IJAW SOLIDARITY,
POWER, LIBERTY, PEACE AND PROGRESS
IZON EBE SERI KENI WENIMO
RESOLUTION FOR A BILL FOR THE
CREATION OF BENI-EBE, TORU-EBE, KENGEMA AND ABAJI STATES AND THE CREATION OF
THIRTY-THREE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS FOR BAYELSA
STATE
Resolution
001-08
Preamble
We, the Ijaw
(Ijo, Izon) inhabiting the Niger Delta and coastal regions of Nigeria,
stretching from Apoi/Arogbo in Lagos State in the West to Ibeno on the banks of
the Qua Iboe River in Akwa Ibom State in the East of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria, in territories herein stated as follows:
The territories of the indigenous Ijaw
communities from the Apoi and Arogbo clans in Lagos State;
The territories of the indigenous Ijaw
communities from the Apoi and Arogbo clans in Ondo State;
The territories of the indigenous Egbema,
Olodiama, Furupagha and Okomu clans in Edo
State;
The territories of the indigenous people
of Patani LGA, Bomadi LGA, Burutu LGA, Warri-South LGA and Warri-North LGA,
comprising the Gbaramatu, Iduwini, Isaba, Kabo, Kumbo, Mein, Ogulagha, Obotebe,
Ogbe-Ijo, Seimbiri and Tuomo clans in Delta
State;
The territories of the indigenous people
of Brass LGA, Nembe LGA, Ogbia LGA, Southern Ijaw LGA, Yenagoa LGA,
Kolokuma-Opokuma LGA, Sagbama LGA and Ekeremor LGA, comprising the Akassa, Apoi,
Beni-Oyiakiri, Bassan, Bomo, Buseni, Ekpetiama, Epie-Atissa, Gbaran, Iduwini,
Kabo, Kolokuma, Kumbo, Mein, Ogbia, Ogboin, Okordia, Olodiama, Operemo, Oporoma,
Opokuma, Nembe, Tarakiri, Tungbo and Zarama clans in Bayelsa State;
The territories of the indigenous people
of Opobo-Nkoro Local Government Area (LGA), Andoni LGA, Eastern
Obolo LGA, Ibeno LGA, Bonny LGA,
Okrika LGA, Ogu/Bolo LGA, Port Harcourt, Degema LGA, Asari-Toru LGA, Akuku-Toru
LGA, and residual populations in Abua-Odual LGA and Ahoada West LGA, comprising
the Andoni, Ibani, Kalabari, Ke, Kula-Bille, Nkoro, Okrika, Opobo,
Abua, Odual and Engenni clans in
Rivers State; and
The territories of the indigenous Ijaw
communities from Andoni (Eastern Obolo) and Ibeno clans in Akwa-Ibom State;
are the aboriginal inhabitants of the Niger Delta and coastal regions of present day Nigeria. During Our long habitation of the Niger Delta
and coastal environs, there has not been a time prior to colonisation by
the British, that the Ijaws have been under the rulership or administrative
governorship of any outside power, be it indigenous to present day Nigeria
or foreign.
