By Chris Nomjov
Youths from the Niger Delta have pledged to remain loyal to President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, as they are under incumbent President, Goodluck Jonathan. The President of the Ijaw Youth Council, Mr. Udengs Eradiri stated this, as he congratulated Gen Buhari on his victory at the presidential polls.
A statement released on behalf of all the youths in Ijawland, yesterday April 1st, Mr Eradiri said the Niger Delta had their own Knife and Yam and have cut it the way they wanted.
He said while the northerners went all out to vote, in some cases using their personal finances to transport themselves to cast their votes, the Southerners waited for people to pay them first before they go out to collect their PVCs and vote. He said they should not complain as “we are the architects of our own problems”. The statement after the cut…
“I want to use this opportunity to congratulate Gen. Buhari who has emerged the winner of the presidential election. And so as IYC, when we had our own as President, the Igbo, the Yoruba, the Hausa were loyal to him. We will be loyal to the President-elect, Gen. Buhari, who from May 29, 2015 would become the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“We will accept it (the results of the election). We had our own knife and yam; we were not able to cut it the way we wanted. We have no other person to blame. It is in this part of the country that people ask for money to go and vote. However, the northerners were paying for their own transportation to go and exercise their rights and to go and pick their PVCs.
“Our people were expecting that they would be paid to collect PVCs and the results reflected so. We have no other choice; we are the architect of our own problem. So, we should be able to live with it. If you go and protest, you are on your own. If you go and destroy anything, you are on your own.
“I, as the leader of youths in this region, have reached out to other ethnic nationalities to canvass support. Maybe, we started late. Maybe the attention was not given that should have started with the political class.
“History has already recorded it. So, the best we can do is to key into his (Buhari’s) administration, just as the Yoruba and Hausa key into the administration. It is time for us to also key into the administration. So, I call on our people to steer clear of all those political manipulations.”he said
