The President of the umbrella body of all Ijaw youths in the country, the Ijaw Youth Council, Mr. Udengs Eradiri, has called on all Ijaw youths across the country to avoid all acts of violence, destructions and protests as a fall of last Saturday’s Presidential election, won by Gen. Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress.
Eradiri also congratulated Buhari on his electoral victory and said that Ijaw youths would key into his administration just the same way youths from other ethnic nationalities from other parts of the country supported the Jonathan Administration.
The IYC President warned that any Ijaw youth who got involved in protests, destructions and other acts of violence would be seen to be doing so at his or her risk.
He said that the IYC would accept the leadership of Buhari as the South South region had its own chance but could not wield the high possibilities of the position to its advantage in the election.
He advised the youth populace in the region to resist being manipulated politically.
He said, “First of all, I want to commend President Goodluck Jonathan for conducting the freest and fairest election that Nigeria has ever had and Africa would take example from him.
“I want to use this opportunity to congratulate Gen, Buhari who has emerged winner of the Presidential elections.
“And so, as IYC, when we had our own as President, the Igbos, the Yorubas, the Hausas were loyal to him, we will be loyal to the President-elect, Gen. Buhari, who from May 29, would become the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“We will accept it (the results of the election); we had our own knife and yam, we were not able to cut it the way we wanted. We have no other person to blame, it is in this part of the country people were asking for money to go and vote and yet northerners were paying their transport, Mai ruwa people were paying their own transport to go and exercise their rights, to go and pick their PVCs.
“Our people were expecting to be paid to collect PVCs and the results reflected and so we have no other choice, we are the architects of our problem, so we should be able to live with it.
“If you go and protest, you are on your own, if you go and destroy anything, you are on your own. I, as the leader of youths in this region, we had reached out to other ethnic nationalities to canvass support. Maybe, we started late, maybe the attention was not given that should have started with the political class.
“History has already recorded it. So the best we can do is to key into his administration just as the Yoruba keyed into this administration; Hausas keyed into this administration, it is time for us to also to also key into the administration of another leader. So I call on our people to steer clear of all those political manipulations.”
He commended the President for conducting the election that is reputed to be the freest and fairest in the history of the country.
He said that Nigerians would remember the legacies of President Goodluck Jonathan in the next few months especially in the area of power, agriculture, maritime education and other projects executed under the transformation agenda of the government.
He also warned the youths against attacking oil installations in the region stressing that the immediate communities would be the ones to bear the brunt of such actions.
Eradiri advised communities to prevent people from carrying out illegal hunkering, oil theft and other acts inimical to the economy.
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