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IJAW FOUNDATION
549 LEFFERTS AVENUE, BROOKLYN, NY 11225,
USA
Phone & Fax: (718) 778-0536 Website:
www.ijawfoundation.org
A non-profit
organization established in 2003
| SELF-GOVERNMENT FOR THE IJAWS IS
THE SOLUTION TO
THE NIGER DELTA CONFLICT |
It is now universal knowledge that the Ijaws and Nigeria are
involved in a serious conflict that has been occasioned by the relentless
ruthless oppression of the Ijaws by Nigeria.
The Ijaws are an extremely pacific and longsuffering
nation of about fourteen million people who live in uniquely riverine
communities that occupy the topographically unique Niger Delta, which is
richly endowed with abundant crude oil, natural gas, a luxuriant tropical
forest, marine resources and other invaluable natural resources. The
Ijaws are the indigenous people of the Niger Delta and the Ijaw
Country is the geographic True South of Nigeria.
Our nomenclature, Ijaw literally means Truth
and we have a culture of love by which we show unsurpassable hospitality
and kindness to our neighbours and visitors without prejudice to race,
nationality, religion or any other status. Ironically, these endearing spiritual
attributes render us vulnerable to oppression and exploitation by our fellow
Nigerians and the trans-national oil corporations operating in Ijawland.
From
the beginning, we have organized and governed ourselves in naturally sovereign
kingdoms and City States; each of which is ruled by a King
called Pere or Amanyanabo, and a Council of Elders and Chiefs who
rise to leadership position by natural ascendancy. Prior to the forced amalgamation of the
Ijaw Territory with neighbouring territories into
present-day Nigeria, the Ijaw Kingdoms and City States signed various treaties
with the adventurist British government as co-equal sovereign
nations.
NIGERIA IS AN ILLEGITIMATE STATE
Nigeria is a failed State derived from a fraudulent
contraption of our erstwhile colonial masters by the instrumentality of the
forced amalgamation of 1914; patently unable to provide the barest minimum level
of political, social and economic security for its citizens. It is an
illegitimate State because the Apparatus of Governance has been perpetually
hijacked by an evil clique of opportunists through the hegemony of the so-called
three majority ethnic groups that has subverted the sovereignty and will of the
people and ruthlessly oppressed and exploited the minority ethnic groups. The
clique of opportunists has perpetually disenfranchised the Nigerian citizenry by
using the security forces to rig elections massively and brazenly to perpetuate
itself in power. The clique is lawless and unaccountable to the citizenry. These
self-imposed rulers of Nigeria appropriate absolute power to themselves, loot
the resources of the state, run the country as a criminal enterprise, murder
political opponents to remain in power, and commit other atrocious violations of
human rights.
The self-imposed Nigerian government exists and rules in
flagrant violation of Article 21 Subsection (3) of the United Nations Universal
Declaration of Human Rights that stipulates as follows: “The will of the people
shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed
in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage
and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures”. The
Nigerian government is therefore illegitimate because it does not have the
mandate of the people nor does it serve the interest of the Nigerian people.
UNGRATEFUL
NIGERIA
Nigeria is sustained by the Ijaw wealth of Oil and
gas, which accounts for about ninety (90%) of Nigeria’s revenue.
Paradoxically, the Nigerian government refuses to provide roads, electricity,
drinkable water, healthcare or quality education for the Ijaws while it provides
such necessities for other Nigerians with proceeds from the Ijaw Oil
Wealth. Furthermore, the Ijaws
have been effectively robbed of their petroleum resources as the Nigerian State
has given the ownership and control of the Ijaw resources to other Nigerians on
a platter of gold to the total exclusion of the Ijaws by its brazenly unfair Oil
Industry Privatization Scheme. While
other Nigerians have become millionaires and billionaires by looting the
proceeds from our Oil Wealth, we live in abject poverty.
