The Governor of Bayelsa State, Douye Diri, at the weekend said that the existence and survival of the Ijaws as a people in Nigeria is being threatened and urged all stakeholders of the Ijaw nation to stand up, speak and defend the truth.

The governor, however, called on politicians from the Ijaw extraction to defend the unity and interest of the Ijaw ethnic nationality at all times.

Diri, who made the call at a one-day Ijaw unity and sensitization town hall meeting organised by the Ijaw National Congress (INC), Central Zone, in Yenagoa, said the collective interest of the Ijaw nation was more important than the political ambition of any politician.

Represented by his deputy, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, the governor reminded the politicians that they were first Ijaw people before becoming members of political parties

Encouraging the youths to see dignity in labour as a launch pad to success, Governor Diri advised them to venture into profitable and legitimate activities to become self-reliant and earn a decent living, rather than go cap in hands begging for handouts.

“I want to encourage our politicians to believe, play and remember that, first of all, we are Ijaw people before we became members of our various political parties. We have to take this seriously. It is only then, we can protect the Ijaw interest and not our partisan interest because we cannot work within the remits of our political interests to achieve our collective goal as a people,” he said.

In his address, the President of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), Professor Benjamin Okaba, explained that the sensitization meeting of stakeholders from the Central Zone had been necessitated by an existential threat to the legitimate interest and resources of the Ijaw nation.

In his paper: “Nigerian Security Situation and the Ijaw Nation,” King Bubaraye Dakolo, attributed thehigh level of insecurity in all parts of the country, including Ijawland, to the abysmal failure of the current All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government. (New Telegraph)