As the race for 2019 is drawing closer, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide has enjoined the Ijaws, resident in the three Warri LGAs to vie for elective offices.
The call according to a release signed and released on Monday, by the President of the socio-political youth organisation, Pereotubo Oweilaemi, predicated in the fact that no Ijaw from the area has occupied any elective post, since the creation of the city as an administrative unit in the colonial era.
The statement opined that, it is time the Ijaws in Warri, threw their hats in the ring and be counted among those seeking to be elected into political offices.
The statement reads; “Even in the successive regimes leading to this present dispensation, the Ijaws have not occupied any elective office, both at the state and at the federal levels.
“his seeming political apostasy has robbed the Ijaws in Warri of a great deal of political development, as well as some salient democratic rights over the years.
“There is need to aspire to elective offices in order to balance the political equation in the state.”
In retrospection, the statement noted that the only elective offices held by Ijaws for long had only being those of Chairmanship positions in the Warri council.
“It must be recalled, that since 1999 up to date, the only office the Ijaws have occupied in all the three Warri LGAs is the Chairmanship position in Warri South West LGA.
The statement continues, “That is an aberration, given the fact that the Ijaws are more populated than our neighbours.
“It is therefore a clarion call on our brothers in the three Warri LGAs, especially in Warri South/ West Local Government Area, to vie for elective offices in the 2019 general elections.
“IYC will provide all necessary logistic supports to any intending aspirant to the various elective offices.
“We believe that the Ijaw representation in the Warri Federal Constituency, will end the various forms of agitations in Warri.
“It will also address the political crisis in the area, thereby giving every tribe a sense of belonging in the Oil City.
“The Council wish to assure any Ijaw person who is desirous of aspiring to contest for elective office in Warri Federal Constituency, of its unflinching support.
“The Ijaw nation will queue behind such aspirant to ensure that we succeed in our political dream.”
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