Ijaw youths threaten to occupy National Assembly over alleged assault on Jonathan

Back restructuring of Nigeria

The Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC) has threatened to occupy the National Assembly if it fails to halt the alleged harassment of former President Goodluck Jonathan.In a statement yesterday in Asaba, Delta State by its president, Oweilaemi Perestubor, the group warned that “NASS should stop the embarrassment of the former president by insisting that he should appear before an adhoc committee, or we will move into the Assembly.”

He contended that the invitation by the House of Representatives Adhoc Committee was a ploy to intimidate the Ijaw, stressing that the group would not sit aloof and watch Jonathan humiliated.

Perestubor went on: “We will not allow anybody to intimidate us. This is another ploy to intimidate the Ijaw people. If the National Assembly insists Goodluck Jonathan must come, we will occupy it.”

Stating that that it was absurd in the history of Nigeria to embarrass a former president, the youths stressed that there were better ways the legislature could express its position without subjecting Jonathan to such a disrespectful invitation.

“Due process should be followed if the former president should be invited at all, he is not just an ordinary man that will be invited with impunity,” the statement added.
The group also restated its calls for a genuine restructuring of the nation in a manner that allows all the federating states have equal opportunity to develop, live and make decisions.

“This country must be restructured, we must sit down together as a people to peacefully agree that what belongs to the Ijaw people must be given to them,” it added.