THE IJAWS ARE
VICTIMS OF DISCRIMINATION AND OPPRESSION
The General Olusegun Obasanjo-led
government of Nigeria was severely indicted by the United Nations
Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination at its sixty-seventh session
(CERD/C/NGA/CO/18, November 2005) for failing to implement the 1997 General
Recommendation 23 on the rights of indigenous peoples regarding ‘environmental
racism’ and degradation. Paragraph 19 of the report of this UN Committee
expressed grave concern regarding the adverse effect of oil exploration on the
Niger Delta environment and held that the Petroleum Act of 1969 and the Land Use
Decree of 1978 enacted to enable the government to expropriate the resources of
the Niger Delta peoples are contrary to the provisions of the Convention on the
Protection of the Rights of Minorities.
The committee recommended repeal
of these offensive, oppressive and inhumane laws and reiterated “that along with
the right to exploit natural resources there are specific, concomitant
obligations towards the local population, including effective and meaningful
consultation.”
ECOLOGICAL GENOCIDE
The unbridled continuous exploitation of crude oil and
natural gas beneath the farms, fisheries and houses of the Ijaws over the past
forty years has caused indescribable and irredeemable environmental destruction
and ecological devastation of Ijawland. There have been no countervailing
environmental protection measures instituted by the Nigerian Government and the
trans-national oil companies that principally benefit from the mining of these
resources. Prior to the mining of crude oil and natural gas in Ijawland, there
was abundance of fish in Ijawland and the Ijaws exported large quantities of
fish. It is very sad, painful and unacceptable that the Ijaws now import fish to
eat; because pollution by highly toxic hydrocarbons from continual oil spillages
has caused the virtual extinction of fish in our rivers. These pollutants have
also rendered our farmlands barren as well as made our waters poisonous,
carcinogenic and undrinkable. The continuous flaring of gas in the Niger Delta,
besides being a reckless and an unconscionable waste of this valuable natural
resource, has severely poisoned the air we breathe and produces acid rain that
is extremely hazardous to our health and ecosystem. The continuous destruction
of our habitat and traditional means of subsistence by oil prospecting
activities results in the progressive deterioration of the socio-economic
conditions of our already utterly impoverished Ijaw people. Consequently, the
survival of the Ijaw people is under serious threat especially in the face of
episodic genocide committed against our people by the Nigerian State. Since we
depend on the ecosystem for our survival, the wanton destruction of our
ecosystem has made us to become highly endangered species of Homo sapiens.
IJAWS ARE TREATED AS NON-NIGERIANS OR
COLONIAL SUBJECTS
In
response to our peaceful agitation for fairness, equity and
self-determination, the Nigerian government has inflicted an
ever-intensifying Genocidal Reign of Terror on our defenceless people. In
the last decade, members of the Nigerian Security Forces, acting at the behest
of the Nigerian government, have wrongfully and needlessly murdered thousands of
Ijaws, raided and burnt Ijaw towns and villages, cruelly tortured many of our
people, imprisoned several Ijaw Rights Activists and raped numerous Ijaw women
and children; in response to our legitimate demands for a halt to our
oppression, the wanton destruction of our habitat and looting of our God-given
wealth.
The
genocides committed by the Nigerian State at Odi, Odioma, Kaiama, Ovu, Liama, Okpoama, Obioku,
Yenagoa, Amarata, Ekeki, Opolo, Agudama, Epebu, Oluashiri, Okolobiri, Mbiama,
Azuzuama, Ologoama, Oboro, Ogodobiri, Ojobo, Peretorugbene, Warri Corner,
Okerenkoko, Torugbene, Ogbudugbudu, Ogulagha, Odimodi, Okigbene, Olugbobiri,
Olugboboro, Ikebiri, Nembe, Twon, Ferebaghagbene, Opia, Ikenyan, Okokodiagbene,
Ogbe-Ijo, Izon-Burutu, Ekeremor-Zion, Sagbama, Aven, Patani, Amabulu,
Peremabiri, Obuama, Fish Town, Koluama, Okrika, Bonny, Ataba, Iyak, Omelema,
Otari, Degema, Bakana, Kula, Soku, Elem-Sangama, Opobo, Abuloma, Amadi-ama,
Bille, Belema, Buguma and numerous other Ijaw communities are proofs of
the ruthless determination of the evil and ungrateful Nigerian State to oppress
and kill us for our oil.
