The President of the umbrella
body of all Ijaw youths in the
country, the Ijaw Youth Council,
Mr. Udengs Eradiri, has called
on all Ijaw youths across the
country to avoid all acts of
violence, destructions and
protests as a fall of last
Saturday’s Presidential
election, won by
Gen. Muhammadu Buhari of the
All Progressives Congress.
Eradiri also congratulated
Buhari on his electoral victory
and said that Ijaw youths would
key into his administration just
the same way youths from
other ethnic nationalities from
other parts of the country
supported the Jonathan
Administration.
The IYC President warned that
any Ijaw youth who got involved
in protests, destructions and
other acts of violence would be
seen to be doing so at his or
her risk.
He said that the IYC would
accept the leadership of Buhari
as the South South region had
its own chance but could not
wield the high possibilities of
the position to its advantage in
the election.
He advised the youth populace
in the region to resist being
manipulated politically.
He said, “First of all, I want to
commend President Goodluck
Jonathan for conducting the
freest and fairest election that
Nigeria has ever had and Africa
would take example from him.
“I want to use this opportunity
to congratulate Gen, Buhari
who has emerged winner of the
Presidential elections.
“And so, as IYC, when we had
our own as President, the Igbos,
the Yorubas, the Hausas were
loyal to him, we will be loyal to
the President-elect, Gen.
Buhari, who from May 29, would
become the President of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“We will accept it (the results of
the election); we had our own
knife and yam, we were not
able to cut it the way we
wanted. We have no other
person to blame, it is in this
part of the country people were
asking for money to go and
vote and yet northerners were
paying their transport, Mai ruwa
people were paying their own
transport to go and exercise
their rights, to go and pick their
PVCs.
“Our people were expecting to
be paid to collect PVCs and the
results reflected and so we
have no other choice, we are
the architects of our problem,
so we should be able to live
with it.
“If you go and protest, you are
on your own, if you go and
destroy anything, you are on
your own. I, as the leader of
youths in this region, we had
reached out to other ethnic
nationalities to canvass
support. Maybe, we started
late, maybe the attention was
not given that should have
started with the political class.
“History has already recorded
it. So the best we can do is to
key into his administration just
as the Yoruba keyed into this
administration; Hausas keyed
into this administration, it is
time for us to also to also key
into the administration of
another leader. So I call on our
people to steer clear of all
those political manipulations.”
He commended the President
for conducting the election that
is reputed to be the freest and
fairest in the history of the
country.
He said that Nigerians would
remember the legacies of
President Goodluck Jonathan in
the next few months especially
in the area of power,
agriculture, maritime education
and other projects executed
under the transformation
agenda of the government.
He also warned the youths
against attacking oil
installations in the region
stressing that the immediate
communities would be the ones
to bear the brunt of such
actions.
Eradiri advised communities to
prevent people from carrying
out illegal hunkering, oil theft
and other acts inimical to the
economy.
