The Ijaw ethnic nationality have always had a Pan Rivers Vision and always supported the socio-political and socio-economic aspirations of Rivers State, a former acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development commission (NDDC), Ibim Semenitari has said.

Semenitari, who is of the Ibani stock, a subset of the larger Ijaw ethnic nationality and married to Wakrike son, said this in a statement she issued recently in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

“When people complain that the Ijaw National Congress is speaking against the political crises in Rivers State just because the governor is an Ijaw man, they lose sight of the bigger picture.

“The Ijaw in Rivers State have always been pan Rivers. Every governor in Rivers State up to Governor Wike has had the help and support of the Ijaw in their rise to power.”

She went down memory lane to reminisce on how governors of Rivers State emerged with the help of notable Ijaw sons who indicated their support and mustered their kinsmen to rally their support for Dr. Peter Odili, Rotimi Amaechi and Nyesom Wike.

“In 1999, Chief Marshal Harry, Alabo Tonye Graham Douglas and Chief Ombo Isokariari, amongst others, worked assiduously for the emergence of Sir. Dr. Peter Otunnya Odili. This was despite the fact that Ebenezer Isokariari was an Ijaw son and, in fact, a Kalabari man.”

“When Odili was about to leave, Chief Anabs Sara-Igbe was one of the loudest voices for Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi despite the fact that other Ijaw sons had indicated interest. Among the young turks supporting Amaechi were Ijaw sons like Dakuku Peterside, Tamunoiyoriari Parker, Tamunosisi Gogo Jaja, to name just a few.”

“In 2015, when former Governor Chibuike Amaechi supported the shift of power to the riverine and ensured the APC picked Dr. Dakuku Peterside as its governorship candidate, it was through the benevolence of an Ijaw woman, Patience Jonathan, her Ijaw husband, Goodluck Jonathan, and the instrumentality of the Ijaw ethnic nationality that HE Nyesom Wike emerged governor.”

She took a swipe at a former Governor and current Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, who in a television programme despised the Asawana chant of the Ijaws, noting that when the chant was deployed in favour of the quest for power there were no resentment towards it.

“Then, the shouts of Asawana were not considered an irritation nor ethnic aberration because it served the purpose of those who wanted power.”

“The Ijaw have always fought for the rights of minorities. They have remained in the fore of this fight right from the colonial days. It is purely a fight for equity and nothing more because no society survives well if it is built on inequality.”

“Equity, fairness and justice is the hallmark of democratic societies. Egberi fa.”

It should be noted that “Asawana” is universal chant across the Ijaw nation for war and celebration and rendered like the chants of various other ethnic groups such as “Igbo Kwenu” of the Igbo, “Ikwerre Meka” of the Ikwerre, “Obolo Itiki” of the Andoni, amongst others.

Ibim Semenitari is an entrepreneur, administrator, farmer, communication specialist, media trainer, human and social rights activist, with a rich resumé in both public service and private sector.

She served as the Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications between 2009 and 2015 and later as acting Managing Director of the NDDC.

She had earlier worked as a journalist for over three decades with some of Nigeria’s and America’s leading media outlets. From 2005 to 2007, I worked as Journalism Trainer/Editor with the British Broadcasting Corporation World Service Trust.