The
Nigerian government has recently
ordered gunboats from the United States to attack the Ijaws. Furthermore, it is
aggressively sourcing supplies of weapons from China and elsewhere to further
its war and genocide it is waging against the Ijaws to forcibly rob the Ijaws of
their God-given Oil Wealth. Instead of engaging the Ijaws in dialogue to
peacefully resolve the conflict, the Nigerian State has entered into alliance
with foreign countries and foreign interests against the hapless Ijaw people.
Instead of protecting the Ijaws as its own citizens, Nigeria is treating the
Ijaws as foreigners, colonial subjects and enemies. Nigeria is determined to
exterminate us.
NIGERIA HAS DESTROYED
ITS BOND WITH THE IJAWS
A
nation can only result from a free association of free individuals and free
peoples who agree, by free will and not by coercion, to form a common country
and a common government for the good of all. Article 20 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights states, in part, that: “No one may be compelled to
belong to an association”.
Nigeria’s proven intent to exterminate us is an absolute contraindication for us to continue to be part of Nigeria! It is
a very strong warning for us to part ways
with Nigeria before it is too late. By its ungrateful and evil actions against
the Ijaws, Nigeria has made its separation with the Ijaws inevitable.
The Ijaw Nation refuses to be part of a
country whereby it is oppressed and marginalized by opportunists; whereby its
developmental aspirations are subverted; whereby its resources are plundered;
whereby its habitat is recklessly destroyed, and
whereby its very survival is seriously threatened by ecocide and
genocide.
We are slaves and hostages in our own land.
However, by virtue of Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, we cannot be forced to belong to the association called Nigeria.
THE RIGHT TO
SELF-DEFENSE
Our oppressors are the advocates of violence because they are
using guns and violence, military force and genocide, to keep us oppressed. No
Ijaw person would take a gun to fight if the oppressive Nigerian State does not
use guns (military power) to repress us and deny us justice! A thief knows
that it is wrong for him to take your personal property from you without your
consent, and he knows that you will not allow him to do so, so he comes armed
with a gun to coerce you to relinquish your property to him. Nigeria is
committing armed robbery against the Ijaws. A thief comes to steal, kill and
destroy. Nigeria is stealing our resources, killing us, and destroying our
habitat and means of livelihood. It is the most cruel irony of fate that our
Ijaw people are being killed by Nigerian soldiers that are paid, clothed,
fed, housed and armed with our Ijaw Oil Money; to enable the Nigerian government
and the Oil Companies to plunder our resources and destroy our habitat.
It is unacceptable that our God-given wealth has become our inexorable
curse!
In the face of this intolerable oppression and proven intent and acts of the
malevolent Nigerian state to exterminate the Ijaws to steal their oil wealth,
the Ijaws have no choice but to exercise their legitimate Right to Self-Defense!
It is the Nigerian State that has made dialogue and peaceful resolution of
the Niger Delta Conflict impossible; by militarizing Ijawland (occupying
Ijawland with military troops), by ensuring that
prominent Ijaws who speak up (Marshall Harry, Aminasori Dikibo, etc) are
murdered as a warning to other Ijaws, and by locking up agitators for peaceful
coexistence (Asari Dokubo and his Lawyer, Uche Okwukwu who are presently
incarcerated). No Ijaw person will carry gun to fight the Nigerian State
if Nigeria withdraws all its military forces of occupation in Ijawland and allows Ijaws to express their grievances without
harassment and intimidation.
