WARRI — THE Itsekiri National Youth Council (INYC) has equated the suspension of Mr. Misan Ukubenyinje, an Itsekiri from the Delta State House of Assembly over alleged plot to impeach the leadership of the Assembly as an attack on the Itsekiri nation, urging the House to expedite action to recall him to the Assembly.
In a statement in Warri yesterday, INYC President, Comrade Daniel Ireyenieju said “we will want to warn all those involved in this grand conspiracy against the Itsekiri that there is a limit to human tolerance,” adding that “since 1997, our people have been forced to co-exist with unparalleled humiliation partly foisted on us by the PDP-controlled government.”
Ireyenieju said it is time for anti-Itsekiri forces in the Delta State Government to note that the Itsekiri have come a long way, and are no longer prepared to tolerate any humiliation, “irrespective of the nature, characters and power of those orchestrating such.”
According to him: “Ukubeyinje for now represents Warri North in the state House of Assembly and it must remain so until 2007, except the electorate (who elected him ) decides otherwise. This continued delay in calling him back amounts to over-stretching our patience and this is unacceptable.
"But for us Itsekiri, the present drama in the House is nothing but a galling reminder of the unending orchestrated designs by the deans of power in Delta State to politically decimate the Itsekiri and get them limitlessly pilloried. “At the inception of this civilian regime in 1999, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which controls the government in Delta State, had earlier zoned the Speakership position to the Itsekiri. By mid-way into the administration, the zoning fomula was changed with the Itsekiri nation as the victim. The few Itsekiri elite within the PDP hierarchy were so intimidated (even up till today) that they kowtow to the assault on their people. The immediate effect of this well-packaged antics and anti-Itsekiri policies of the House in alliance with the elements frustrated the first Speaker of the House, Mr. Megbele which later led to his untimely death.
“With the exit of Megbele achieved, the conspiracy against the Itsekiri was further concretised by getting an Ijaw to occupy the Speakership position which amounts to a brazen ridiculing of the party's policy of zoning.
“Along the same anti-Itsekiri continuum, the local government elections which was recently conducted in Delta State, was not allowed in the three Warri local government areas which constitute the homeland of the Itsekiri."
