By Omolade Adegbuyi and Ologeh Joseph Chibu
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been asked to address the historic injustice faced by 1million Itsekiri people in Nigeria. The Itsekiri are a minority oil producing people in Delta State who have no voices and no one to uplift them from national isolation fuelled by historic injustice.
In a letter to President Tinubu despatched to Aso-Rock on Wednesday, the Nigerian Human Rights Community, (NHRC), a coalition of 130 civil society and community-based groups spread across Nigeria said Itsekiri people in Delta and Edo States produce some 30 percent of Nigerian total oil output yet remain the most oppressed and marginalised oil producing community in Nigeria. The group said the indigenous environment of Itsekiri territories have been devastated due to years of oil exploration and lack of Environmental Impact Assessment, (EIA), which impoverishes the land, the people and the environment.
The statement signed by the group’s Secretary Abiola Adeleke, the Director of Publicity, Mr Taiwo Adeleye, the Northern Coordinator, Mallam Yao Abdullahi and the Niger-Delta Coordinator Steven Ekong said the Itsekiri have been subjected to the worst form of deprivation for many decades. The group called on President Tinubu to listen to the pains and agonies of Itsekiri and should compensate them for enduring the hardship without resorting to violence or armed conflict adding that President Tinubu needs to prove that ‘diplomacy and peaceful agitation have rewards in Nigeria.’
NHRC said ‘Itsekiri produce 30 percent of Nigerian oil. In the distribution of natural resources, they are at the receiving end of the stick. The Federal Government’s presence in Itsekiri land is almost nil. The Federal Government boycotts Itsekiri when it comes to Federal appointments including into the smallest unit of government institutions.’
The coalition also said the marginalisation of Itsekiri is not only by the Federal Government but also by private oil companies operating in the Niger-Delta adding that the percentage of unemployment among Itsekiri is the highest among ethnic groups in the Niger-Delta.
The coalition said in a statement issued in Lagos after its media encounter with journalists that it was time for President Tinubu to appoint an Itsekiri into exalted and inspiring position to compensate for the injustice to the people. Apart from producing 30 percent of Nigerian total output, an Itsekiri, Chief Alfred Rewane made the largest single donation to the pro-democracy movements in the 1990s a choice that led to his assassination by the Nigerian state.
It said ‘this oppression has been going on for over 50 years. At the political level, as we speak, Itsekiri has no Federal Minister. Itsekiri has no Senator. No Itsekiri person was appointed into any strategic position during the eight years of former President Mohammadu Buhari and none has been appointed by current President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.’
The group said it is the height of oppression that oil and marine related institutions see continuous exclusion of Itsekiri people at its topmost echelon.
‘No Itsekiri person has never been appointed to lead the Niger Delta Development Commission, (NDDC) eventhough the community produces 30 percent of Nigerian oil output. Itsekiri person has never led the Nigerian Maritime Authority, (NMA), Nigerian Port Authority, (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, (NIMASA) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, (NNPC).’
NHRC said though Itsekiri are well educated and hardworking but that whenever they make it to the top, they are axed from the apex and prevented from taking the desired leadership by people from other ethnic groups adding that the people have watched this happen over and over again.
The group said it has confidence that President Tinubu has listening ears and would allow reason and justice to prevail.
It said Itsekiri have made tremendous contributions to the civilisation and economic growth of Africa since the 15 th century without adequate recognition from the Nigerian successive governments. It said while some other ethnic groups have taken to violent armed agitation, the Itsekiri have continued to adopt peaceful means but regretted that the Nigerian Government seems not to respect democratic culture. The group however said said it would protest to the United Nations, (UN), the Nigerian National Assembly, the Economic Community of West African States, (ECOWAS) if nothing is done to address the problem.
