*Says Gas Pipeline project crime against Ijaws of Niger Delta region
*That it will enslave, kill Ijaws for next millennia that gas will power human civilisation
*Insists project lacks transparency, alleging that FG didn’t follow Public Procurement Act
*Writes President of European Union to address concerns of Ijaws on the project
By Our Special Correspondent
A Group of Ijaw people operating under the aegis of Supreme Egbesu Assembly, SEA has condemned the proposed Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline, NMGP, meant to transport gas from the Brass Ireland in Ijaw land through Benin, Togo, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Siera Leone, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to Spain, describing it as “genocide against Ijaws by economic means.”
In an open letter to the President of the European Commission, Ms Urula Gertrud von der Leyen, the group said the project will enslave and kill Ijaws for the next millennia and that gas will power human civilisation; “having placed our economy in Moroccan hands to exploit.”
It declared that “not America, not Germany nor any self-respecting people will accept this fate reserved for Ijaws. Morocco’s territorial ambition of hijacking our gas will definitely lead to unending major supply disruptions by aggrieved Ijaws, rest assured.”
“We have reasonable cause to believe that Morocco, the IDB, foreign consultants, emirs and sheiks are the real beneficiaries of NMGP. The project lacks transparency and is devoid of national interest.
“There is no concrete evidence that the Federal Government strictly followed the provisions of the Public Procurement Act and other relevant laws before awarding the contract. We challenge the facilitators of this project to show us how Nigerian national interests are secured.
“Contrary to the assertions of NNPCL, dollars generated from the NMGP will never benefit ordinary Nigerians. Just as ordinary Nigerians have not benefited from the billions generated weekly from crude oil sales since 1970.
“The NNPCL, the most corrupt entity under the sun (only after the Supreme Court of Nigeria), is a conduit pipe for funding local and Middle Eastern terrorists (see “How NNPCL diverted N2.68 trillion, $9.77 million, shunned probe invitations,” Punch, 12th January 2025.” Also see “Terrorism: Ali-Keffi’s allegation must not be ignored, experts insist,” The Guardian, 23rd January 2024).
“For too long, Ijaws have tolerated the machination of the Federal Government of Nigeria (euphemism for the three big ethnic nationalities) to undermine the Ijaw aspirations for self-development on account of our peace-loving, benevolent and hospitable nature.
“Violence, obnoxious military decrees and legislative sabotage are some evil tools used by the government of Nigeria to emasculate us. In essence, we are not good enough to own our God-given oil and gas fields. Under such a pretext, our oil wells are allocated to Muslim emirs and generals in the military.
“Who are Ijaws? Let us, strictly for the sake of this exercise, limit our answer to how the colonial Percy Amaury Talbot defined the “Ijaw country” and Ijaws. He said Ijawland was a geographically contiguous land mass between the Yoruba in the West and the Ibibio in the East stretching about 250 miles along the Atlantic coast, “The Niger Delta, therefore, is, with the exception of few small tribes, occupied by these strange people (the Ijaw) – a survival from the dim past, beyond the dawn of history….”
“However, as a prelude to depriving Ijaw people control of their oil and gas resources, successive Nigerian governments Balkanized Ijawland into the existing regions and later states. Overnight this made Ijaws minority in the political administration of Nigeria. But our argument remains that the political boundary is not a cultural boundary. This is how the Ijaw demographic was minimized.
“First, using the River Niger as a measuring rod, the Ijawland was split into two under the 1951 Regionalism. One half was administered as part of the Eastern Region under Michael Okpara; while the other was administered as part of the Western Region under Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
And second, in subsequent state creations, resulting in today’s 36 states, Ijawland was further balkanized into Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Ondo and Rivers States. This left us with little or no political clout. Only Bayelsa, created in 1996, has a homogenous Ijaw population. Sadly, this Ijaw state was created with only eight Local Government Areas (LGAs) while states with comparable populations have twice the number of LGAs. Limiting the only Ijaw state of Bayelsa to just eight LGAs is a deliberate ploy to strangulate Ijaws politically and economically. Bayelsa should have an additional 30 LGAs considering our impossible terrain.
21 other instruments used in marginalizing the Ijaw nation are obnoxious military decrees and Legislative Acts. Some of these are:
“Sadly, Ijaws and other ethnic minorities in the Niger Delta, disadvantaged by population compared to the combined populations of the Big Three- Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo, cannot in majority-carries-the-vote democracy effect amendments to these unjust laws”, the letter read in part.
The letter dated March 25, 2025 was signed by Dr. Felix Tuodolo and Kabowei Akamande and copied President Bola Tinubu, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen among others.
