The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) on Thursday, April 9, 2015 demanded an unreserved apology from president-elect General Muhammadu Buhari for not conceding defeat in the three previous elections – 2003, 2007, 2011 – which he lost.
The group also alleged a gang up from the Northern and South Western part if the country to seize power in a bid to get access to the crude oil wealth from the Niger Delta region.
Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja, the IYC President Udengs Eradiri said the IYC group was satisfied with the stewardship of President Goodluck Jonathan, adding the they would give President Jonathan a rousing welcome when he is done from office.
Ereadiri said: “The congress notes the goodwill and felicitations of President Jonathan and Nigerians in general towards Buhari’s victory, but note with sadness that Buhari refused to congratulate the victors in 2003, 2007 and 2011 elections when he contested and failed.
“We note with sadness the deliberate efforts by the core North and a section of the South-west to frustrate the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan and force him out of power though false media propaganda and insurgency in the North, with connivance with some foreign countries who displayed desperate scheming by the core North and South-western part of the country to take back power is to enable them have access to the oil resource of the Niger-Delta.”
“The outcome of the presidential election has further polarised the Nigerian state into regional and ethnic lines, hence there is nothing to celebrate in the victory. Recommendations of the National Conference should be implemented by the incoming government to deepen our federal system of government where the federating units would develop at their own pace.
This would address some of the imbalances responsible for political instability in Nigeria and the desperation to control government at the centre.”
