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Ijaw Congress
vows to fight for Ibori
By Uwakwe Abugu
Bureau Chief, Warri
The Ijaw National Congress (INC) on
Wednesday declared that there are well-orchestrated moves by some powerful forces
in the country to tarnish the image of Delta State Governor, Chief James Ibori
and vowed to fight for him.
INC President, Professor Kimse Okoko,
also said the congress had confirmed that the soldiers now keeping the peace in
the crises-torn Rivers State communities used chemical weapons on the people.
During a condolence visit to him in
Oghara, by an Ijaw delegation, Ibori vowed that no amount of persecution would
deter him from pursuing the set goal of fighting for his people.
Okoko said, “We felt it was
necessary that the Ijaw nation must come to express our sincere condolence with
Onanefe because he is very dear to us. We see him as a crusader.
“We see him as epitomising the
struggle for resource control and restructuring of this nation. We are conscious
of the sinister moves in this country to put him down. We are conscious of the
evil machinations and manipulations of the system to drag him down and we want
to assure him that the Ijaw National Congress supports him,” the Ijaw
leader said.
He added that “Ibori, in spite of
all the travails, is carrying on the mantle of leadership, carrying on with the
projects dear to his heart for his people unshaken, untroubled and clearly
focused.
Ibori said: “God forbid but you may
be driving out of this compound now and you will be faced with danger. So it is
with all of us and so it is with every person that joins this march in which we
are.
“But I can tell you that the people
of the Niger Delta know their leaders. The people of the Niger Delta know those
who can represent them well.
“They know those who cannot be
enticed by appointments and promise of appointments and elective positions even
in the future and will abandon the course.
“We believe in what we believe in;
we know the desires of our people and we believe in the desires of our people
and we pray that we actualise the dreams in our life time but if it pleases God
that we be sacrificed for it, so be it as long as our people reap the benefit
of such supreme sacrifice,” said the governor.
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