And therefore, on the grounds
of Population, Geographical Contiguity, Peculiar Environment and Unique
Topography, Administrative Convenience, Self Development, Social and Political
Justice & Equity, True Federalism and Self-determination, WE state and demand as
follows:
WHEREAS The various Nigerian
censuses ATTRIBUTE to the Ijaw People the fourth (4th) largest Ethnic
Nationality in Nigeria, stretching in a homogenous continuum of densely
populated communities and extensive expanse of complex terrain of domestic land
with surrounding rivers, seas and mangrove forests with marshy deltaic soil from
East to West; and
WHEREAS the 1967 originally
created single East Central State of the Igbo Ethnic Nationality has been
divided into Abia, Ebonyi, Imo, Anambra and Enugu States, the Western State of
the Yoruba Ethnic Nationality, into Ondo, Lagos, Ekiti, Osun, Oyo and Ogun
States, while the Northern State of the Hausa-Fulani has been divided into
Sokoto, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Kaduna, Zamfara, Adamawa, Kogi, Yobe, Taraba,
Bornu, Bauchi, Gombe, Kebbi and Nassarawa States but the Ijaw, the fourth
largest in population with the most difficult terrain for development and yet
providing the sweet crude, which is the mainstay of the economy of Nigeria, is
marginalized, fragmented, disempowered and subjugated in seven states, with Bayelsa State being the ONLY homogenous
Ijaw State; and
WHEREAS we the IJAW
ABORIGINES of the Niger Delta are amongst the first settlers in the entire
territory now known as “NIGERIA” and are one of the four largest ethnic
nationalities in the Nigerian Federation with a population of more than 14
million people according to the Provisional Census Figures of 1991;
and
WHEREAS our sovereignty and
territorial integrity as a distinct and separate nation occupying the entire
length and breadth of the Niger Delta was at no time threatened or brought under
the occupation and control of any alien nationality in the West African
sub-region before the arrival of the Portuguese in 1470 and that of the British
in 1750; and
WHEREAS it was only by Treaties
of Friendship, Trade and Protection signed between us, the IJAWS and the BRITISH
GOVERNMENT (the first of which Treaties was signed on the 25th of
January 1836 at Bonny with Lieutenant Robert Tryon on behalf of His Majesty King
William IV of Great Britain) that our aboriginal territory of the Niger Delta
became a British Protectorate and was proclaimed "Oil Rivers Protectorate" in
1885 and the "Niger Coast Protectorate” in 1893;
and
WHEREAS it was British
Colonisation enforced with the taking over of the Royal Niger Company in 1900,
and which company had in 1886 been granted a Mandate by the British Government
to administer, make treaties, levy customs and trade in the basin of the Niger
Delta and its effluents that the IJAW NATION was forcibly conscripted as a
constituent part of the present Nigerian Federation and partitioned into its
administrative divisions when the "Niger Coast Protectorate" was proclaimed the
Protectorate of Southern Nigeria under Sir Ralph Moor as High Commissioner;
and
WHEREAS the area now known as
"NIGERIA” was never at any given time a single country before the 1st
of January 1914; being hitherto inhabited by a number of different
nationalities, many of which were highly organised kingdoms before they were
forcibly amalgamated to form the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria in 1914
under Sir (later Lord) Frederick Lugard as Governor; and
WHEREAS the IJAW NATION could
have long ago evolved as a distinct and separate sovereign nation outside the
administrative Provinces created by the British in Nigeria between 1900 and 1939
to have maintained the political, economic, social and cultural AUTONOMY it is
now demanding, and which status was recognised by the Treaties of Friendship and
Trade signed with the British Government and the Resolutions of the Conference
of the Liverpool Chambers of Commerce in 1890, but for the British Government’s
forcible annexation of the Ijaw Niger Delta territory in 1914 with the rest of
