charter and resolutions regarding the rights of indigenous people legitimize our right to determine our own future. Ijaw People love peace and we long for peace and progress, but the Nigerian state, as presently constituted and ruled, has made peace and progress elusive. We say to you and the world again, it is time for us all to seek other political ways. The people of former Czechoslovakia did and are now happier and much hopeful of a better future. ..Ijaw Pro-Active…

Obasanjo May End in Utter Disaster and Shame

He believes that he has all the answers. He believes that he can never be wrong. Yet, sadly, the bitter truth is that in his first coming Obasanjo sold us to the Fulani caliphate and now, in his second, he is selling us not only to his American and Western European backers but also to his friends at the IMF and the World Bank. The president has turned himself into something that is akin to the proverbial heartless and extremely wicked African slave trader who actually takes pleasure in selling and humiliating his own people and of course when they begin to complain he attempts to intimidate and cowed them into silence and submission and he lashes them with his cruel whip… Femi Fani Kayode

Fresh wounds in the Niger Delta

The angry youths who have since formed themselves into formidable militias have exposed the limitations of that rent-collecting elite and its manipulation by the state. The other year, one traditional ruler was chased out of town by aggrieved youths who accused him of stealing money meant for the community. Youth leaders have also been sanctioned in many communities. Unlike the rent-collectors, the angry youths of the militias see themselves as revolutionaries. They are the ones now dictating the pace of the politics of the mangrove forest. No one should be surprised that there is no Niger Delta elite who can confidently condemn what these angry youths are doing. Such a leader may find it difficult to return home. So, in that sense, the strategy by the Nigerian state of using selected Niger Delta leaders against the people has failed… Reuben Abati

Core and Noncore:The Politics of Exclusion and Self Destruction..As the 2007 draws near, some Ijaw political tycoons are willing to deploy any means possible, including very divisive tactics in order to ensure their political victory in the coming elections.In particular, attention is focused on the highly flammable terminology known as’CORE” which some people floated around in Ijawland.Anyone who has been dreaming about such a multi-headed biochemicalized dragon should desist from planting and germinating such a political crop if the person is truly dedicated to the progress of the Ijaw nation…By Priye S. Torulagha