Benjamin Okaba, the president of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), has cautioned the people of the Niger Delta to stay vigilant and oppose the divide and conquer strategy being used in the area.
Okaba, a sociology professor, claimed that the political turmoil in Rivers State is a planned state capture that the masterminds intend to carry out throughout the Niger Delta.
According to reports, Professor Okaba made this statement on Thursday at Rivers State’s News Central Town Hall.
“I will be speaking as a sociology professor, so let me disappoint those who were expecting me to speak as the president of the Ijaw National Congress,” he added. After hearing all of the contributions, he continued, “It is not surprising that we are a divided house.”
“Rivers Matter is a symptom of a failing political system,” the president of INC stated. It is about state capture; by this, you do not mean the conquest of River State, but rather the Niger Delta.
He claims that the region’s huge oil reserves are the reason for the plot to seize it. He claimed that the federal government would have easy access to the region’s resources if the policy of divide and conquer and pit the local populace against one another were implemented.
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This is due to the fact that our region is extremely wealthy, the policy of divide and conquer, the policy of balkanization, and the policy of forcing us to fight against ourselves have all been enacted throughout time. Similarly to the colonial era, he claimed, “the federal government will start to exploit our resources while we clap hands for those persons when a crisis is orchestrated using our own people to cause the crisis.”
He emphasized that ethnic divisions are unrelated to the Rivers situation.
As president of the Ijaw National Congress, I make every effort to clarify that this is not an ethnic crisis whenever I have the chance. Additionally, he said, “Anyone who wishes to give it ethnic coloration is an enemy of the Niger Delta.”
He denounced political actors that manipulate the people of the Niger Delta for their own self-serving political ends and appealed for unity among all Niger Delta residents.