what is now known as “NIGERIA”, and by virtue of the Treaty obligations of the
British to the Ijaw people even at the time of granting political independence
to the territories constituting its recognised Nigeria in 1960;
and
WHEREAS the IJAW NATION
protested to the British Government against this forcible annexation in the
amalgamated territories in Nigeria and the subsequent partitioning of the Ijaws
into the Western and Eastern Provinces at the splitting of the Protectorate of
Southern Nigeria on the 1st of April 1939; and
WHEREAS for the purposes of administration, the following Ijaw Native Authorities
were established under the Native Authority Ordinance of 1943 and with
the creation of the Rivers Province, we had:
In the ONDO PROVINCE, the Ijaw-Apoi District Native Authority and the Arogbo
District Native Authority for the IJAWS in the western
fringe;
In the WARRI (DELTA) PROVINCE, the Warri
Township Authority, Western Ijaw Central Native Authority – Benni Native
Authority, Iduwini Native Authority, Oporoza (Kabo & Kumbo) Native
Authority, Mein Native Authority, Ogula Native Authority, Oporoma Native
Authority, Seimbiri Native Authority, Tarakiri Native Authority and Tuomo Clan
Native Authority for the WESTERN IJAWS;
In the RIVERS PROVINCE, Eastern Ijaw
Central Native Authority, Akassa Native Authority, Apoi Native Authority, Bassan
Native Authority, Bomou Native Authority, Ekpetiama Native Authority, Gbaran
Native Authority, Kolokuma Native Authority, Ogboin Native Authority,
Okordia-Buseni Native Authority, Zarama Native Authority, Opokuma Native
Authority, Oporoma Native Authority, Tarakiri Native Authority, Tungbo Native
Authority, Epie-Atissa Native Authority, Nembe Native Authority, Ogbeyan (Ogbia)
Native Authority, Ayama Native Authority, Emeya Native Authority, Oloibiri
Native Authority, Bonny Native Authority, Kalabari Native Authority, Odual
(Saka) Native Authority and Okrika Native Authority for the CENTRAL AND EASTERN
IJAWS; and
In the CALABAR PROVINCE, the Opobo Town Native Authority and Andoni
Native Authority for the IJAWS in the eastern
fringe; and
WHEREAS these Native Authorities fell into
the Eastern and Western Regions when they were created in August 1946 without
genuinely consulting any of the peoples; and
WHEREAS we have since then been
dehumanised and made to suffer abject and utter neglect, oppression and
marginalisation in the hands of the other major groups in full control of the
machinery of Government at all levels of administration;
and
WHEREAS despite the declaration
of the Niger Delta (the Ijaw
Territory) as a “SPECIAL AREA” by the British Government in 1957
following our representations to the Willink Commission of Inquiry into the
fears expressed by the minorities before Nigeria’s independence, and despite the
establishment of a Niger Delta Development Board in 1958 to cater for the
peculiar developmental needs of the Ijaws, the Nigerian State has perpetuated
our neglect and oppression by wickedly starving the said Niger Delta Development
Board and its successor agencies of funds; and
Whereas the Ijaws have from the
very beginning of the formation of Nigeria agitated for separate administrative
regions for themselves AND The Ijaw State Union in Lagos and the Ijaw Peoples
Rivers League organised and applied political pressure for the creation of a
separate province WHICH resulted in the creation of the Rivers Province in 1947
with headquarters in Port Harcourt; and
WHEREAS when, in the same year,
the country was divided into three regions, East, West and North, the Ijaws were
administratively balkanised into the Eastern and Western Regions and this
unfavourable state of affairs was perpetuated by dint of the 1954 constitution
that fully established the three Regions of West, East and North;
and
WHEREAS further efforts for the
creation of administrative regions for the Ijaws and associated neighbours were
effected by the Chief Dappa-Biriye led representations to the Willink’s
Commission of Inquiry that looked into the fears of the minorities of the
Eastern Region, the concept and practice of regionalism created marginalisation
