The leader of Gjaw slammed the ‘minority’ comment, calling him a careless speaker

The President of the National Congress of Ijaw (Inc.), Professor Benjamin Okaba, has greatly criticized the Minister of Federal Capital, Nyesom Wike, for the new comment that Ijaw is a minority ethnic group in Nigeria.

Prof. Okaba, who spoke on television ‘The Morning Show’ on television on Wednesday, refused Wike’s comments as reckless, showed that the former Governor of the State Rivers often spoke carelessly, sometimes under the influence of alcohol.

“The person you are talking about (wike) can say anything under the influence of alcohol and then denied it; he is a very careless speaker,” Okaba said.

Professor Sociology denied Wike’s claim, which stated that Ijaw people were not minorities but one of the four largest ethnic groups in Nigeria. He stressed that their population and influence surpassed the land area to the Nigerian river area.

“Ijaw is not the fourth largest; they are one of the four of the largest. Often, people only consider land mass, but limits beyond the ground to the water space. If you calculate the Nigerian boundaries to the river, you will see that Ijawland is far beyond what some claims,” ​​he explained.

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Okaba further emphasized that Ijaw was the most populous ethnic group in Delta Niger, with indigenous peoples spread across six states in Nigeria.

“We are not a minority. In fact, we are the most dense and most native ethnic nationality in Delta Niger, and that is a famous fact,” he said.

Providing historical and demographic evidence, OKABA stated that apart from the state of Bayelsa, IjAW people are native to many communities in the states of Abia, Delta, Edo, Ondo, and Rivers.

“They are in Abia – 26 communities in the state of Abia are indigenous people of Ijaw. In the state of Delta, we have more than four regional regions of the local government. Even in the state of Rivers, we have 10 and half of the regional government, while Ikwerre only has three. Political census have been distorted from time to time, but when a real calculation is done, the number will speak alone.

Prof. Okaba accused Wike of deliberately distorting historical and demographic facts due to political reasons and urged the President of the Tinubu soccer to ensure that the democratic efforts of his government were not slipped by one individual.

“We feel that it is a deliberate distortion. Wike is not anything outside the government, and President Tinubu must not allow one person to destroy his efforts in ensuring democracy to develop rapidly in Nigeria,” he said.

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