INC Condemns Obasanjo’s Comment On Resource Control

The INC (Ijaw National Congress) has condemned former President Olusegun Obasanjo over his recent comment on resource control at an event in Abuja.

Obasanjo had during the event said resources in any part of the country should be enjoyed by all Nigerians.

But the President of the INC, Benjamin Okaba, during a press conference on Saturday in Yenogoa condemned the former President for his remark against the National Secretary of the group, Ebipamowei Wodu, while presenting the position of Ijaw people during a forum organised by the Global Peace Foundation in collaboration with Vision Africa in Abuja.

He explained that the former President in an ungentlemanly manner tackled Wodu at the event.

“After a careful watch and critical analysis of the trending short video broadcasted on 13th December 2021, the Ijaw National Congress frowns at the blatant emotional outburst, crude and rude disruption and attack by former President Olusegun Obasanjo on the National Secretary of the INC, Ebipamowei Wodu while presenting the Ijaw position at the forum organised by the Global Peace Foundation in collaboration with Vision Africa at the Transcorp Hilton Abuja,” Okaba said.

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He added that the ethnic nationality will not be intimidated by the antics of Obasanjo to keep silent on the issues affecting their people and the Niger Delta region at large.

“Obasanjo and his likes, who have over the years denied the Ijaw nation every opportunity to annex, own and control her God-given resources must be told in very clear and unmistakable terms that we cannot be intimidated, hushed and harassed into a moronic silence,” the INC President added.

Okaba stated that the INC considers Obasanjo’s claims on resource ownership as pernicious, provocative, and wicked as it negates the decades-long derivation principle which was pegged at 100 percent in 1946.

He also said non-constitution of the board of the NDDC, the non-inclusion of the Ijaw terrain in the proposed NNPC road rehabilitation project and others, are lucid pointers to the deliberate plot to subject the Ijaw people to poverty.