problems for the Ijaws and other minorities despite the fact that the 1957
Constitutional Conference agreed to create separate administrative regions for
the Ijaws and others as a last resort, AS the Niger Delta Congress ALSO
advocated the breakdown of the regions into smaller units called states;
and
WHEREAS when the Midwestern
Region was created out of the old Western Region in 1963, the leaders of the
Western Region government broke their promise to allow the Ijaws in the West to
join those in the East either by the creation of a new region or by boundary
adjustment; and
WHEREAS the worsening marginalisation,
oppression and exploitation of the Ijaws compelled Isaac Adaka Boro and associates to embark
on the Twelve Day Revolution in
1966, with the Declaration of the Niger Delta
Republic, to liberate the Ijaws from the yoke of internal colonialism in Nigeria;
and
WHEREAS on the 26th
of May 1967, as a means of pacifying the country, a joint meeting of Rivers
Chiefs and Peoples Conference prepared a memorandum that recommended the
creation of twelve to twenty-six States by the Nigerian government then headed
by Colonel Yakubu Gowon, which resulted in the breaking up of Nigeria into
twelve States on the 27th of May 1967;
and
WHEREAS the Rivers State in
1973 comprised five administrative divisions namely: Ahoada, Brass, Degema,
Ogoni and Port-Harcourt Divisions where the Andonis, the Opobos and the Western
Ijaws, should rightly have come within the ambit of the Rivers State, being
purely riverine people, and of the Ijaw ethnic nationality, but were excluded on
the pretext that the Rivers State including them would prove too unwieldy to
administer, thereby leaving the Ijaws fragmented, subjugated and marginalized;
and
WHEREAS in 1976, when the country was divided into
nineteen States, the Ijaws were divided this time, into Cross Rivers State,
Rivers State, Bendel State, Ondo State and Lagos State whereby some of the Ijaws
of the old Mid-Western State were put into Rivers State, making the Ijaws the
majority in that state, while in Bendel, Ondo and Lagos States, the Ijaws
remained a minority; and
WHEREAS the Justice Ayo Irikefe
State Creation Panel Report of 1976 and the subsequent Justice Mamman Nassir
Boundary Adjustment Commission both went on to "advise" the federal government
not to allow the Ijaws (splintered into several states even at that time)
to come together because, with their oil resources, they would become too
powerful, and the Ijaws were kept fragmented, disempowered, subjugated and
marginalized by dint of this wicked recommendation;
and
WHEREAS on the 28th
of August 1991, compelled by the need to assuage the agitations of the people
from the Oil Producing Areas for
their fair share of the Federal Revenue,
we witnessed the creation of more States, including Delta and Edo
States from the old Bendel State; but true to the political agenda of the other
three majority ethnic groups, the Ijaws were not allowed to form a state of
their own although they were entitled to have several states of their own;
instead of grouping all the Ijaws of the old Bendel State into Delta State or
form Toru-Ebe State, the boundary split us into Delta and Edo, and in total
disregard of the wishes of the people, the military authorities sited the new
capital of Delta State at Asaba, which is not situated in the geographical Niger
Delta, and the Ijaws of Edo, Ondo and Lagos States remained marginalized and
separated from their kit and kin as they had been;
and
WHEREAS Bayelsa State, which is
currently the only homogenous Ijaw State among the thirty six
(36) States of the Nigerian Federation, was created in 1996 by an act of
Divine Providence by the Gen. Sani
Abacha military regime, it has been discriminatorily, unjustly and inequitably
allocated only eight (8) Local Government Areas, in face of the fact that Kano
State, an Hausa-Fulani State has been allocated forty-four (44) Local Government
Areas and therefore disproportionately receives almost six times the Federal
Revenue Allocation to Local Government Areas that Bayelsa State receives,
