The Niger Delta Youth Council-backed youth organizations have threatened to halt oil production throughout the region due to the ongoing political impasse in Rivers State, causing a noticeable sense of tension in the state.
The youth groups issued a seven-day ultimatum to President Bola Tinubu demanding, among other things, the immediate restoration of Rivers State statutory revenue allocation, the end of every impeachment plot against the Rivers State Governor, Similaye Fubara, and the public retraction of anti-Ijaw remarks purportedly attributed to the former Governor of the State, Nyesom Wike.
The group stated in an open letter to the president signed by the NDYC president, Bene Youkore Mamamu, that “failure to comply could lead to a total shutdown of oil production across the region, a move that would have dire consequences for Nigeria’s already fragile economy.”
In the open letter, copies of which were made available to journalists in Warri, Delta State, on Saturday, the NDYC noted with concern that Wike’s comments, in which he was quoted as describing the Ijaws as a minority group of the minorities, “are provocative and inflammatory, and a declaration of economic and political war.”
The open letter partly reads, “We are ready to shock the world in seven days
“We are prepared to take decisive action if our demands are not met within the seven days.
“The oil that fuels this nation flows from our land, the fourth largest and most populated ethnic group in Nigeria, and we will not allow Wike, who is suspected of being used by the Presidency, to sabotage our region and undermine Ijaw history.
“We are angry that Tinubu’s government has empowered Wike and the Judiciary to undermine Ijaws and the Niger-Delta region, with regular threats to impeach Governor Fubara, seize the state allocation, insult late Pa Edwin Clark, and rewrite the history of the Ijaw nation from the fourth largest ethnic group to a minority.”
Continuing, the NDYC urged its members to “mobilize to disrupt oil production across the Niger Delta region at the expiration of the seven-day ultimatum.”