STARK REALITY
A self-imposed selfish, corrupt, dictatorial and unaccountable clique of
opportunists rules Nigeria. Since these rulers do not need the mandate of
Nigerians or Ijaws to rule, there is no political pressure or incentive for them
to change the corrupt and unjust status quo that benefits them. The Niger Delta
Conflict would therefore be kept aflame perpetually because the unjust status
quo would continually evoke disenchantment amongst our people. This is the stark
realty. The cause of the conflict is that the Nigerian State is robbing us of
our resources and destroying our environment. Nigeria has the opportunity to
destroy our environment and us simply because it has access to our lands and
resources by virtue of our being part of Nigeria. This would be eliminated once
we separate from Nigeria. Self-government for the Ijaws is therefore the
solution to the Niger Delta Conflict. Freedom is the solution to oppression.
Therefore, we hereby reassert the sovereignty of the Ijaw Nation that had always
existed prior to our conscription into Nigeria by colonial Britain.
LEGITIMACY OF THE IJAW STRUGGLE: THE CONSCIENCE OF HUMANITY
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.
2. All
peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their natural wealth and
resources without prejudice to any obligations arising out of international
economic co-operation, based upon the principle of mutual benefit, and
international law. In no case may a people be deprived of its own means of
subsistence.
3. The
States Parties to the present Covenant, including those having responsibility
for the administration of Non-Self-Governing and Trust Territories, shall
promote the realization of the right of self-determination, and shall respect
that right, in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United
Nations.
Furthermore, the Draft United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples re-affirms the Right of the Ijaws to Freedom and Self-government
as follows:
Article
1
Indigenous peoples have the right to the full
and effective enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms recognized
in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and international human rights law.
Article
2
Indigenous individuals and peoples are free
and equal to all other individuals and peoples in dignity and rights, and have
the right to be free from any kind of adverse discrimination, in particular that
based on their indigenous origin or identity.
Article
3
Indigenous 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.
Article
6
Indigenous peoples have the collective right
to live in freedom, peace and security as distinct peoples and to full
guarantees against genocide or any other act of violence, including the removal
of indigenous children from their families and communities under any pretext.
In
addition, they have the individual rights to life, physical and mental
integrity, liberty and security of person.
Article
21
Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain
and develop their political, economic and social systems, to be secure in the
enjoyment of their own means of subsistence and development, and to engage
freely in all their traditional and other economic activities. Indigenous
peoples who have been deprived of their means of subsistence and development are
entitled to just and fair compensation.
Article
26
Indigenous peoples have the right to own,
develop, control and use the lands and territories, including the total
environment of the lands, air, waters, coastal seas, sea-ice, flora and fauna
and other resources which they have traditionally owned or otherwise occupied or
used. This includes the right to the full recognition of their laws, traditions
and customs, land-tenure systems and institutions for the development and
management of resources, and the right to effective measures by States to
prevent any interference with, alienation of or encroachment upon these rights.
Article
27
Indigenous peoples have the right to the
restitution of the lands, territories and resources which they have
traditionally owned or otherwise occupied or used, and which have been
confiscated, occupied, used or damaged without their free and informed consent.
Where this is not possible, they have the right to just and fair compensation.
Unless otherwise freely agreed upon by the peoples concerned, compensation shall
take the form of lands, territories and resources equal in quality, size and
legal status.
Article
28
Indigenous peoples have the right to the
conservation, restoration and protection of the total environment and the
productive capacity of their lands, territories and resources, as well as to
assistance for this purpose from States and through international cooperation.
Military activities shall not take place in the lands and territories of
indigenous peoples, unless otherwise freely agreed upon by the peoples
concerned.
States
shall take effective measures to ensure that no storage or disposal of hazardous
materials shall take place in the lands and territories of indigenous
peoples.
States
shall also take effective measures to ensure, as needed, that programmes for
monitoring, maintaining and restoring the health of indigenous peoples, as
developed and implemented by the peoples affected by such materials, are duly
implemented.