although it is common knowledge that most of the Local Government Areas of Kano
State are made up of very sparsely inhabited arid land;
and
WHEREAS starting from 1991, a
number of conferences and conventions were held with the sole aim of addressing
the problems of the Ijaws, and at the instance of Chief Harold Dappa-Biriye, Rev
(Dr) C A Dime, Chief F H E Brisibe and others, an ALL IJAW NATIONAL DELEGATES
CONVENTION was convened at Patani, Delta State on the 23rd of
November 1991, and on the 12th of September 1992, the ALL IJAW
NATIONAL CONVENTION held at Forcados, Delta State, adopted by general acclaim
the IJAW PEOPLE’S CHARTER, a comprehensive document outlining the grievances and
demands of the Ijaw Ethnic Nationality, which in October 1992 was presented to
the government and people of Nigeria for consideration on the grounds of
justice, equity and autonomy; and
WHEREAS the aforementioned IJAW
PEOPLE’S CHARTER made a direct appeal to the international community for urgent
intervention in the deplorable neglect of the Ijaws;
and
WHEREAS the 12th of
September 1992 Convention empowered the MOVEMENT FOR THE SURVIVAL OF THE IJAW
ETHNIC NATIONALITY OF THE NIGER DELTA (MOSIEND) “to make representation to all
relevant organisations such as the United Nations Commission on Human Rights,
the Commonwealth, the European Community and the Organisation of African Unity,
for as long as the injustices continued, and the IJAW NATIONAL CONGRESS was
established at a follow up ALL IJAW NATIONAL DELEGATES CONVENTION held in Kaiama
on 6th January 1993 to redress the perennial oppression and marginalization of
the Ijaw Nation; and
WHEREAS on the 11th of December
1998, about 5000 Ijaw youths representing a large number of Ijaw Youth
organizations and communities drawn from about forty (40) clans/subgroups met
peacefully in Kaiama, Bayelsa State to deliberate on the problems of the Ijaws,
and articulated legitimate demands and proffered peaceful solutions in their
communiqué, called “The Kaiama
Declaration”, but what followed on Wednesday the 30th
of December 1998 amounted to a
full declaration of war on the Niger
Delta, by the Nigerian military government then headed by General
Abdulsalami Abubakar; and
WHEREAS the various conferences
called for the creation of three homogeneous
Ijaw States then, we are today, with the strength of evidence from
the recent “Retreat” of the Senators to the Niger Delta, calling for the
Creation of four more homogenous Ijaw
States including, BENI-EBE
State comprising the Ijaws of Lagos, Ondo and Edo States with Arogbo
as Capital, TORU-EBE State
comprising the Ijaws of Delta State with Bomadi as Capital, KENGEMA State, grouping the Degema
Communities, Asari Toru Communities, Akuku Toru Communities, Bille Communities,
Kula Communities, Aguda Toru Communities, Owuanga Toru communities, Olua Toru
Communities, Akilama Toru Communities, Abisse/Ke Communities, Sombreiro
Communities and Kalabari Toru Communities with Capital at Degema, and ABAJI State comprising the rest of the
Ijaws in Rivers and Akwa Ibom States, encompassing Port Harcourt, Okrika, Ibani,
Andoni, Opobo and Nkoro, and related groups with Capital at Port Harcourt
(Bonny); and
WHEREAS in 1992, WE, the Ijaw
People reaffirmed OUR rights to self-determination without denying any other
nationalities in the present Nigerian Federation their rights to existence,
survival and enjoyment of their resources, as a positive contribution to peace,
justice and equity in the country, and thus the stability and progress of the
various nationalities constituting the present Nigerian State, to the
development of which The Ijaw Niger Delta Area has contributed so much, while
the Ijaw Area, as a matter of right, expects returns commensurate to its
contributions, but this has remained a mirage, and will continue to be so due to
the evil machinations of the powers that be; and
WHEREAS THE demands of the Ijaw
Nation as outlined in these Resolutions of the Ijaw people of the Niger Delta
are legitimate and just, as they represent our inalienable rights to existence
