Ijaw elders have faulted the claim by members of the Rivers Ijaw People?s Congress, RIVCO, who apologized to the minister of the federal capital territory, FCT, Chief Nyesom Wike for alleged ?ingratitude? of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, as the authentic Ijaw people.

Members of RIVCO had on Saturday organized a grand civic reception in Honour of Wike in Port Harcourt where they begged the FCT minister for forgiveness over the ?humiliation? meted out on him by the state Governor.

The Executive Director, Finance and Administration, EDFA, of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Boma Iyaye, who spoke at the event openly apologized to Wike and told him to disregard the misbehaviour of an individual and continue to relate with the Ijaw people.

?I want to apologize to you for what our son is doing to you. We are sorry. It is not in our nature to pay good with evil. Don?t because of this bad behavior and run away from us. Continue to be our brother. It is not because we fail exam we won?t repeat it again. We are not ungrateful people. That is why we are celebrating you?.

Reacting to this development on Sunday, a chieftain of the Pan Niger Delta Elders Forum, PANDEF, Chief Anabs Sara-Igbe said ?we have structure and root in Ijaw. Anybody cannot just come up and begins to talk on behalf of the entire Ijaw people?.

Sara-Igbe explained that Ijaw national Congress, INC, was the only authentic voice of Ijaw people. ?If Ijaw people want to do anything, INC will lead and all of us will follow. Ijaw nation has never resolved to honor a man who called the Ijaw people ?thunder fire you?. We only know two bodies in Ijaw land: INC and the IYC?.

The former security adviser said that RIVCO was not an affiliate of the INC or any known Ijaw ethnic group, adding that ?those who paraded themselves as Ijaw people should continue to suck the man dry and take his money?.

Also reacting, the spokesperson of the Ijaw Republican Assembly, IRA, Ann-Kio Briggs said there was nothing wrong in anybody belonging to any political group, ?that is not enough to say that anybody can rise up and begin to speak for us as Ijaw people.

?If you look very closely, you will see that those who organized the reception were Wike?s political associates. They are made up of former Commissioners, SAs and all of that. They have the right to support whoever they want to support but clearly, they can?t speak for Ijaw people?.

Briggs wondered what the RIVCO members meant when they said ?we are the real Ijaw?, saying that Ijaw people never organized reception for the FCT minister. ?They are Wike?s political associates. Nobody can deny them that right. They are Wike?s associates from Ijaw ethnic extraction. But they can?t speak for the entire Ijaw people.

?We have the INC and the IYC. These are the two major groups that we have in Ijaw land and the decisions of INC bind all the Ijaw people that are cut across Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, Edo, Ondo and Abia states?.

Collaborating Briggs position, Alaye Tari Theophilus, factional President of Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, said the reception for Wike was a political arrangement by his followers who have benefitted immensely from their master.

?A reception of that magnitude would have been organized by IYC eastern zone in conjunction with the INC. How many prominent Ijaw personalities did you see at that event on Saturday? There was no single clan head or first class king at the event. It was an aberration?, he said. (Sunday Vanguard)

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