Former Federal Commissioner for Information, Chief Edwin Clark, yesterday lamented about the underdevelopment of the Ijaw ethnic nationality in Nigeria, saying, “our case is worse than that of the almajiris up North.”
Clark disclosed this at his Kiagbodo home, Burutu Local Government Area, Delta State, when he hosted newly inaugurated executives of the Izon-Ebi Oil and Gas Producing Communities Association, IOGPCA, led by its President, James Edoukumor.
Edoukumor and other executives visited Clark, the Grand Patron of the body, to seek his blessing after their inauguration in Warri.
He said, “Nobody who lives upland in this country will ever appreciate the suffering we have been living with. We live in water, yet we have no water to drink.
“We have no healthcare, no schools, no roads, yet we produce the resources that oil the wheel of this country.
“Those exploiting the oil in our land have been very selfish, unjust and oppressive. They want to perpetually own the resources and we say no.
“There are even people who believe that for the Federal Government to exploit our oil, we should be removed from the area to make it easier to shortchange us. God will never agree with them.
“They say we are militants. Who would stay in his own house and allow a stranger to come and pour sand on his head? We will continue to fight for our God-given rights.”
Clark added, “My problem with our people is that sometimes we are our own enemies. We allow the same people exploiting us to divide us.
“You come together or form a group today; you go to Abuja to collect money and the next day the group is split into two or three.
The moment you sell your birthright, you become second class citizens. Nobody will respect you again.”