and survival as a Nationality in our peculiarly difficult and inaccessible Niger
Delta environment so often described by Nigerian Governments, and are thus in
accord with civilised values all over the world, and as the Nigerian Government has since 1970
continued to decree measures and implement policies which have further
marginalized the Ijaw Nation, we can no longer sit in idle complacency to be
further dehumanised, slowly exterminated and almost driven to extinction as a
people; while our rich resources are plundered and siphoned away for the comfort
and improvement of the quality of life of other Nigerian communities and the
shareholders of the Multinational Oil Companies; and
WHEREAS the marshy terrains of
Ijawland are much more difficult and expensive than the other Nigerian upland
terrains to manage for the purpose of infrastructural and industrial developments such as the physical construction
of motorable roads, housing estates and administrative buildings,
potable water projects, bridges and industries; and
WHEREAS the size of any Ijaw
community is NOT only measured by just the residential space and environs it
occupies, but includes the naturally complex surrounding of rivers, seas and the
additional mangrove forests immediately beyond these rivers and seas such as
fishing ports, market depots, dwelling enclaves, and
farmlands
as separate islets and islands, given the deltaic terrain; and
WHEREAS the fostering of
economic development, cooperation and community relations with the upland will
entail adequate and solid infrastructure such as chains of highways over the seas and ring-roads and water-break embankments
on land between the Ijaws and their neighbouring riverine and upland
communities of Nigeria; and
WHEREAS these marshy terrains
have been endowed with gas and petroleum deposits for the benefit of the
Nigerian Nation, but the attendant hazards of the
exploitation of these resources have been detrimental to the health, environment and
livelihood of the Ijaw People, and hereto begs for adequate plans
for sustainable improved quality of life for all constituent Ijaw communities
before the exhaustion (depletion) of the gas and petroleum resources; and
WHEREAS the prevailing pervasive Ijaw Youth
Restiveness and Insurgency are compelled and propelled by the
imperative for survival and self-defense, in
the Spirit of Isaac Adaka Boro, against the political
subjugation and relentless ruthless oppression of the Ijaw people, unbridled
plundering of their oil and gas resources, wanton destruction of their habitat
and means of subsistence, their utter neglect and deprivation, atrocious
violation of their basic human rights and dignity, continual heinous genocides
perpetrated by an occupying military force of the Nigerian State that kills
Ijaws with impunity, and resultant abominable squalor, hopelessness, despair and
anarchy; and
WHEREAS by virtue of the measure of
Political Autonomy and
Self-determination so granted the Ijaws, the creation of the additional Ijaw States,
herein demanded and tabled for enactment by the National Assembly and assenting
by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, would significantly
ameliorate the grievous oppression and marginalization of the Ijaws, and thereby
assuage their just anger, with resultant significant and progressive
de-escalation of the prevailing Ijaw Youth
Restiveness and Insurgency, leading ultimately to the peaceful
resolution of the intractable and escalating Niger Delta Crisis, which will pave the way
for, and usher in, the much-desired but very elusive era of peace, progress and prosperity in
Nigeria.
THEREFORE it
is herein Resolved by the Ijaw Nation of the Niger Delta, this …day of …, 2008, and
hereby and hereinafter presented to, and tabled before, the President of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and
the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as a Resolution for a Bill for the Creation of four
more (new, additional) homogenous Ijaw States and the Creation of thirty-three
Local Government Areas for Bayelsa State,
that:
