Ekiyor, Ex-IYC President Lampoons Wike for Denigrating Ijaw Nation, says ‘You Have Gone Too Far’

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Former President of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Dr. Chris Ekiyor, has drawn the battleline with the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and immediate past governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, for dragging the Ijaw nation into the feud between him and his successor, Governor Siminalayi Fubara.

Asserting that the Ijaw are the reason Nigeria is still together today, Dr. Ekiyor said Wike needed to apologise to the Ijaw nation “otherwise, what is coming to him he will not even understand because Ijaw people are very spiritual”.

Wike had in an outburst, made comments that was considered derogatory to the Ijaw nation during his recent media chat. Ekiyor, however, reminded him that it was through the goodwill of an Ijaw President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan that he became who he is today.

TELL recalls that Wike had boasted that heavens would not fall if Fubara was impeached, reportedly adding that the Ijaw people are “a minority of minorities in Rivers and other South-South states except Bayelsa”.

The former governor contended that in key Niger Delta states, the Ijaw are numerically insignificant when compared to other ethnic groups, stressing that outside Bayelsa State where the Ijaw are the dominant ethnic group, their chances of producing a governor are slim.

According to the FCT Minister, “In Akwa Ibom, Ijaw cannot be governor. In Delta, Ijaw is the minority. With all due respect to our late elder statesman, Pa Edwin Clark, he has never produced an Ijaw man to be governor, he has never.

“The only place an Ijaw man can solely be governor is in Bayelsa. Not in Edo, not in Rivers, where they are the minority of the minority. It is out of our benevolence—live and let live—that we picked an Ijaw man to be governor.”

Reacting to these comments on Friday, Ekiyor said: “The Ijaw nation is bigger than Wike. He has bitten more than he can chew to drag the Ijaw nation into simple political greed. When privileged people in this country find themselves in a place of power, they suddenly forget who they are, and they tend to throw caution to the wind.

He said an Ijaw man in the person of former President Goodluck Jonathan made him Minister of State for Education adding that if the former President had not appointed him, he won’t be what he is today.
“He rode on the goodwill of an Ijaw man, President Goodluck Jonathan to reach the zenith of his career. If for any reason he has supported Fubara to be governor, it’s expected that when a governor is leaving office, he finds a successor and sponsor the successor.

“Those resources are not his (Wike’s) resources; they’re the resources of Rivers State people to support a successor in an election. It’s taxpayer’s money of Rivers State. It’s federal allocation of Rivers State that was used to champion the campaign to make Fubara the governor.”

He, however, cautioned Wike not to push his luck too far. “When I hear Wike talk because of the euphoria of his status in Nigeria today about Ijaw people, I think he has gone too far. He needs to apologise to the Ijaw nation otherwise, what is coming to him he will not even understand because Ijaw people are very spiritual. We’re the reason Nigeria is together”.

Making an analysis of the geographic spread of the ethnic groups in Rivers State, Ekiyor asserted: “Ijaw people have nine local government areas that are entirely Ijaw out of the 23 local government areas. They share Port Harcourt Local Government Area (PHALGA) with Ikwerre people. They share part of Ahoada West with Ahoada people. If you add it up, that’s 10 local government areas out of 23 for the Ijaws.

“How many local government areas does the Ikwerres have? Three – Ikwerre local government, Obio Akpor, Emohua; even the Emohua people are claiming that they are not Ikwerre.
“You move away from that every other person is Etche or other language; they’re not Ikwerre. Ikwerres are a minority in Rivers. They’re lucky to have produced four governors. Peter Odili comes from Ogba/Egbema. He is not Ikwerre. If anything, he is even nearer Ijaw than Ikwerre.”