Pan Yoruba Group Urges President Tinubu To Address “Historic Injustice Against Itsekiri”

By Akinwale Kasali

Pan Yoruba Group, Alliance of Yoruba Democratic Movement, AYDM, has urged President Bola Tinubu to address the “historic injustice suffered for centuries by Itshekiri Indigenous Ethnic Group.”

The Itshekiris, for centuries, have lived in the Niger Delta, and often classified as minorities, so undermining their access to political, economic and social opportunities.

In a letter addressed to President Tinubu by the Group after an extensive meeting of Pan Yoruba Groups, the AYDM said that for more than 1000 years, the Itsekiri have asserted themselves as a unique people with a rich civilization and have made tremendous contributions to African cultural and economic growth.

The Itshekiris have a population of over 1.5 million found in Delta and Edo States.

AYDM said the Itshekiris  have received little or nothing in return for the enormous resources successive governments exploit on their ancestral territories.

The Group is a coalition of 121 Pan Yoruba groups spread across Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, Osun, Edo, Kwara, Kogi and the West African Coast.

In the letter signed by its General Secretary Popoola Ajayi and Secretary for Mobilization, Chief Kunle Oshodi, AYDM said the Itsekiri produce 35% of Nigerian oil and gas but get little or nothing in return.

It stated that there are no economic landmarks, no industries, no commensurate employment opportunities in the Oil Companies on their land while they are given crumbs when it comes to political appointments at the Federal level.

“No Itsekiri man has ever led the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL.

“No Itsekiri man has ever emerged as the Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC. No Itsekiri man has ever been made a Federal Minister since 1999. This is ridiculous” the AYDM said.

The Group also observed that even in the face of repression, oil pollution, and exclusion the Itsekiri are one of the few ethnic groups in the Niger Delta that have never resolved into violence, vandalisation of oil pipelines , bunkering or oil theft adding that the Presidency should demonstrate that there is reward for peaceful conduct and not just reward for groups that threaten violence and armed insurrection at all times.

AYDM said the late Pa Alfred Rewane was the financial backbone of the resistance against military rule, a dangerous assignment that eventually led to his assassination in November 1994

“We commend President Tinubu for recognizing the role of Pa Rewane. As the then Governor of Lagos State, he named one of the longest streets in Lagos after Pa Rewane for his contributions to democracy and justice without which the military would have remained in Nigeria.

“We call on President Tinubu to correct this historic injustice to a great people whose land provides immense resources to Nigeria.” AYDM said.

The coalition said President Tinubu can do this by recognizing the Itsekiri ethnic group through  significant industrial investments in their homeland, Federal  appointment that will give the people a deep sense of belonging, a step that will justify their non-violence to the long chain of repression they have suffered.