Article
30
Indigenous
peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies for
the development or use of their lands, territories and other resources,
including the right to require that States obtain their free and informed
consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands, territories
and other resources, particularly in connection with the development,
utilization or exploitation of mineral, water or other resources. Pursuant to
agreement with the indigenous peoples concerned, just and fair compensation
shall be provided for any such activities and measures taken to mitigate adverse
environmental, economic, social, cultural or spiritual impact.
Article
31
Indigenous peoples, as a specific form of
exercising their right to self-determination, have the right to autonomy or
self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs,
including culture, religion, education, information, media, health, housing,
employment, social welfare, economic activities, land and resources management,
environment and entry by non-members, as well as ways and means for financing
these autonomous functions.
SACRED CUSTODIAL
RESPONSIBILITY
It is our sacred custodial responsibility to ensure that the
land God has given us is neither destroyed nor abused. At the minimum, we owe it
to God and future Ijaw generations to preserve the fragile ecosystem and
productivity of the Niger Delta that God lovingly provided for our sustenance.
Furthermore, the pathological dependence of Nigeria on our “free” OIL WEALTH has
engendered endemic corruption that has brought perpetual underdevelopment,
poverty, destitution and misery to the Nigerian masses. As the rightful owners,
it would be foolish and unpardonable for us to allow our resources to be wasted
without any meaningful benefit. We must stop this plunder and profligacy!
THE IJAWS WANT
PEACE
Oppression is enforced by violence and terror that rob its
hapless victims of their peace. The Nigerian State has visited tremendous
violence and terror upon us to subdue us to steal our resources. Nigeria’s
military forces of occupation in Ijawland continually murder and maim us, and
rape our women. The terror and violence have totally robbed us of our peace and
security. This terror and violence must stop for us to regain our peace and
security. We, the Ijaws, are therefore engaged in a noble and heroic Struggle
for Peace by protesting against this horrendous violence and terror that have
robbed us of our peace.
A BATTLE OF GOOD
AGAINST EVIL
The loss of any Nigerian or Ijaw life is extremely painful to
us because we hate violence and bloodshed. But the Nigerian State should know
that the sleeping dog may lie no more. We only claim, demand and defend that
which is rightly and justly ours. Our motivation is love, our passion is
justice, and our goal is liberty and peace. We have shown remarkable restraint
in the face of extreme provocation. While the evil and genocidal Nigerian
military bombs sleeping Ijaw civilians in their villages, the Ijaws don’t even
want to harm these same Nigerian troops! Our Fight is not against Nigeria or
Nigerian soldiers but against evil and oppression!
This is a battle of good against evil. We are confident of
the glorious triumph of good over evil! We are absolutely confident of our
victory God has promised and decreed.
ALLIANCE FOR
FREEDOM
Mankind has the innate desire to be free and it is innately
human to resist oppression. We totally agree with the eloquent assertion by
President George W. Bush of the United States in his 2005 State of the Union
Address, that: “Freedom is not God’s gift to America but it is God’s gift to the
world”! We are not alone in this struggle for freedom. We identify with all
nations and peoples that have traveled this path in history. We identify with
our brothers and sisters that overcame slavery, African-Americans that overcame
racism, and black South Africans that overcame Apartheid. We identify with the
United States, which fought its war of independence to free itself from British
colonial subjugation. In his historic speech to his fellow Americans, the
legendary Patrick Henry of blessed memory declared: “Give me liberty or give me
death”! The United States of America was the torchbearer of liberty about two
hundred and thirty years ago. Today, the Ijaws are proud to be the torchbearers
of liberty.
It is a truism that oppression does not only violate the
dignity of the oppressed but it also debases its perpetrators. Thus, we are also
fighting for the dignity of our oppressors as we fight for ours. Above all, we
are making our modest contribution to human progress.
We call on all champions and lovers of freedom, and indeed
the entire world, to join the Alliance for Freedom and stand with us against
oppression. We appeal to our fellow Nigerians to respect and support our right
to self-determination because our freedom will also bring freedom and progress
to them.
