IYC Protest Off to Shaky Start

By Nseobong Okon-Ekong

The planned protest by the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide to force inauguration of the Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) got off to a shaky start yesterday as pockets of protests were recorded at the commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt and a partial blockade of the East-West Road.

Spokesperson of the IYC, Mr. Ebilade Ekerefe told THISDAY in a phone conversation that the plan to carry out a full scale shutdown of oil production facilities in the Niger Delta region could not be carried out because of the alleged last-minute kidnap of the IYC President, Mr. Peter Igbifa, whose whereabout is still unknown.

Ekerefe explained, “After the President disappeared we had to review our strategy. In an organisation like this somebody must be incharge. So we have held series of meetings to decide who should take charge in the interim. One thing I can assure you is that we are going ahead with the shutdown.”

“If they think we will chicken out because the President of IYC is missing, they are not reading the situation well. Our demand is simple, just and constitutional. We are entitled to deploy even the means of a protest to press home our demand,” he said.