1. The creation of four new homogenous Ijaw
States be enacted immediately by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria and assented to by the President of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria, as follows:
(i) BENI-EBE STATE with Arogbo as Capital and
demarcated into Arogbo, Ukparamo, Adogba, Ajakpata, Adoloseimoh, Awodikuro,
Apoi, Gbekebo, Egbema, Ofunama/Opuama, Olodiama, Furupagha and Okomu Local
Government Areas.
(ii) TORU-EBE STATE with Bomadi as Capital and
demarcated into Burutu, Ogulagha, Warri North, Warri South, Ayakoromo, Kiagbodo,
Ezebiri, Seimbiri, Bomadi, Tuomo, Ndoro, Torugbene, Patani and Kumbokiri Local
Government Areas;
(iii) KENGEMA STATE with Degema as Capital and
demarcated into Abisse, Aguda Toru, Akilama Toru, Akuku Toru I, Akuku Toru II,
Asari Toru, DELGA, Kalabari Toru I, Kalabari Toru II, Ke, Kula, Obu-Kula, Obilo,
Ololo Toru, Owuanga Toru, Old-Kalabari Toru I, Old-Kalabari Toru II, Sombreiro
I, Sombreiro II, Sankrama and Tobu Local Government
Areas
(iv) ABAJI STATE with Port Harcourt Township as
Capital City and demarcated into Port Harcourt Township, Obolo, Bolo, Ogu,
Okrika, Ogoloma, Isaka, Bonny, Kalaibiama, Iniasiri, Opobo, Nkoro,
Agbo, Amaiba, Amajaaba, Oka, Okoromita, Okosun, Okuba, Okwaan-Aja,
Okwaan-Okuka, Oru and Ujama Local Government Areas
2. The creation of thirty-three (33) Local Government
Areas for Bayelsa State, demarcating the State into
Brass, Ekeremor (Operemo), Ogbia, Ogbia Central, Sagbama,
Kolokuma, Opokuma, Nembe, Nembe West, Oporoma, Yenagoa, Akassa, Kaiko-Ibeawo,
Aleibiri, Alabini, Oporomor West, Opuokede, Kolo Creek, Anyama, Odi, Tarakiri,
Toru-Abobou, Mein-Oyiakiri, Mini/Ikensi, Okoroma/Tereke, Apoi/Olodiama, Bomo
East, Bomo West, Bassan/Koluama, Ogboin North, Ogboin South, Gbaraun/Ekpetiama,
Okordia/Buseni and
Zarama Local Government Areas, be enacted immediately by the Senate and House
of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and assented to by
the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Signed for and on behalf of the Ijaw Nation and the citizens of the proposed
Beni-Ebe, Toru-Ibe, Kengema and Abaji States by:
1. Dr. Ebipamone N. Nanakumo: President, Ijaw Foundation
Board of Directors
2. Mr. Patterson Ogon: Vice President, Ijaw Foundation
Board of Directors
3. Mr. Lincoln Snithers: Secretary, Ijaw Foundation
Board of Directors
4. Mr. Dawari Longjohn: Treasurer, Ijaw Foundation Board
of Directors/President,
Ijaw National Alliance of the Americas
5. Mr. Amabo MacHarry: Member, Ijaw Foundation Board of
Directors
6. Mr. Benaebi Benatari: Member, Ijaw Foundation Board
of Directors/Secretary,
Ijaw Peoples Association of Great Britain &
Ireland/Chair of the Ijaw Foundation Research
Committee
7. Dr. Abiotona Sokari: Chairman, Ijaw Foundation
Special Affairs Committee
8. Prof. So-ngo Clifford Teme: Co-Chair,
Ijaw Foundation Special Affairs Committee/ Chair of the
State Creation & Environmental Protection
Subcommittees
9. Mr. Preye Dorgu: Secretary, Ijaw Foundation Special Affairs Committee
10. Ms. Annkio Briggs: Co-Secretary, Ijaw Foundation Special Affairs Committee
11. Mr. Tekena Barango-Tariah: Chair of the Legal
Affairs Subcommittee of the Ijaw Foundation Special Affairs
Committee
12. Ms. Patience Douglas: Co-Chair of the Legal Affairs
Subcommittee of the Ijaw Foundation Special Affairs
Committee
13. Mr. Joseph Opigo: Co-Chair of the Ijaw Foundation Research Committee
14. Dr. Monibo Sam: Founding member of the Ijaw
Foundation Board of Directors & member of the Ijaw
Foundation Research Committee
15. Mrs. Victoria Ebiere Gold-Eke: Member,
Ijaw Foundation Special Affairs Committee and member of
the State Creation Subcommittee
16. Mr. Stephen Benstowe: Member, Ijaw Foundation Special Affairs Committee and member of the State
Creation Subcommittee
17. Dr. Pamo Igali: Member, Ijaw Foundation Special Affairs Committee and member of the State
Creation & Environmental Protection Subcommittees
18. Dr. Aaron Nmungwun: Founding Vice President
of Ijaw Foundation & member of the State Creation
Subcommittee of the Ijaw Foundation Special Affairs
