2019 is going to be a referendum against agents of restructuring - Dickson, Niger Delta leaders

- Leaders of the Ijaw nation in the Niger Delta have met in the home of Chief Edwin Clark over restructuring

- The leaders agree that Nigeria is due for restructuring and that the Ijaws would only support politicians who support it

- They commended the All Progressives Congress committee on restructuring led by Governor El-Rufai over its report

Ahead of 2019, top leaders from the Ijaw ethnic nationality converged at Kiagbodo, the country home of its national leader, Chief Edwin Clark, to take a definite position on restructuring and the 2019 elections in the country.

Governor Dickson later told journalists after the meeting on Tuesday, January 30, that the leaders took a critical look at the issue of restructuring and took further steps to reaffirm their position that restructuring was a matter of survival to the Ijaw people.

Dickson added that the meeting resolved that Ijaw people who are the most affected by the current situation in the country would only vote candidates with genuine and demonstrable support for restructuring irrespective of political party.

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The governor also said in a statement by his special adviser on media relations, Fidelis Soriwei, that it was the position of the meeting that the next general election would be a referendum on restructuring across Ijaw land.

“The next election is going to be a referendum on restructuring because it affects the well being and survival of our people. We will be with candidates who are genuinely committed to this issue of restructuring," the governor said.

According to the governor, the leaders also commended the work of the All Progressives Congress committee on restructuring led by Governor Nasir El Rufai òf Kaduna state, which made far reaching recommendations on the burning issue of restructuring in the country.

The governor and the leaders called on the APC and indeed President Muhamnadu Buhari to show the requisite courage to ensure implementation of the committee’s report before 2019 as a test of their sincerity.

Dickson said that the leaders urged Buhari to show statesmanship and the courage to commence a process of legislation to implement the party’s position on restructuring.

He revealed that the meeting also set up a high-powered committee on the issue of restructuring and the report of the APC on it.

The committee has five representatives each from the three zones to which the Ijaw nation is divided - the west, the central and the east - and has three weeks to submit its reports.

“We have also examined the subject matter of restructuring. People shouldn’t play politics with the issue of restructuring. It is about the survival and well being of our people, it is about the stability of Nigeria. It is far more beyond politics, the Ijaws are passionate about it.

“We commend all Nigerians from wherever they come from who are in support of his issue of restructuring.

“Concerning the recommendations of the APC committee, we call for sincere commitment, we call on the President to lead the charge to restructure the country which will lead to an equitable just and fair Nigeria.

“A high powered committee had been set up on this issue of restructuring, the APC report and other matters," he said.

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The meeting had in attendance Chief Clark, the Governor of Bayelsa state, the deputy governor of Delta state, Kingsley Otuaro; former aviation minister, Alabo Graham Douglas; former police affairs minister, Chief Broderick Bozimo, as well as National Assembly members and traditional rulers.

Clark also stressed that restructuring was beyond politicking insisting that any presidential candidate who was opposed to restructuring would face rejection in Ijaw land during the election.

Legit.ng earlier reported how the All Progressives Congress on Monday, January 29, announced that it would present the report of its panel on true federalism to members of the public on Wednesday, January 30.

John Odigie-Oyegun-led national working committee of the party reportedly resolved to make the document public as part of efforts to enhance transparency.

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Source: Legit.ng