AGENDA FOR
SELF-GOVERNMENT
Sovereignty belongs to the people. Accordingly, we shall
conduct a Referendum on Self-government, as soon as possible, for our people to
decide, by free voting, whether to remain in Nigeria or have self-government. We
call on the United Nations to provide us technical assistance to conduct the
referendum. We want a peaceful disengagement. We urge our fellow Nigerians and
the Nigerian government to support our peaceful agenda for self-government. Let
us be guided by this fact of history: when we make peaceful change impossible,
we make violent change inevitable. To foster peace, and with brotherly love
therefore, we urge the Nigerian government to withdraw all its military forces
of occupation in the Niger Delta.
History also teaches us that where the relationship between
groups of people is marred by injustice, disenchantment, animosity and rancour,
disengagement or separation eliminates the acrimony and fosters a mutually
beneficial relationship between the same groups. For example, the United States
fought a bitter war to separate from Britain but has since remained Britain’s
closest and most trusted ally! The Ijaw Nation looks forward to having a similar
relationship with the remainder of Nigeria. Separation has become inevitable to
eliminate oppression, suffering, animosity and violence so that we can forge a
new relationship based on love.
Recognizing
that it is the global protector of Human Rights and the guarantor of the
Right to Self-determination to all peoples, and pursuant to the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, with particular reference to Article 1 of the
United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Articles
1, 2, 3, 6, 21, 26, 27, 28, 30 and 31 of the Draft United Nations Declaration on
the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the fourteen (14) million Ijaw people of
the Niger Delta hereby make a clarion call to the United Nations, as a
matter of utmost urgency, to support the Ijaw Agenda for Self-government
as follows:
1.
Declare the Ijaw
Region in Nigeria a Protectorate of the United Nations pending the
completion of our transition to self-government.
2.
Establish a United Nations Committee for Self-determination of the
Ijaws to: (a) mediate our negotiations with the Nigerian State for our peaceful
separation from Nigeria; (b) provide us with technical assistance to conduct our
Referendum on Self-government; (c) oversee our transition to self-rule.
3.
Grant the Ijaws representation as an OBSERVER NATION in the United
Nations General Assembly (same status
currently enjoyed by the Palestinians), pending our transition to
self-rule.
4. Order the Nigerian government, by Security
Council Resolution, to immediately withdraw all its military troops, submarines,
gunboats and weaponry deployed to the Niger Delta to repress the Ijaws.
We call on the United Nations and all
nations and all peoples of the world to show sincerity of purpose,
forthrightness and integrity by acting in consonance with the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights by supporting freedom and self-government for the
Ijaw Nation. Let us all prove by our actions that we truly believe and uphold
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that: “All
human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed
with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of
brotherhood”.
Let us sow love and justice so that we may
reap a harvest of peace and joy in the world.
GOD BLESS THE UNITED NATIONS AND ALL
NATIONS OF THE WORLD.
GOD BLESS NIGERIA. GOD BLESS THE IJAW
NATION.
Dr. Ebipamone N. Nanakumo
Chairman, Board of Directors
For and on behalf of the Ijaw Foundation Board of
Directors and the Ijaw Agenda for Self-government Committee
The members of the Ijaw Agenda for Self-government
Committee are as follows:
Ebipamone N. Nanakumo: Chairman, Ijaw Foundation Board of
Directors
Aaron Nmungwun: Vice-Chairman, Ijaw Foundation Board of
Directors
Dawari Longjohn: Treasurer, Ijaw Foundation Board of
Directors
Rowland Ekperi: Member of Ijaw Foundation Board of
Directors and President of the Ijaw Peoples Association of Great Britain and
Ireland
Lincoln Snithers: Kalabari National Association
Ekiyor Akparede Edotimi: Director-General, Ijaw Institute
of Strategic Studies
Peter Edu: Concerned Bayelsans USA
Titoe Miriki: Pro-Active Ijaw Laedership Council and United Ijaw.com Editor
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