Committee
19. Mr. Pius Donyegha: Member, Ijaw Foundation Special Affairs Committee and member of the State
Creation Subcommittee
20. Mr. Presidor Ghomorai: Member, Ijaw Foundation Special Affairs Committee and member of the State
Creation Subcommittee
21. Evangel Hon. Foster Ogola: Member,
Ijaw Foundation Special Affairs Committee and member of
the State Creation Subcommittee
22. Mr. Francis Udisi: Member, Ijaw Foundation Special Affairs Committee and member of the Ijaw
Foundation Research Committee
23. Mr. Wilfred Inko-Tariah: Member, Ijaw Foundation Special Affairs Committee, Co-Chair of the
Anti-corruption Subcommittee and member of the Legal Affairs
Subcommittee
24. Prof. Joseph Ebiware: Vice President of the Ijaw National Alliance of the
Americas (INAA) & Chair of the Anti-corruption Subcommittee
of the Ijaw Foundation Special Affairs Committee
25. Dr. Chris Ekiyor: President of the Ijaw Youth
Council (IYC) Worldwide & Chair of the Ijaw
Conflict Resolution Committee
26. Mr. Anthony Otokito: Member of the State Creation Subcommittee of the Ijaw Foundation Special Affairs
Committee
27. Prof. Victor Kiri: Member, Ijaw Foundation Special Affairs Committee and member of the State
Creation Subcommittee
28. Prof. David Iyegha: Member, Ijaw Foundation Special Affairs Committee and member of the State
Creation & Research Subcommittees
29. Dr. Tonye Erekosima: Member of the State
Creation Subcommittee of the Ijaw Foundation Special Affairs
Committee
30. Mr. Dagogo Karibi-Whyte: Member of the Legal
Affairs Subcommittee of the Ijaw Foundation Special Affairs
Committee
31. Prof. Geoffrey Ibim: Chair, Ijaw Foundation Media
and International Relations Committee and member
of the State Creation Subcommittee
32. Dr. Orikaye Brown-West: Member of the Ijaw
Foundation Media and International Relations Committee and the State Creation Subcommittee
33. Mr. Peter Edu: Member of the Ijaw Agenda for
Self-Government Committee, the Ijaw Foundation Media and International
Relations Committee and the State Creation
Subcommittee
34. Ms. Beena Youdowei: Member of the State Creation
Subcommittee of the Ijaw Foundation Special Affairs Committee
35. Mr. Lovedale Peterside: Member of the State Creation
Subcommittee of the Ijaw Foundation Special Affairs
Committee
36. Mr. Nathan Aguru: Member of the Board of Directors of Wakirike USA and member of the State
Creation Subcommittee of the Ijaw Foundation
Special Affairs Committee
37. Mr. Suku Harry: Member of the State Creation Subcommittee of the Ijaw
Foundation Special Affairs Committee
38. Mr. Wesley George: Member of the State Creation Subcommittee of the Ijaw
Foundation Special Affairs Committee
39. Mr. Titoe Miriki: Member of the Ijaw Foundation Special Affairs
Committee
40. Ms. Ebimiere Irene Toyo: Member of the Ijaw Foundation Special Affairs
Committee
41. Mr. Edgar Daniel
Biu
42. Mr. Samuel
Oyadongha
43. Mr. Alagoa
Morris
44. Mr. Igoniko
Oduma
45. Dr. Priye Torulagha:
Member, Ijaw Foundation Media and International Relations Committee, Ijaw Foundation Research Committee and Ijaw Foundation Bylaws Committee;
Secretary Concerned Bayelsans USA
46. Chief Mpaka Princewill: Chairman, Niger Delta World Congress
47. Mr. Solomon
Disekpobagha
48. Mr. Warisenibo Amoni Idaerefagha
Hart
49. Ms. Deborah Abili
50. Mr. Inemo Samiama: Publicity Secretary, Ijaw People’s Association
of Great Britain & Ireland
51. Mr. Tom Alabraba
52. Ms. Esther Boro
53. Mr. Preye Nikade
54. Mr. Kelvin Finapiri
55. Mr. Tony I. Uranta: Executive Secretary, United Niger Delta Energy
Development Security Strategy (UNDEDSS)
56. Mr. Ayakeme Oweifiye
57. Dr. Moye Oye
58. Ebi Shidi-Spiff
Resolution Clauses for Bill on Creation of more Ijaw States in Nigeria,
compiled and adopted by the Ijaw Foundation Special Affairs Committee,
July 26, 2008.
549 LEFFERTS AVENUE, BROOKLYN, NY 11225, USA* Phone & Fax: (718)
778-0536*
Website: www.ijawfoundation.org,
Email: board_of_directors@ijawfoundation.org
Ijaw Foundation is a charitable
nonprofit organization with Section 501 (c) (3) Tax Exempt Status granted by the
United States Internal Revenue Service